When driving south over the bridge connecting Sir Francis Drake and Highway 101, a collective of unusual looking buildings sit conspicuously by the water, with slides coming out the second story window, a bicycle balanced in midair, and a homemade rocket ship.
A quick glance is the extent of most people’s interaction with Rancho Shazam, a collaborative art community occupied by a multitude of artists owned by Lee Greenberg, also known as “Captain Marble.”https://vimeo.com/91538329
Greenberg rents out about 15 studio apartments in these buildings to artists for workshop space, residence, or both as long as they are an artist of any type, ranging from guitarists to classical painters.
“We often stretch the rules a little bit,” Greenberg said. “Once we let a nurse reside here, because, well, healing is technically a form of art.”
Greenberg, wearing pink glasses, bright green crocs and Hawaiian shirt, said he strives to have as much diversity as possible within the collective to help make it a more engaging atmosphere.
“If you have enough of anything in a group it gets interesting,” Greenberg said, pointing to his cluster of collected driftwood as his quasi metaphor for the collective. “[The driftwood] is sort of my version of the Blair Witch project,” he said with a chuckle.
Christopher, a French painter who recently moved from San Francisco, said he chose to become a part of Rancho Shazam because of it’s unique feel.
“It’s a very unusual place, coming from the city,” Christopher said. “It’s a little bit wild and disordered, with a lot of recuperation.”
Christopher also said that his art reflects the unconventional individual contrasting with society which parallels Rancho Shazam and suburban Marin County.
“In my studio I try to contrast individual resistance with the confrontation of American society,” Christopher said. “The paintings are reflections about the adaptation to society, and maybe with some resistance and imagination, there could be something interesting.”
A couple of doors over, Timothy Bryant, who also goes by, “Neon Sandwich,” is currently working on several doors he is painting over, often with images of a sleeping Buddha.
Bryant has been a part of Rancho Shazam for about four months, and said that he came across the area through his girlfriend’s friend who had previously moved out.
Bryant said that the community goes through natural ebbs and flows from artists who want to collaborate, to writers who don’t necessarily need anyone else for their work.
Resident John Valiante has begun building his own guitar after years of being a singer-songwriter and guitarist, and dreams of one day selling a functional guitar that is more affordable to the public.[vimeo id=”https://vimeo.com/91538330″ size=”small”]
Valiante said he was tired of playing guitars that didn’t have the functionality and capabilities he wanted. He said his goal was to make custom, well-made guitars that are more affordable to the public.
Valiante said he decided to reside in Rancho Shazam because he likes the unique atmosphere.
“I felt so at home,” Valiante said. “You know it’s great when there’s someplace with a tinman outside asking for money.”
Valiante said that, like Rancho Shazam, with its slides coming out the windows and a little house village, is perfect for him because he has idiosyncratic tendencies, too.
“It’s just comfortable for me because I’m kind of out there,” Valiante said.
Resident Caitlin Gomalo, a sculptor and painter, said she had driven past the community for years and was curious about it. She had been at College of Marin at the time, and is now attending UC Berkeley.
“I kind of wanted to be a part of it and figured the community had something to do with artists just based on the massive sculptures that are out front,” Gomalo said.
Gomalo likes the idea of a collaborative artist community.
“I was really happy to hear that the point of all of this to [Lee] was to get a group of artists together and living in one space so that their creative ideas can kind of flow off each other,” Gomala said. “We kind of pool up materials and ideas. It’s a pretty interesting environment to live in.”
The artists work on multiple projects collaboratively, such as the extensive toy train track and putting a pond-like pool in behind the houses, according to Gomalo.
“The cool thing is that right now we’re working on building a little sculpture garden out front, and everyone gets to put in their own piece,” Gomalo said. “After we leave everything is still here.”
According to Gomalo, the artists have a common goal of getting their art out on display and are constantly learning and growing from each other.
“If you have some idea that you’re not sure how to deal with, or an idea creatively that you want to explore but you’re not sure how to do it yourself, this would be a great place to bring it,” Gomalo said. “All of us together are able to figure something out.”
