Artsy fartsy

You may have noticed the orange and yellow building while driving north on Virginia Street past LuLou’s restaurant. It’s the newly designed Stremmel Gallery. After a year of construction, Stremmel is ready to reveal its expanded space with a grand opening reception. Thirty-three artists, including Phyllis Shafer (whose painting, “Above Red Lake” is shown left), will display their new works through May 31. Bay Area artist Richard Misrach’s photographs of San Francisco and Golden Gate Bridge will also be on display. Owner Peter Stremmel says visitors will see two new gallery spaces. Stremmel describes one as a “beautiful, quiet, minimalist, contemplative” space that can accommodate large art installations. The second gallery is divided into three areas, which will be used for solo or group shows. “It’s a very dynamic, interesting, light-filled space,” Stremmel says of the building, which was designed by Los Angeles architect Mark Mack in association with Reno architect Jack Hawkins. The grand opening and artists’ reception begins at 5:30 p.m. May 8. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 786-0311 for details.