It’s December! At Auburn Old Town Gallery it’s all about TREES! Stop by and see the imaginative art created by our members! And it’s not just about Christmas! There is always so much to explore at the gallery by all our members. And yes…we do have Christmas trees with original handmade ornaments! Shop for unique gift ideas! Stop by during Auburn Old Town Christmas December 14th and December 21st – Happy Holidays from all of us!
**Applications are accepted via online submission only**
Please visit the Membership Application page for more information and to submit an application. As an artist-run gallery, we expect each member to contribute to the gallery’s operations.
Our first jurying for 2025 is January 21st.
Deadline to apply is January 14th.
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Located in Historic Old Town Auburn, our visitors include long-time patrons who purchase for their own collections or for gifts, locals who bring visiting friends & family to Old Town, and restaurant patrons & tourists traveling to/from the Sierra.
We are centrally located, close to the action during Spring and Summer events held in Old Town.
During the holiday season, the gallery is filled with gifts & decorations.
Please introduce yourself.
Hi, my name is Sierra, and I am a fiber artist.
Tell us about your favorite art medium.
A fiber artist uses textiles as the material to make their art. That pretty much describes what I do. I have been creating using textiles since I was around 8 years old when I got my first Barbie doll and began designing clothing for her, stitching them by hand. That need to create using textiles continued from there, when throughout my teenage years I designed and made clothing for myself and my friends. In early adulthood I began experimenting with dyes and continued to design garments. About 20 years ago I discovered eco print dyeing. The first time I saw it, I knew I had to learn more about it. So, I read, researched and experimented with the medium. Here I am today, still experimenting and designing. I continue to be excited and mystified that by using simple leaves I can create pieces of art.
Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
Nature is my biggest artistic influence.
What motivates you to create?
I find beauty around me every day and everywhere I look. I love the configurations of the clouds, right now the beautiful turning leaves, breathtaking, the way birds gather on the power lines, a colorful pebble in the river, the sunrise and sunset. Beauty is all around us every moment of the day. It excites me and motivates me to try my hand at creating something beautiful.
When is your favorite time of day to create?
I find myself creating at all times during the day.
Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Nature and art play an important part in my daily life. They are a reminder of how lucky I am to be living the life I live, to have the freedom and opportunity to experience art in its many forms. I strive to acknowledge and remember that having art in my life truly is a gift.
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Read Sierra’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself.
Hi, I’m Ann Ranlett, a scratchboard artist.
Tell us about your favorite art medium.
Scratchboard is not very well known, but it’s a wonderful medium which allows for an incredible level of detail. It’s that detail that I love. I’m a bio-nerd & detail freak and scratchboard is the perfect medium for creating the style of art that makes my science brain happy. My short description of scratchboard is: “drawing white with a knife”. I use a commercially prepared board (Ampersand brand), scratching through the top layer of black with an X-acto knife to reveal the white clay below. Using a variety of stroke widths and lengths creates textures and values. After I complete the scratching, I can add color or shades of grey with watercolor and/or ink.
Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
Animals are my biggest influences, they’re my favorite subject and an important part of my life. I also credit my parents for fostering my love of animals and supporting my artistic endeavors!
What motivates you to create?
I want to express my view of the world in a creative way, in a technique that speaks to me.
When is your favorite time of day to create?
I’m a hard-core night owl, even though I can work on my art during the day, I prefer nighttime, when my husband has gone to bed & the dogs are settled down.
Does art help you in other areas of your life?
It does. It has given me an “eye” for my surroundings – making me more aware of the interest and beauty in the little things. It has also made me appreciate the business aspect of being a professional artist.
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Read Ann’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself.
I’m Linda Miller. I’m in love with making art!
Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I love to paint, but I’m having quite the love affair with mosaics!
Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
Nature is the big one. Color, patterns, design all influence me.
What motivates you to create?
I’m happy when I’m creating. It’s my favorite drug!
When is your favorite time of day to create?
Anytime but early morning. NOT a morning person!
Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Absolutely. Art trains the eye. Art helps me to see the world in different ways. It’s worth saying again – it makes me happy!
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Read Linda’s previous interview here.
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Stella Canfield‘s watercolor art is known for its deep emotional content, the dynamic of the brush stroke and vivacious colors. She creates intuitively and spontaneously in a relaxed, natural way of expressing her individual emotional response to the subject or scene she paints. Her work is charged with the energy of her own life, her passion for people and nature. The inspiration for Stella’s art comes from her appreciation of beauty and her positive view of the world. Stella prefers to introduce symbols, giving the viewers the opportunity to visualize the details. She strives to emotionally involve them as partners, to give them a feeling of the ownership of the painting. She believes that art is a way of spiritual communication. Today Stella teaches watercolor, juries and participates in exhibits initiated by art organizations in the USA, Europe and Asia. She has received many international awards for her work. Her paintings are in several private, corporate, and museum collections in America, Europe and Asia.
