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Lewis Liu, the founder of Latte Da Vinci, looks at one of the painting he is currently working on inside the gallery.(Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Kayelani Hudson, who assisted with getting the space up and running, admires a painted by her father, a Las Positas College art professor who also taught Liu. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
A photo shows the inside of Latte Da Vinci, a nonprofit gallery and face that will serve as a community space for artists to showcase their work and members of the community to hang out. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Lewis Liu recounts some of the paintings he has worked on that are currently on display at the gallery. He said once they get more submissions from other artists, he will replace his own work with those new pieces. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Kayelani Hudson describes the many benefits of having a space where artists can come and work on their pieces. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Latte Da Vinci co-founders Kayelani Hudson and Lewis Liu showcase some of the current pieces of art like the one Liu is holding, which is his own work, that are currently on display at the gallery. (Photo by Christian Trujano)
Downtown Pleasanton will be welcoming a new addition to its art scene with Latte Da Vinci, a nonprofit gallery and cafe set to officially open its doors in a couple weeks.
Lewis Liu — an accountant, Pleasanton resident and co-founder of the gallery — said the nonprofit will be operating as a co-op where any artist can display their work and residents can hang out and enjoy coffee and light snacks.
“This whole thing started as a gallery but I wanted to turn it into a place (for) all the people living in the Tri-Valley,” Liu said.
The space will also serve as a community hub and as a space to host events, workshops and classes for people of all ages, according to Kayelani Hudson, a Livermore native who helped bring the gallery to life the and helps Liu run and operate the nonprofit.
“I’ve always had the desire to have an art gallery that’s not only an art gallery but (also) a creative space where people who have different means of using their creativity … come together,” Hudson said.
Liu’s passion for art began during the pandemic after he found a pond he wanted to paint on the John Muir Trail. He photographed it and attempted to paint it at home but found it challenging without any artistic background. This led him to take art classes at Las Positas College with Hudson’s father, an art professor.
Hudson said she always had a passion for the arts thanks to her father.
So when her father introduced her to Liu, she knew she had to ask him about opening a gallery. And as it turned out, Liu not only shared the same dream, but also had the perfect space for it.
After Hudson’s father introduced the two, they began brainstorming ideas for the type of gallery they wanted to open. Liu said he noticed that the other galleries around Main Street were a bit selective, which is why the two thought of the idea of creating a co-op gallery where anyone from the community could showcase their work.
“We’re open to everybody — all the artists,” Liu said.
His storefront, formerly a real estate office, was quickly converted into the gallery by him and Hudson after the previous tenants vacated.
Liu said in order to incentivise more artists to display their work at the gallery, Latte Da Vinci plans on keeping its membership fees low and only charges 20% commission fees so that the artist mainly benefits from the sale of their work. Non-members can also submit their work to be displayed, he said, although members will be prioritized.
“It’s (about) bringing the community together to give them an opportunity to show what they put their hard work and effort into,” Hudson said.
Apart from what the name suggests — they plan on selling coffee first to members and then, as they expand, to non-members — the two plan on having various types of art workshops, community events and classes for all ages.
Hudson said she specifically wants to create collaborations with the local schools in order to get more kids involved with the world of art because of the benefit drawing and being creative in general has on children.
“When we said we wanted to open it up to everyone, it’s not just young adults, older adults — it’s everyone,” Hudson said. “Everyone should have the opportunity to create and to be creative and to express themselves through art.”
The two also said they want the gallery to be a space where artists can hang out and use the space as a studio so people walking along Main Street could look inside the gallery, see the artists at work, be intrigued and walk in, which could lead to more people buying the artists’ work.
And while selling the art — and eventually the coffee — will be a big part of the nonprofit’s mission due to the fact it is mostly dependent on volunteers and members who will be expected to help out given that Latte Da Vinici will run more as a co-op, Liu and Hudson said the overall goal is to create a new artistic hub for the community and for downtown Pleasanton.
“We just want to offer the community a place to be artistic and to see the art that people have created in the Tri-Valley,” Hudson said.
The space will be celebrating its grand opening on Aug. 16 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and its first exhibit, which will feature submitted paintings. Those who wish to submit their work will have until Aug. 10.
The gallery will also be hosting a competition for those pieces where several winners will be announced and awarded cash prizes ranging from $50 to $1,000.
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