UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art | Costa Mesa — Attraction in Costa Mesa

We went and checked out the newly opened Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) this past Saturday. It was smaller than I expected, not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but I did ask myself if there perhaps was a permitting reason for it being this small. The overall impression of the foyer area and the first level galleries was of stark and spare space. The 2nd level (mezzanine gallery) is a more intimate space.

The building presents very contemporary architecture, with curvy white tiled walls contrasted with bare concrete finishes for the floors and stairways.

The exhibition of polyester sculptures by Fred Eversley on the second (mezzanine) level was definitely the highlight for me. All very beautiful works that evoked a warm emotional response.

The exhibition on the entry level was of very mixed merit in my opinion; a few pieces that provoked my interest, and many that did not evoke any emotional impact or interest. Of course, this is just the opinion of someone who has a long interest in art, but who isn't an art critic. But, I was a little surprised that for a grand opening exhibition this is what was curated.

The third level features a bar/cafe/restaurant. Table seating in the restaurant encourages communal dining with large informal tables with the hope that strangers will strike up a conversation perhaps. We ate lunch there. The waitress was very attentive and friendly, without being intrusive. I was delighted that most of the dishes were available as vegan/vegetarian, but that you could add animal protein if you wished. A smart move in my opinion. I do hope that the back wall will be decorated with art sometime soon. Also the lighting in the dining area against the stark back wall was very poor.

Outside on the third level is an expansive terrace area, at this point completely barren. It's early days for the museum, I know, but my hope is that in the near future it will become an area for a European-style plaza/terrace to enjoy food and...

WARNING TO PHOTOGRAPHERS.

Extremely disappointed. I am a photographer, and one of my families really wanted to shoot here. It was for their 15 year wedding anniversary, long story short we rescheduled 3 times in order to make this location happen (just to give perspective on how important it was to them). I called ahead of time and spoke with someone at the museum to make sure I was allowed to photograph a family inside. They assured me that I was allowed, as long as it wasn't for commercial use and I didn't photograph the art. I let him know it was a family session, I asked if I needed a permit. He said I did not. On the day of our shoot, I asked again at the front desk to make sure I was allowed to take photos of a family with my camera inside. They saw my camera, said the same things as the guy on the phone, and even told me photos were encouraged. I walked around for 30 minutes waiting for the family, with my camera very visible, and no one said anything. The second my family arrived and we started shooting (upstairs at the bridge, no art in site) we were stopped by one of the staff members. She argued with me, even after I explained that I spoke with two separate people about this ahead of time. She had extreme attitude, and would not let me take photos inside OR in the courtyard. She told me I was supposed to get a piece of paper stating I was allowed to do this, yet NO ONE mentioned a single thing about this to me. We only had 15 minutes until the museum closed, so this left us with no time to get this worked out. This is extremely unprofessional and ruined my families 15 year anniversary photos. I absolutely do not...

NOTICE FOR THOSE THAT HAVE SERVICE DOGS

OCMA is a great place to walk around and enjoy the unique architecture. But it is a place that I’m not going to return to for awhile. I have a service animal specifically a PSD. As a reminder an emotional support animal is not a service animal. Service animals are trained to perform tasks to help a person’s disability. With a PSD one of their tasks is to alert. Which was one of the tasks that I said to the host and the guards that asked me. One of the guards who approached me professionally asked me about my service animal and said that she looked excitable. In where she was actually performing her task. She was alerting me that I was close to have a medical episode. She is train to alert me on things that I do not realize. I am not mad at the staff as they are doing their job and I can understand that there are people who just claim that their dogs are service dogs and not trained. Which is illegal FYI, there is a penalty for that. There is a lack of education about the different kind of service dogs that exist and different kinds of tasks. Needless to say, I ended up having that medical episode outside the museum. I went to OCMA as a place to get calm and enjoy the evening. And now I’m scared to go. A lot of businesses are not educated that there are many kinds of disabilities and there are different service dogs to help with those disabilities outside mobile and sight dogs. The staff acted professional. But the skepticism of the tasks that my dog was performing and being confused as “excitable” and that I don’t look disabled...