Why might a little naked fat man be climbing up a ladder, or a small moose be covered in a fuzzy carpet material? Art can really make one think.
With contemporary art there is often meaning that may be readily apparent, or hidden and abstruse, or, more commonly, a bit of both. The eye of the beholder is the key-and as the goal of most visual artists is to engage the viewer in some manner, what is needed are more eyes. And every person's sight, and so interpretation, may be different.

An Oasis
The Huntington Beach Arts Center is one of those oases of unexpectedly cutting-edge art that both educates and enlivens the community of which it is a part. Unexpected not in its community's supporters (it was a grass-roots area effort that started the center, now in its 11th year of operation), but only that there is such a large concentration of them in such a small area.
The Center presents “The highest quality of art possible,” said Darlene DeAngelo, Curator of Exhibitions and Programs. The Center present three large annual shows, bringing artists and their works to Orange County from around the country and around the world. It also presents many smaller shows throughout the year, including local artists and un-juried open shows, but contemporary art is the main focus of the center. “We're always thinking outside the box,” DeAngelo explained.
Yet this box is a welcoming and very open one. The list of the community shows, education classes, family arts days, artist-in-residence programs, plays (the Huntington Beach Reparatory Theater performs out of one of the Center's spaces), music events and, of course, fundraising events were listed here it'd take the whole page.

Small and thoughtful
The Center takes its responsibility as an ideal nexus, connecting schools, families and communities through the medium of artistic expression, very seriously.
“We're small, but we're thoughtful,” said Huntington Beach Arts Center Director Kate Hoffman. “We have lost of visions of developing and growing, but we are relatively young of an organization,” Hoffman said. One of the Center's main purposes is to instigate and fulfill, “The cultural needs of the city.”
“As a community arts center we reach out to everyone we can. We're open to everybody, we're one of the best organizations in terms of openness and accessibility,” said Hoffman.
It is a unique, and so far successful, partnership between city and private interests. The Center is owned and operated by the city, but the funding that allows the Center fulfill its goals is dominantly privately raised: between 3/4 and 2/3 of its annual budget according to Hoffman. Volunteers are extremely important and, according to both DeAngelo and Hoffman, have been pivotally important in the Center's success.

Exhibition
The most recent exhibition, which opened on Oct. 14 and is showing until Dec. 17, is “MANufactured.” Here is where one can find the aforementioned fat men on ladders and fuzzy moose. The theme of the show is that all the artworks are made up of manufactured products, nothing “natural”. Art made with non-traditional combinations media, like plastic, yarn, twine, zip ties and monofilaments.
The artists include, Cathy Breslaw, of Encinitas, Calif.; Amy Caterina, from Santa Ana, Calif.; Maureen Shields, of Brooklyn, New York; and Tomoko Suzuki, Ontario, Calif.
Caterina will also be the artist-in-resident co-creating an interactive artwork that will involve visitors learning to knit or crochet “pseudo-sod” squares (with provided tools and yarn) that will be part of an ongoing installation-covering a car completely with pseudo-sod.
Sound fun? Sound odd? How about both?
Art is doing its job, says DeAngelo, “If it is going to make you think about something.” Even if you don't like a work, that's okay. But if you've interacted with it and learned something, then your life is improved.
“A positive experience can be something that seems negative,” DeAngelo said. “Even if your reaction to an artwork is 'I hate that' at least you had a reaction.”
That's learning. So even if you don't think you like “modern” or “contemporary” art, go take a gander. You might be surprised. This unique, and local, arts resource needs to be used and supported.