Encinitas -- It's not a museum, even if it has a thriving art education program and it's about to unveil a permanent gallery space.

The Lux Art Institute in Encinitas, which opens its new quarters to the public today, is dedicated to making contemporary art and artists accessible to the public.

Artists who present exhibitions at the Lux will generally be on site in the first days of a show, finishing work and talking about what they do. That's why there is a live/work space for the artist in the building, which was designed by Santa Monica-based architect Renzo Zecchetto.

When director Reesey Shaw and the board founded Lux in April 1998, they knew it would need to function as an institute without walls for some of time.

But they didn't imagine it would take nine years to open the doors.

“It's just thrilling,” says Shaw, who trained as an artist. “When people ask me if I still make art, I tell them the Lux is my work. It's my biggest art project.”

Previously, Shaw served as the first director of Escondido's California Center for the Arts Museum, from 1994 to 1997, at which she curated a steady string of excellent exhibitions, including “Wildlife” and “California: In Three Dimensions.”

Taking inspiration from Marcel Duchamp and the famed 1941 case he made with miniatures of his work within, Shaw came up with Lux's signature program, the Valise Project, in 2000.

The Lux has commissioned an intelligent spectrum of contemporary artists – 11 thus far – to create original works that could be transported into the classroom.

Trained teachers have been leading 90-minute presentations – including discussion of the work itself and then a related art activity – first in North County schools lacking in art programming and then in a broader array of schools and senior centers. Demand for the program has been high since it began in 2001.

The inaugural artist among the valise makers, Daniel Wheeler, also presented an ambitious exhibition at the San Elijo Lagoon and nearby MiraCosta College. “Bird Hub” included a big board, airport style, for listing bird arrivals and departures.

Other components included a 15-foot-high observation pole with binoculars at the lagoon site and an 8-foot-high perch for humans on the college campus.

Since Lux means light in Latin, what would the inauguration be without a commissioned source of illumination?

San Diego artist Roman de Salvo has received a commission to create one of his ingenious lights – which takes the form of a chandelier – for the building.

The site of the museum adjoins a preserve that extends all the way to the ocean, and the building itself will be the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified “green” museum in California.

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