RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - The Art at City Hall show themed Abstraction opened with an artist’s reception on July 14, free admission and open to the public.  This meant a lot more than it would have pre-pandemic, being the first open artist’s reception since before the pandemic started. The show has 87 pieces of art by 41 artists.

Marge Gorman’s mixed media Starry Night won Best of Show. She didn’t plan it to portray the sky. “The white down in the right hand corner, it looks like somebody looking out the window,” Gorman said. “Then I got the idea that I would put something out there that she might be looking at. It just evolved . . . that’s usually what happens.”

Other winners are Kim Sikes in first with quilting work Round Robin Improv, Lucille van Ommering, second place, with a digital photo titled Safe Harbor, Salem Massachusetts, and Janice Pluma in third place with mixed media titled Fragments. Five artists received Honorable Mentions:  Mary Rodgers-Destatte, Susan Wickersham, Cheryl Gleason, Gert van Ommering, and Janice Pluma, who had two honorable mentions. Abstraction can be viewed at Rancho City Hall, 2729 Prospect Park Dr., Rancho Cordova, through August 21, 2021.

Diane Ruhkala Bell juried the show (dianeruhkalabell.com). “This will be the last time we will do a juried process over digital photos,” said Cheryl Gleason, organizer of Art at City Hall, curator of the MACC (Mills Station Arts & Culture Center), and an artist in her own right. “The next one . . . we’re going to bring (the art) in on a Friday from 3 to 6, the juror will come in and sit, jury the show and then we will hang on Saturday morning.”

Among the contributing artists are Hei Fok, with two works in acrylic, JR Sterba, who works in fused glass, and Pratima Patel, who works in acrylic. Fok grew up in Hong Kong where he was a writer. He lives now in Rancho Cordova, and has changed his focus to art. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it, then when I continued to take classes, I realized that I could draw, and I liked painting,” Fok said. He now has a graduate degree in art from California State University, Sacramento. Sterba, who lives in Sacramento, has three items in this show, all fused glass. She generally conceptualizes a project in her head before creating it. “I meditate every morning, and a lot of times it will come there . . . I don’t have a set pattern,” Sterba said. Patel is originally from Mumbai, India. Here, she managed a business, doing her art whenever she found time. She has had two community college art courses, but otherwise has been working on her own.

Gleason revealed that the MACC has been chosen as an official site for the NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) International Clay Show for 2022. “That is a huge deal!” said Gleason. “The Crocker, the Shrem (Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art) – we’re playing with the big people, we’ve had several gallery visits by the committee and they absolutely love our venue.”

Charles Schultz Pigskin Peanuts exhibit is in full swing at the MACC, open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through August 21. The next two workshops are scheduled on the following Saturdays: Victoria Smith on printing, July 24, and David Peterson on watercolor, July 31 – both the workshops are on Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Admission is free but your seat must be reserved. Check www.rcmacc.org for details.