Sally Waranch knows as much about life downtown as anyone this side of Petula Clark.

She opened a commercial art gallery in the heart of Fullerton 19 years ago, and now she's moved the business to Anaheim's reborn downtown.

By the measure of foot traffic, Anaheim's still-redeveloping downtown is making significant strides. The area has been decades in the remaking, but now that they're building it, people are coming.

To Waranch this new downtown feels like home. "I was sad to leave my old space on the Birch Street Promenade" Waranch said. "But the people here really seem to appreciate the arts. We've met a lot of new collectors who were just walking by and were moved by what they saw."

Art has been moving Waranch for as long as she can remember. It led her to abandon an acting career in 1987. She had just adopted the stage name Sarah Bain and the gallery has held that moniker ever since.

"When I was acting, every time I got a check I would use some of the money to buy art," Waranch said. "But the dealers were so snobby. No one really talked to me about art or how to get started as a collector. I decided I'd show them how to do it better."

Waranch makes a point of welcoming fledgling collectors. "Why should people feel stupid just because they don't know what 'mixed media' means?"

Drop by on a weekend evening when the gallery fills with potential patrons and you might see youngsters drawing on the floor with crayons supplied by Waranch. "In 20 years they will be the collectors," she said.

Some children even exert an influence. One asked Waranch to discourage her parents from buying any more nudes. "She said it was said with a laugh."

The gallery whose clients include Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne and Burt Reynolds, specializes in works by emerging artists. Waranch travels the country visiting colleges and art schools to seek out new talent.

Waranch is known to find and help create young artists. Known for a good eye for talent, her last noted big find was Alyssa Monks, a graduate of the New York Academy, whose career has continually achieved momentum and placed her into the national spotlight.

"All these artists are just emerging and they're all making a living from a little gallery in Anaheim, California," Waranch said. "That's pretty great."

June 17th, 2000 LA Times Calender
by Dennis Arp

Artscene article by Daniella Walsh:
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