RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - The Fall Fine Art Show, which runs from Oct. 20 to Jan. 23, is open to the public at Rancho Cordova City Hall.

Cordova Community Council presented prizes for both adults and youth at the show’s reception on Oct. 30.

“Best of Show” was the highest honor given, won by Sid Wellman for his painting “City Dog.” 

“I try to do something that’s kind of whimsical, that’s my style,” Wellman said.

Wellman has been submitting his work since the conception of Art at City Hall, as well as showing at the Mills Station Art and Culture Center.

“Serenity in Bloom” by Ron Hall won second place.  Hall said that doing art “is a great opportunity for me to just relax and go through the process and try to think.” Photo by Rick Sloan

After high school, Wellman started a custom car shop, where he painted cars and built show vehicles, boats and race cars.

“Since the ‘90s I’ve been doing fine art and doing gallery showings,” Wellman said.

According to Wellman, he used to try to follow the requests of buyers in works they commissioned from him. He would do the piece and later discover that the client had a different vision in mind.

Now, Wellman said, “Instead of trying to make somebody else happy, I’ll make me happy . . . That way I’m always happy. Usually.”

Susan Wickersham took first place for adults with a collage, “Oia in Santorini.”

 “I do all kinds of mediums but I like collage,” Wickersham said. “It relaxes me, tearing and glueing paper.” 

Susan Wickersham won first place for her collage Oia in Santorini. A former graphic artist by occupation, now retired, Wickersham said, “I’m glad I have the family support and friend support that I can do (my own thing) whenever I want.” Photo by Rick Sloan

Wickersham left a career in medicine to pursue fine arts, and when told by an instructor that there was no money in fine arts, she became a graphic artist. 

“It was fun at work,” Wickersham said, “but it wasn’t creatively fulfilling for me because it was somebody else’s project . . . When I retired, I thought, now I can just do my own thing.”

Second place was taken by Ron Hall’s work, “Serenity in Bloom.”

When asked what advice he would give a beginner in art, Hall said “It’s really important to stay true to yourself . . . I think for me the process is so much more important than the actual finished product. Don’t get wrapped up in how it looks but get immersed and enjoy just the feeling of creating, that would be my tip.”

Gert Van Ommering’s photograph, “The Poetry of Industry,” won third place.

“There are so many cameras out there now . . . There’s a billion cameras or eight billion cameras in the world, probably. So how can you be unique?”  Ommering said.

Ommering had a photo of a refinery of culinary oils in Woodland with an interesting arrangement of equipment.  With various tools and photoshopping to modify and colorize, he came up with something that viewers seem to like.

Photographer Gert Van Ommering received third place for his photography work “The Poetry of Industry.” Photo by Rick Sloan

“I have won three different competitions with that photo against all the photographers and a third place here and we’re pretty pleased with that,” Ommering said.

Honorable mentions for adults were awarded to Valerie Birkhoff for “Love Bite,” Linda Grainger for “Edible,” Elizabeth Hall for “First Blush of Spring,” Judy “JJ” Jacobs for “One Last Look,” David Peterson for “Sailor Bar II, ”Victoria Ruderman for “Lone Tree” and two honorable mentions to Kevin Stoffel for “Venice” and for “Raccoon.”

For the youth, Sebastian Smith won first place with “Spiral Forest,” second place went to Omari Johnson for “Omari Mountain,” and third place went to Elkin Martinez for “Mi Dormitorio – Homage to Van Gogh.” Youth honorable mentions went to Josue Cruz for “Pajaro Azteca” and to Shelli Dirksen for “The Soldier.”

The art show can be seen during open hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at Rancho Cordova City Hall, 2729 Prospect Park Drive, Rancho Cordova.