The Town Hall Theatre Lobby Gallery

Lafayette's historic Town Hall Theatre is dedicated to fostering a thriving community that brings together performing artists, students, and audiences through creative and accessible experiences. Since 2022, the theatre has also served as a venue for local art exhibitions, thanks to a collaboration that enables the City to expand its cultural arts programming. The gallery, open to the public during theatre hours, provides an inviting space for art lovers to appreciate and engage with the work of local artists. The theatre's warm and welcoming lobby is an ideal location for receptions, where the public can mingle with artists and fellow art enthusiasts.

Current Exhibition

Ellen Reintjes: Double Vision

Summer 2026 | Town Hall Theatre Gallery

A series of paintings exploring how a bird might perceive itself reflected in the lens of binoculars, where observation becomes both subject and mirror. The works playfully consider questions of perception, curiosity, and self-awareness, imagining what a bird might see—or wonder—when confronted with its own image framed by human tools of looking.

Developed from decades of nature travel and birdwatching, the series draws on reference imagery spanning locations from local landscapes to international sites. The compositions also respond to the internal structure of binoculars themselves, with concentric reflections and circular forms evolving into dynamic “swirl” motifs that shape the visual rhythm of the work and unify the series.

The exhibition presents five works from the What the Binoculars Saw series, depicting avian subjects across diverse environments, from coastal cliffs and redwood forests to wetlands and distant hemispheres.

Ellen Reintjes is a Bay Area artist whose practice is informed by a lifelong engagement with visual observation, including birdwatching, travel, photography, and natural history. After a career in city planning and design-related work, she returned more fully to painting and has exhibited widely in regional venues, including the Lafayette Library and Learning Center, Orinda Library, Town Hall Theatre, and other community spaces. She is also active in local arts organizations and collaborative artist groups, and her work has been featured in juried exhibitions including the de Young Open.

How to Apply

Exhibits are selected by the City of Lafayette Public Art Committee. Artists interested in displaying artwork must submit a complete Exhibit Packet, including executed Art Gallery Release, an exhibition statement and an artist biography. Please contact Public Art Liaison Jenny Rosen for more information.

Applications shall be reviewed by the Public Art Committee at its regular monthly meetings. Scheduling of exhibitions is dependent upon availability. No alternate works may be substituted for accepted works.

Space and Guidelines

The gallery wall dimensions are 19' long x 7' high. All artwork must be suitably framed and equipped with hanging apparatus (D rings and wire) that will enable the artwork to be installed on the Gallery’s picture rail hanging system. Work that is fragile in nature or whose framing or display arrangement is of questionable durability may be rejected. Absolutely no nails, hooks, and/or mounting tape will be allowed to install any exhibit.

Location and Hours

• The Town Hall Theatre, 3535 School St. (at Moraga Rd.), Lafayette, CA 94549
• www.townhalltheatre.com
•  The gallery is open to the public when there are public events occurring in the Town Hall Theatre.