According to SAA's Community Arts Education Director Kathleen Dinges Rice, their galleries recently were closed for seismic upgrades.

"We began thinking about temporary downtown exhibit space," she said. "At the same time, participants in our Artist Services Program expressed a desire for a downtown gathering place and exhibit venue to serve the needs of professional artists. We started looking for vacant buildings and SAA Project Space grew from there."

The first exhibition,  "Here and Now," features work by local artists including Jonathan Bucci, Kristin Kuhns, Cynthia Herron and Bonnie Hull, among others. Here and Now will be on view through July 13.

"The idea behind the first show," Dinges Rice said, "is to give participating artists an opportunity to see one another's work. We hope to see collaboration develop from there."

In addition to exhibits, SAA Project Space will be used for multiple arts purposes, such as installation, performance, work space, conversation, and cross media experimentation as long as the space is available to SAA.

On Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m., the SAA Project Space will host open drawing sessions. Participants are invited to join in informal, self-directed drawing sessions in the company of other artists. Tonight, local musicians Mike Nord (guitar and electronics) and Mark Powers (percussion) will perform improvised jazz and new music duets in the space.

SAA Project Space is located at 233 Commercial Street NE; hours are 12 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, contact Salem Art Association at (503) 581-2228.