On view February 13 – May 18, 2024

With each exhibition in the Valley Focus series, we explore the work of important regional artists and their relationship to our communities. As a painter, educator, muralist, and Turlock native, Richard Gomez understands and reflects on the needs and concerns of this region. Much of his creative output centers on the cultural traditions of the communities he engages through his art, perhaps most importantly through his work as a muralist.

This well-deserved exhibition surveys the work from his days as a young artist honing his skills leading to paintings where his technique takes a unique turn. We see an evolution in his creative focus when his choice of materials shifts from traditional oil on canvas to using spray paint in a “street art” style.

The recent work takes on many of the social issues that surround the artist in his home state: the erasure of native voices and traditions, the marginalization of “the other,” and the diminishing of cultural identity in his community. Gomez has taken up a cause of positivity, seeking to build pride and optimism through representation in his art.

Adopting spray paint as his medium, he opened the door to communicating in a new “language”—one that speaks to contemporary audiences and conveys the exuberance that he feels in honoring his cultural traditions. Gomez combines his mastery of representational skill with expressive gestures and vibrant colors. Using techniques like stencils and spray paint that are common in graffiti, he challenges the stigma and negative stereotype that often comes with spray paint, translating the language of the streets into gallery-worthy works.

Alongside paintings spanning a period of more than 25 years, the exhibition includes Gomez’s latest community mural project – painted inside the gallery as part of a larger project funded by a grant from the Heartland Creative Corps.

January 23 through April 20, 2024
Reception: February 2, 2024 5pm – 7pm

For the visual artist, light can be an inspiration, a visual element, a mood, and a medium — and it is never unimportant! This juried exhibition explores the many facets of light as interpreted and represented in a wide variety of media by artists from throughout Northern California.

Jurors for the exhibition are two esteemed artists whose expertise in the use of light is well known. Carolyn Lord is a Bay Area painter and a Signature Member of the California Art Club, the National Watercolor Society, and the California Watercolor Association.  G. Dan Mitchell is a photographer based in San Jose; he was the 2018 Yosemite Renaissance Artist in Residence at Yosemite National Park and is the author of California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierras.

Join us for a free reception on Friday, February 2, from 5-7 p.m. and view these “brilliant” works!

Award Winning Works

BEST OF SHOW

Willian Harris, Market Street Color, photograph

AWARDS OF MERIT

Monica Ocegueda, Light at The End of the Tunnel, photograph
Sally Ruddy, The Pink House, oil on canvas

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Isaac Calvo, Rose Glow, acrylic paint & oil pastel
Kelly Lemons, Dream Shadows, Pan pastels
Jeanne Moje MacDonald, Turning a Corner, mixed media
Darrell OSullivan, City Night Reflections, photograph

Artists included in the Exhibition:

Brooke Adams, Turlock
Nancy Bardach, Berkeley
Isaac Calvo, Ripon
Susan Conner, Altaville
Bill Conrad, Turlock
Sherry Eidhammer, Rancho Cordova
Jennifer Fosgate, Merced
Chella Gonsalves, Modesto
Don Hall, Turlock
William Harris, Modesto
Greg Hubbard, Sacramento
Carolyn Huff, Modesto
Linda Knoll, Modesto
Kelly Lemons, Oakdale
Larry Lew, Modesto
Dorothy LoBue, Turlock
Loren Lukens, Merced
Catherine McLean, Modesto

Geneva Mello, Lodi
Cathy Miranker, San Francisco
Jeanne Moje MacDonald, Mariposa
Monica Ocegueda, Turlock
Darrell O’Sullivan, Galt
Rhett Regina Owings, Turlock
Michelle Park, Turlock
Liza Pham, Modesto
Sally Ruddy, Waterford
Dixie Salazar, Fresno
Lynn Sarraille, Turlock
Deanna Lynn Schmitz
Steven Showers, Oakdale
Katherine Thomas, Turlock
Christopher Viney, Atwater
Lorraine Wilcox, Turlock
Roger Wyan, Merced
Marilyn Zinner, Oakdale