Culture breathes life into a community by elevating it above the mundane. Everyday, people eat and drink to survive, work to earn a living, and socialize to keep things lively, but art and music provide what those things can’t - they transform life from the ordinary into the divine. In Davis, John Natsoulas infuses some cultural divinity into the area through his self-titled gallery, the John Natsoulas Center for the Arts.
Located on 521 1st Street, the center is housed inside a tall white building that cuts an interesting figure among other structures in the area. Downtown Davis doesn’t have anything close to a towering skyline, but Natsoulas’s perennial artistic showcase stands high and straight enough on the street to catch eyes. According to the Web site www.natsoulas.com, the building is three stories high, which may seem almost misleading if you walked inside.

The first floor features a gift shop, and further back is an expansive room with a concrete floor and paintings arranged in a straight horizontal line along white walls. The spacious floor is where performances and musical acts occur when they’re inside. The second floor has sculptures, paintings, multiple rooms and a carpeted area with tables and chairs that ends in a balcony overhanging the large