Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Hi, I’m Sandy Lindblad and my art is created in almost an impressionistic manner using acrylic and pastel.

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I always did art at a very early age. The AOTG is a great gallery and represents itself well.

Where are you originally from?
Chicago.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
A cartoonist!

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
I’ve heard this so much from folks: “Aww, you catch the personalities of animals that you paint!”

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
Creating satisfaction from customers after they receive their commissions!

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Read Sandy’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Hi, I’m Sierra Mohr. I am a Fiber Artist which means I work with textiles to create art.

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
It is difficult for me to put into words what led me to be an artist. The need to create seems to be something I was born with. As far back as I can remember, I have been making and creating things that to me are pleasing to the eye. Participating in Auburn Old Town Gallery has given me a venue to share my creations with others.

Where are you originally from?
I was born in Florida but was raised in Arizona. The influence of growing up in the southwest definitely shows in my work.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
I thought I wanted to be a teacher, and as an adult although I define myself as an artist, I do find myself teaching and sharing what I have learned.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
That I am kind and compassionate.

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
I smile every day when I look out my window. For me, living in California, in the forest, is a gift. I love where I live. I love the trees, the birds, the squirrels, the occasional fox and racoons that visit my yard. It is all a gift to be appreciated every day.

Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
I’m Constance McLennan– not “McLellan” –but I prefer “Connie.” I smear colored mud on cloth or wood using a stick with hairs on the end. (I’m a painter, mostly oil.)

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I was an advertising and children’s book illustrator for many years and began painting more seriously about ten years ago when the commercial work ended. I showed online on Daily Paintworks for several years, at a gallery in Salinas for a year, at High Hand Gallery for 16 months, and joined AOTG last December. I’m a member of the “put-all-your-eggs-in-one-basket-and-watch-that-basket” school and find Auburn a great community for the arts.

Where are you originally from?
I lived in Yreka, CA, from birth through high school, then attended my first year of college in Stockton. I have lived in Sacramento and then Placer County ever since (a very long time.)

What did you want to be when you were younger?
At various times I thought I would become a surgeon, a singer, or an attorney. But after majoring in journalism in college, in 1978, I toured San Francisco’s Academy of Art, immediately decided to study illustration, and never looked back.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
After many years of following art direction and carrying out commercial assignments meant to sell products, I am complimented and proud every single time a buyer spends hard-earned, personal funds on a painting I created on my own just because they like it.

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
While waiting for a friend in the lobby of a Texas movie theater, an older man I didn’t know told me I looked nice. He followed with, “I know that takes a lot of work.”!!!

Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
Hi, I’m Ann Ranlett. I create highly detailed drawings in scratchboard. I explain the scratchboard technique as “drawing white with a knife”. I use a commercially prepared board (Ampersand brand) that has a sturdy archival base, a white clay layer and a black top layer. I scratch through the black with an X-acto knife to reveal the white, using a variety of stroke widths and lengths to create textures and values. After I complete the scratching, I can add color or shades of grey with watercolor and/or ink.

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I’ve always enjoyed being creative and my parents fostered my interest in art. I’ve been drawing since I could hold a crayon, and art has always been a part of my life in some way. As for joining the Gallery, I’ve been a member so many years now, I don’t really remember specifics, but I was looking for a way to get my art out into the public and I liked what I saw when I first walked in the Gallery doors! One of our founding members (Doreen Kidd) and I crossed paths a few times and she always encouraged me to join.

Where are you originally from?
Texas. My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved often. We settled in the Sacramento area when he retired.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
A veterinarian, with occasional thoughts about being an engineer. I realized that although my parents would have supported me through vet school, that was going to be a LOT of school, so I decided to dial it back a bit and get a BS in Biology.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
Honestly, as an artist, any time my work is recognized by my peers is a great compliment. Whether it’s an award, or even just acceptance into a competitive show.

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
As I was answering these interview questions, I heard Sandhill Cranes calling for the first time this season, as they flew over our house. It’s such a wonderful, ancient sound!

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Read Ann’s previous interview here.
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Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your art.
I’m Linda Miller, a painter (in acrylics).

What led you to be an artist and to share your art in Auburn Old Town Gallery?
I think I was born loving to make art.

Where are you originally from?
I was born in Palo Alto, CA.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
I always wanted to be an artist.

Tell us about a compliment that you’ve received that you’re most proud of.
Repeat customers are the greatest compliment!

What’s one thing that has made you smile recently?
A customer from way, WAY back was in touch to say she still has a piece of my artwork (from the time when I was making soft sculptured foods)! I feel old, but wow!

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Read Linda’s previous interview here.
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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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