After years in the Commercial Art World, Carrie Olsen Garrard is finally back in her own home studio. Through her career in Product Development, Carrie has enjoyed the opportunity of engaging in the creation of a wide variety of products in a multitude of mediums. In tandem with many Home Décor, Gift and Garden Companies, she has created products, and gathered cherished experience from around the world. Carrie returned to her roots, where she finds herself drawn back to the raw, tactile experience of her hands in clay in all varieties and textures. Casting in Stone compounds provides another layer of nuance of color and texture. This reconnection with the medium has reignited her original inspiration, reminding her of the reasons she chose a creative path in the first place. Through her work in clay, Carrie seeks to capture the essence of emotion between subtle human expression and the beauty of nature that surrounds us.
It’s November and it’s time to start thinking gifts…Remember the old saying “Great things come in small packages”? Never has that been more true! Auburn Old Town Gallery’s feature wall this month is “MINI MASTERPIECES”… you don’t want to miss this chance to pick out that perfect gift! All created by the talented artists in the gallery! And speaking of gifts – roam around and explore all the amazing work displayed by the members of AOTG!
Don’t miss the 2024 PLACER ARTIST TOUR! November 8-9-10 and 15-16-17. Stop by the Gallery to pick your FREE Tour guides!
Please introduce yourself.
Hello, my name is Karen Dukes, and I am a glass mixed media artist.
Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I started painting in 2007 and did very well with my paintings – mostly acrylic, but some oil. I started playing with a new form of art called Flow Art about 10 years ago and found that it is a very challenging art form. In 2023 I purchased a glass kiln and started doing fused glass mixed with other mediums such as brushed stainless steel, flow art, resin, crystals, most anything that my imagination went. I love the creativity that I am able to use in this current form of art that I am creating.
Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
One of my biggest influences in my paintings years ago with Steve Memering, a very famous artist in the Sacramento area and became friends with many of the Artist and Sacramento. I would say my biggest artistic influence right now is Daniel Winn of the Winn Slavin Gallery in Beverly Hills. With him as my mentor, he has encouraged my growth and creativity in the fuse glass world to heights that I never imagined. I am now in the gallery in Beverly Hills as one of the artists.
What motivates you to create?
I feel creating art in life is something that is born within you. Freedom to create from the natural beauty around us is a way we interact with the world, and it reveals who we are.
When is your favorite time of day to create?
I tend to create after I have my cup of coffee in the morning and on until about noon until maybe 2 pm.
Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Art helps me in the social part of my life. I’ve always owned my own business and so I have not had the opportunity to create long personal relationships in my business areas. Now that I am retired, my art gives me a great opportunity to expand my social circles and keep me engaged in life.
Please introduce yourself.
Hi, Louise McGowan Bezark here.
Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I am in an exciting, long term love affair with earthy gourds. Not the variety we see at the grocers, rather the hard-shelled cousins of pumpkins and squash. They come in so many shapes and sizes, I use all of them from the tiniest to the largest. They are light weight, versatile, and most people who see my art believe that they are ceramic.
Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
My mother’s best friend is Japanese and would bring beautiful gifts from Asia to our family. I grew up with lovely silks, lacquered trays and the simple and beautiful lines are ingrained in my entire being.
What motivates you to create?
I believe that we are all creators, every aspect of life is connected. We create art in every thought, action and word. The importance lies in where we create from, we have a choice to create from our heart in celebration and love or from our angst.
When is your favorite time of day to create?
Early morning is one of my favorite times of day to create art. Combining my two favorite things, art and coffee! Really, there is no time of day that isn’t a good time to create.
Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Is there another area of life other than art? Whether I am cooking, doing laundry, shopping or cleaning, I am always seeing something that inspires my creativity in ways that I can carry with me into the studio.
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Read Louise’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself.
Hi, my name is Darlene Riel.
Tell us about your favorite art medium.
My medium is photography. My passion is to travel and to explore other countries and their cultures. I’d like to think that I “see things” that many people overlook. I’m drawn to texture and aged patinas, especially of wood and metals. I like to print my images on premium canvas, as I feel that the nap of the canvas gives my images extra texture and depth.
Who/what is your biggest artistic influences?
On occasion I like to take some of my photographs slightly out of focus, and with the addition of digital post processing noise, they become very painterly. I first became more familiar with this process by Canadian photographer Michael Orton who started “painterly impressionistic images” that became known as “Orton Imagery”. This might sound familiar to those who use Adobe Photoshop software as “Orton Effects” were integrated into their post processing software in the 1980’s. Otherwise, my influences are what I see in the world around me and in my travels.
What motivates you to create?
Sharing my photographs opens dialogs about a sense of place, memories, and the love of travel.
When is your favorite time of day to create?
Early morning or late afternoon. However, because I may be traveling at any time of day, lighting may not always be perfect. I’m often moving constantly. I do not go on “photo shoots” and I therefore capture images of what is presented to me as a passerby.
Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Socially, it definitely does! Belonging to Auburn Old Town Gallery (and two other galleries) and being around so many creative people is a huge bonus and inspiration. I’ve also met some amazing fellow travelers and people from all over the world, and many keep in touch.
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Read Darlene’s previous interview here.
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Voted Best of the Best Art Gallery
multiple years
