After more than 35 years in the gallery business, Sea Gate Art Gallery & Studio on Hollywood Beach in Oxnard is finally closing it’s doors at the end of October. Margy’s funky beach gallery has been a favorite of locals and weekend visitors, where she offered up a fun and interesting collection of everything from $2 seashells to used and handmade jewelry to original framed watercolors and beautiful ceramics.
She opened her first gallery in the 1980’s in the Marine Emporium Landing on Harbor Blvd. after moving out of the family house (with a lovely ceramic studio) in Claremont and onto a boat in Oxnard in 1978. A gallery space gave her room to paint and a place to sell her work, and was a lot easier than painting on the dock box in the wind. She later moved next door to Mrs. Olson’s Coffee Hut on Los Altos, sharing the space with a clothing company that sold cotton clothes that were so comfortable, and so perfect for two people living on a boat, that both Margy and Charlie had an entire wardrobe after awhile. And then a beachfront opportunity arrived, and somewhere in the late 1990’s (we can’t remember exactly when) she moved to her present space at the end of Ocean Drive next door to the Rudder Room Bar. For 15 years the views outside her window were subjects of her work: volleyball games, beachcombers and sun lovers, crashing waves over the breakwater, incoming storms, birds, and the beautiful Channel Islands.
She has thoroughly enjoyed her time in the space, on the beach, next to the bar, adjacent to the jetty — and will miss much of that life and fun, but is relieved to move into a simpler life and concentrate on painting and not have the worries of maintaining the gallery. In the coming year we’ll be working on getting her art into more of the local galleries, including Studio Gallery in Channel Islands and Buenaventura Gallery in Ventura, and of course all her giclée prints are available here on her website.
She also invites anyone interested in a custom piece, a boat portrait, or a chance to have a personal showing of her large collection of original works and custom frames to contact her at margygatesart@gmail.com.
But first, a party! A final so long to Sea Gate Art Gallery & Studio will be held next Sunday, October 25th from 4pm – 8pm at 2925 Ocean Drive, Oxnard, CA. She will have some of her art on display and available for sale that night, as well as gift certificates that can be redeemed on the website or in person with her. Come by for a glass of something, some nibbles, and a chance to say hello, good luck, thanks for the memories.
Margy Gates Art 