Public Art
Studio Channel Islands is currently working on three public art commissions:
Studio Channel Islands supports clients in public art commissioning. Art and design in the public realm is an essential part of modern urban design. Art offers moments of delight and inspiration, tells the unique story of a community or place and fosters connections between and within communities.
Studio Channel Islands works with clients to create art and design plans, artist selection, installation and management.
Central Plaza Project
Client: Investec Real Estate Companies
Artists: Joe Adams & Mollie Doctrow
The Central Plaza remodel will deliver destination level architecture, attractive outdoor spaces for gathering and dining and enhanced amenities to create a place that people wish to travel to for shopping and business. The public art program will enhance the overall design, providing place making focal points that recognize the unique history of the community.
The refurbishment project for the Central Plaza includes the demolition of 111,850 square feet of retail space and the construction of a new 63,642 square foot supermarket, a new 3,000 square foot convenience store, and a new 3,500 square foot retail building as well the remodeled if the existing facades of the existing buildings within the Central Plaza shopping center.
The project is located on the Northeast corner of Pondersoa Drive and Arneill Road and comprises approximately 16 acres of retail space. The design will preserve 59 existing trees and plant 253 new trees.
Mollie Doctrow
A commission to create 10 metal plaques depicting historical sites, native wildflowers, and scenic vistas of Camarillo and the surrounding areas.
The artist visited local parks and scenic locations to identify locations for the project. She then consulted with botanists, historians and local heritage organizations to source reference materials and research the importance of these sites for the community.
The woodcuts were created in the artists studio over a period of 12 months. The artist then produced a series of prints which were scanned and sent to a fabricator to be cast in metal. The finished plaques are black on a silver metal, the black areas raised in relief to provide textural interest.
Artist Biography
Mollie Doctrow, MA, has exhibited her woodcuts nationally and internationally, including Nigeria, as part of the American Arts in Embassies program. She is the recipient of many awards and grants, including a North Carolina Visual Arts Fellowship, Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant, and Regional Artist Project Grants from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. Her environmental public art project, Wildflower Wayside Shrine Trail, was funded by the US Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. She created and curated many art and historical exhibits as curator of the South Florida State College Museum of Florida Art and Culture. She co-developed and created the traveling exhibit, Catfish, Moonshine, and Cattle on the Peavine, funded by the Florida Humanities Council. Mollie has been an Artist-in-Residence at several US National Parks. She recently completed an Artist-in-Residence at Mojave National Preserve. Her solo show from this residency will be at the Joshua Tree Visitor’s Center, April 2022.
Mollie returned to California three years ago after many years on the east coast. She is re-discovering the history and wild beauty of her home state, while working as a full-time artist in her studio at Studio Channel Islands. She is curator emerita, SFSC Museum of Florida Art and Culture.