In an exhibition featuring the work of new and emerging artists, YoloArts presents Artists+Emerging=Show, a multi-media exhibition featuring the work of nine new and emerging regional artists. This exhibition includes ceramic, sculpture, paintings, drawings, and mixed media and runs April 2 – June 1.
Artists+Emerging=Show includes the artwork of these artists from Woodland, Davis, and Sacramento: Taylore Amato, Nathan Blue, Sandy Calhoun, John Paul Cazares, Patrick Cosgrove, Heather Hogan, Jennifer Michel, Natalie Nelson, and Polly LaPorte.
Exhibition curator Janice Purnell, creative director at YoloArts, says the definition of an emerging artist can vary in the field of art, although most can agree that an emerging artist is someone who is making art on more than an occasional basis or as a part time hobby and has developed a body of work that demonstrates their growth as an artist. The artists featured in this exhibition are of all ages and some have had notable success in exhibiting and sales.
“This is an exciting collection of artwork representing artists of various ages and stages of their lives who all share the same desire to seriously pursue their passion – to make art and share their stories with others,” Purnel stated.
By day, these artists are working in jobs such as pest technician, art gallery director, or retired from being a high school art teacher, or television station art director, or are students.
Cazares, an artist from Woodland, said in his artist statement that “he has been drawing since high school and recently began to seriously explore ways to weave together his music and art to bring more layers to the worlds I have created.” He is in a local band, The Phur Soles, and his artiwork is featured on their album covers.
From Davis, artist Nelson, who is also the executive director of the Pence Gallery has this to say about her art, “Creating during a year of shutdown which has seemed infinitely fast, I aim to slow the viewer down, to make them ponder their own relationship to recollections of the past. As much as we try to fix and preserve the past in place, with glue and nails, it slips away as we watch. My assemblages are full of things that are past their prime: old toys, discarded shoes, bent tools from a nearby field. In reclaiming them, they gain new life and purpose.”
Cosgrove, retired studio art teacher at McClatchy High School in Sacramento, who has also worked in the movie industry states, “I am humbled by the thought of needing to be considered ‘emerging’ as an artist at this stage in life, yet this is my goal — to emerge creatively in the context of finally being free to do so, to single-mindedly pursue my passion for image-making.”
A virtual tour of the exhibition and will premiere on Facebook and Instagram @yoloartsCA at noon on Monday, April 12 and will feature the artists talking about their work and artistic practice. The virtual experience is produced by Jones Visual Arts Group and filmed at Gallery 625.
Gallery 625 is located at 625 Court Street in Woodland, in Yolo County’s Erwin Meier Administration building. The gallery is open Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Public health guidelines for physical distancing and the use of face coverings are required.
For more information contact YoloArts at ya@yoloarts.org.