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Artists to build, create together
By Dirk Werkman -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, November 18, 2004
Kim Scott is a painter.
In the coming months, however, Scott will tackle a different art form. She will
help build her own house in a unusual community in North Sacramento.
Scott will be expected to work 35 hours a week constructing her house in Surreal
Estates, which will be a community of affordable homes for visual artists.
Her husband, Craig Maclaine, can help build the home, along with other family
members and friends.
"When I was a little kid, my folks built several houses, and I did a little
bit," Scott said.
She will be joining 10 other artists who also are constructing their homes on
a 1.3-acre site at Calvados Avenue at Oakmont Street in North Sacramento.
The $2.4 million project has roots dating to 1994, when Surreal Estates was
established to create an artists community.
Work to prepare the site for the homes is scheduled to begin this month. Construction
of the approximately 1,200-square-foot, two-story homes - each with a detached
800-square-foot art studio - is expected to begin in January and be completed
in the fall of 2005.
The homes will sell for between $120,000 and $220,000, depending on the artist's
income.
Surreal Estates is within walking distance of Del Paso Boulevard, where for
a decade a movement has been under way to attract art galleries and other art-related
businesses to help boost the local economy.
"North Sacramento is the home of small art galleries and specialty furniture
shops, making it the perfect location for creative professionals," according
to a statement released by Angela Jones, public information officer for the
Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, which is involved in financing
the project.
Several attempts were made over the years to purchase a site for the homes.
A big boost for the project came in 1997 when the redevelopment agency became
involved. Two years later, the agency advanced $10,000 to help Surreal Estates
purchase the 1.3-acre site from the North Sacramento School District. The overall
cost of the project is $2.4 million.
Mercy Homes, active in the development of several affordable home communities
in the Sacramento region, will serve as the project developer.
Five artists already have qualified to purchase homes and more applications
are being received, said Chris Glaudel, director of housing development at Mercy
Housing.
Sweat equity provided by those purchasing the homes will account for about two-thirds
of the labor and help make the homes more affordable, Glaudel said.
Mercy Housing is working with Jack Larkin Construction as the general contractor
and for electrical work. Plumbing and other technical skills will be provided
through the building trades, Glaudel said.
"Artists will be doing the bulk of the construction work themselves,"
he said.
"This is going to be a big boost for the Dixieanne Avenue Community,"
said Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, who represents North Sacramento.
"It's taking an empty lot that's been there for a number of years and placing
11 homes on it with work space for artists."
People in the community will get to see artists at work and students will get
to learn from the artists, said the councilwoman.
"It's going to bring the community much closer together," Sheedy said.
Artists in three income levels will be able to purchase the homes, Glaudel said.
The median income level in the Sacramento region is $44,900 for a single person
and $61,100 for a family of four, according to the federal government.
Artists with moderate incomes of up to 120 percent of the Sacramento area median
income level can purchase homes for $220,000, Glaudel said. Artists with incomes
of 80 percent of the area's median income can buy homes for $180,000 and those
with incomes of 50 percent of the area's median incomes can purchase homes for
$120,000, he said.
Subsidies administered through the housing and redevelopment agency make the
homes affordable to the residents, Glaudel said.
Scott said Sacramento doesn't have the large heavy industrial buildings that
have been used in some cities for loft-housing for artists.
"We're hoping it can act as a model for other live-work projects in Sacramento,"
Scott said. "We have had interest in the project from all over the United
States."
About the writer:
The Bee's Dirk Werkman can be reached at (916) 773-6817 or dwerkman@sacbee.com.
News and Review- Bites Article- November 18th 2004
Surrealist movement: After nearly
a decade of incubation, the Surreal Estates artist community in North Sacramento
is looking a bit more, uhhh ... real. The development finally broke ground on
Saturday, November 6, and off-site improvements by the city and utilities are
under way. Currently, six of 11 lots are spoken for. “Residence construction
is set to begin in January,” explained organizer and artist Kim Scott.
“We really need member-owners for the remaining five units for that to
happen.”
