Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Hi, I am Louise McGowan Bezark and I am in a long term love affair with gourds!

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I visited Auburn Old Town Gallery over 17 years ago and experienced my first introduction to gourd art. I didn’t know what they were at the time, I just felt them capture my mind and heart. After receiving a request to apply to the gallery, being accepted and installing my art, brought me full circle with my artistic destiny.

Where are you originally from?
I am California born, from farming generations. It’s quite fitting that the art medium that found me grows right here in this state.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
I really was born to create and have studied many forms of creative expression over the years. I have quilted, tailored, stained glassed, potted, garden designed, mothered, and sculpted for over 6 decades. My early dream was to be a mother and an artist.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
When someone views my work and stands still and silent, they are seeing and feeling the essence of my love that has been birthed through these hands. That is the ultimate expression of why I create.

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
The humans and animals I love, the art that moves me, means that there is rarely a moment I am not smiling.

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Read Louise’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Hello, I’m Suzanne and my art is still life photography.

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I wanted to be a photographer since the first time I developed and printed an image from film in the 1970s.

Where are you originally from?
I’m originally from Buffalo, New York. I moved to CA in 1983.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
I wanted to work for National Geographic, photographing the world.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
Many folks that visit the gallery say that my photographs look like they are paintings.

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
Photographing flowers in a still life arrangement makes me smile!

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Read Suzanne’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Hello, I’m Stacy and my medium is Photography.

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I have been a member of Art on the Divide Gallery in Georgetown for many years, and I wanted to branch out to join a larger gallery and Auburn Old Town was the perfect fit.

Where are you originally from?
San Jose, CA.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
As a young girl I wanted to be a hairdresser and did that for 37 years and retiring soon.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
“She paints beautiful pictures with her camera.”

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
I try to find Joy in each day and hard to pinpoint one thing, lately it’s been spending time with good friends.

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Read Stacy’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Hi, my name is Darlene Riel. I share my photographs in Auburn Old Town Gallery. Specifically, travel photography.

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I began sharing my photographs in 2005. I met several artists from the gallery at art shows over the years. I worked very long hours during my career at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, so I didn’t have time to be a dedicated cooperative art gallery member. After my retirement, Auburn Old Town Gallery was the first gallery that applied to become a member and I was accepted in 2017.

Where are you originally from?
I’m a local native to the area: I was born in Roseville and raised in Meadow Vista.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
I had aspirations of owning a large ranch with many horses and animals. I’d refer to it as “My Dream Hacienda.” I had no idea how I would earn an income from the ranch, but the idyllic lifestyle that I would muster in my head was my fantasy.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
Customers commonly compliment my photographs printed directly on natural stone.  I’ve spent many hours reviewing thousands of my images to select those that best fit and present well on 4×4 coaster tiles and 6×6 trivet tiles.  I have introduced dozens of new images since beginning this practice.

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
A young boy, maybe age 10-12 years, came into the gallery to take another look at one of my photographs printed on canvas.  It had sold and was no longer in the gallery, but I happened to be working.  He told me that he had come to see the photograph several times.  He was happy to tell me it was one of his favorites and then added “especially your composition”.  This made me beam.  Thank you, young artful critic!

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Read Darlene’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Hello, I’m Linda Whiteside and my medium is raku-fired ceramic sculpture.

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
From as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed the creative process while working in multiple mediums. Later in life, I returned to school and obtained a degree in commercial art; it was at this time that I re-discovered the joy and satisfaction of working in clay. It has been a rewarding journey for many years now and I have shown my work in multiple galleries throughout the State. A founding member introduced me to the gallery 25 years ago. I have been fortunate to meet and get to know many talented artists through my association with AOTG.

Where are you originally from?
I was born in Keene NH and at 7 years old, when my parents decided they needed a change, we moved to California. I lived in Fresno until 1988, moved to Riverside California for a time; and then on to Sacramento in 1994.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
I never had a clear vision of what I wanted to be when younger. The only constant was the drive to create art in any form. Though I’ve enjoyed a number of managerial professions from real estate development and sales to senior services, I never lost sight of, or connection to, the artist in me.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
I love it when people tell me that my work makes them feel happy.

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
When staffing the gallery, I enjoy calling fellow artists to let them know they’ve made a particularly nice sale. I know they are smiling and that is contagious!

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Read Linda’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Hello, my name is Cathy McAllister, and my art medium is wood and acrylic, some fabrics and ribbons.

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I’ve done art since I was tiny. I just love playing with paints and colors and fabrics and different mediums so when Covid came and a few things have changed in my life, I decided to go to the Auburn Old Town Art Gallery and give it a try. I was very blessed to be accepted into the gallery. It is a fantastic place. I enjoy all the clients that we have and of course the people I work with are very inspiring and it encourages me to go to the next levels.

Where are you originally from?
I was born in Canada brought over at a very young age and grew up in California. I love California. I love adventures and it’s just fabulous.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
I don’t think I ever really thought about what I wanted to be and do when I was younger, I just know that when I was at school, I always took lots of art classes and even at summer school I would take art classes.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
Some of the things that I have accomplished and love doing are providing donations for large events. This really makes me happy to see the amount of money my art brings in to help the organizations and ultimately the people or individuals who are beneficiaries of those directed funds.

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
One of the things that has made me really happy is that I created a chair for the Boys and Girls Club. They are having a huge fundraising event this year and it was a Picasso chair. Absolutely had the best time doing it!

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Read Cathy’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Well, hello! I’m Sonja Hamilton, a watercolor artist who has a BA Degree in Art as well as a Special Teaching Credential in Art (only.) I am also a calligrapher, author, and art show judge from time to time.

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I joined this wonderful gallery after moving here in the year 2000 and after teaching for the adult school in the Bay Area for 26 years. (I am currently teaching for Placer School for Adults.)

Where are you originally from?
I was born in San Francisco. I lived there for 40 years and then moved to Auburn, CA.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
I always loved art and decided that was my passion when I was very young. It still is!

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
The most wonderful thing that have been told to me was that my art was healing. Several people have placed my painting in front of them to escape from a loss, illness, or another trauma. They feel peace, serenity and enjoy reliving the location where I painted my scenes or still life paintings.

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
When they say, “Watercolor is so hard!” Apparently, they haven’t had the correct teacher!

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Read Sonja’s previous interview here.

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