Surreal Estates was conceived by Scott, Robert Charland and other local artists
who were looking to create a cohesive arts community, something akin to co-op
housing for working artists. Residents will build their own dwellings--with
some support from contractors--combining their own sweat equity with a combination
of urban-renewal grants and loans. Units will range from 700 to 1,000 square
feet, each with detached studio space, and starting mortgage payments are projected
to be $550 per month. Scott is quick to point out that “actual mortgage
price is determined by the buyer’s income. ... It’s like home ownership
on a sliding scale.”
Scott says the unconventional project has survived “a bizarre maze of
details and delays” but is finally on track. If you want to be one of
the five artists who helps get it past the finishing line, you can get more
info at www.surrealestates.org.
Sacramento
Bee/Anne Chadwick
Williams
Artists build their dream in North Sac
By Christina Jewett --
Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Thursday, December 5, 2002
Ceramics sculptor Robert
Charland discovered a new way to create art over the past decade. He's molded
a series of applications, permits and appeals into a creation that he and eight
fellow artists will soon build in North Sacramento.
Charland is president of Surreal Estates
Ink, an artist-built and artist-occupied community of 11 cottages and 11
studios at Calvados Avenue and Oakmont Street, between Arden Way and Del Paso
Boulevard.
After nearly a decade of shifting sites and false starts, nine artists are poised
to build -- pending approval of energy-efficient wall panels, Charland said.
"The idea is to have a community of artists that are all dedicated to their
own art and will be supportive of each other -- where there will be a lot of
energy and activity and people," he said.
Artists have been known to convert blighted warehouses or rent space in blocks,
but Surreal Estates is a different
concept, said Michelle Walker, executive director of the Sacramento Metropolitan
Arts Commission.
"This is truly a national model," Walker said. "This is a project
that the artist conceives, envisions and helps design the work space."
Charland said the artists will help build for 35 hours each week during construction
and will pay rent subsidized by deferred state and city loans. The city approved
$710,000 and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Commission is adding $510,000.
The developer is Mercy
Housing, a national Catholic nonprofit developer and operator of affordable
housing.
Nine artists were approved to live in the
700-to 900-square-foot cottages based on their apparent commitment to art
and income eligibility. One is a videographer, another a photographer, while
others paint and sculpt. There is space for two more artists, Charland said.
He hopes to begin building within three months, he said, and plans to invite
the community to listen to live music some Sundays.
A resident of Sacramento for 25 years, Charland has lived in 15 apartments and
worked in four studios.
"Artists don't want to starve or hang around alone and suffer," he
said. "They want to be happy and be able to make art and not wonder where
the next rent check is coming from."
After living in India and Nepal and traveling to 20 other countries, painter
Kim Scott keeps landing
back in Sacramento. She's been with the project on and off all along and will
live in one of the cottages.
She was at Surreal Estates' first groundbreaking two years ago, a false start
heralded by a live band and a costume contest. Would-be residents planted two
trees that day, one tree has died as the project was delayed by additional permit
and funding requirements.
One hurdle in the planning process was convincing city and
Mercy Housing officials to allow artists to use energy-conserving panels
for the walls and solar panels overhead, she said.
"We figured we may as well make this project work on the edge as much as
we can," she said.
Walker, of the arts commission, said the insulated panels made by Enercept
Inc. will be subsidized by SMUD
and monitored by the company as a pilot project.
Wendy Saca, Mercy
Housing project developer, said Surreal Estates is on hold until the 12-foot
wall panels are approved by the state. Then, the plans will go to the city Planning
Department for the second time.
"It's been taking a long time, but it's coming together," Saca said.
Walker said the idea for the Surreal
Estates project came from a series of 1992 meetings dedicated to cleaning
up Del Paso Boulevard and turning it into a cultural
magnet.
The construction of Surreal Estates and approval of $1.6 million in "streetscape"
improvements are to be the third wave in Del Paso Boulevard's revival.
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About the Writer
---------------------------
The Bee's Christina Jewett can be reached at (916) 321-1201 or cjewett@sacbee.com.