GALLERY PROGRAM

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission Gallery Program provides visual arts experiences in public locations at the Robert T. Matsui Gallery (Sacramento City Hall), the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), and the Sacramento International Airport, Terminal B. This ongoing series of free public exhibitions showcase the artistic and cultural resources of the region.

All aspects of the Gallery Program are administered by SMAC staff.

The Gallery Program:

• Provides opportunities for local and regional artists at all career levels to exhibit their artwork in public venues.
• Provides artists, curators and others with an interest in producing exhibitions the opportunity to present their ideas to the public and to advance their curatorial skills.
• Meets the public goal of enhancing the quality of life for visitors and residents,
• Supports SMAC’s efforts for community inclusion and diversity.

Exhibition Guidelines and Application Procedures

Proposals for exhibitions at the Robert T. Matsui Gallery (Sacramento City Hall), the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), and Sacramento International Airport are accepted year-round. Proposals are reviewed by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission staff. Staff makes recommendations for exhibitions and then determines the schedule of exhibitions for each venue. Annual exhibition schedules are reviewed and approved by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, Art in Public Places Committee.

Proposals may be submitted throughout the year and are reviewed upon submission. For more information on each venue, and how to apply, please see the Exhibition Guidelines and Application.

Exhibition Schedule
For more information contact Lorrie Kempf at (916) 808 -3977.

SMUD Art Gallery
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Customer Service Center
6301 S Street at 65th Street, Sacramento, CA 95817
Hours -  Monday – Friday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Located in the first floor lobby.
The SMUD Art Gallery is a partnership between the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission with additional funding from the City and County of Sacramento.
Current Exhibit: Take Action! Care For Your Air

EXHIBIT DATES: June 3, 2010- July 29, 2010
RECEPTION: Thursday July 1, 2010, 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

“It’s in Our Hands”, Claire Rosenfield, mixed media, First Place Award for Fine Art

The exhibition features artwork by 35 Sacramento Area High School Students.  The students competed in Breathe California of Sacramento – Emigrant Trail’s 3rd Annual High School Art Contest.  This year’s award winners were selected by California State University Sacramento Art Professor, Phil Hitchcock and Art Institute of California, Sacramento Professor, Dan Herrera. Each contestant created Paintings, drawings, mixed media, and graphic design works in keeping with the theme Take Action! Care For Your Air.

Breathe California of Sacramento – Emigrant Trails is a non-profit agency dedicated to healthy air and preventing lung and other air-pollution related diseases by partnering with youth, advocating public policy, supporting air pollution research, and educating the public.

Airport Gallery
Sacramento International Airport, Terminal B
6900 Airport Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95837
Four enclosed exhibition cases are located in the public areas on the lower level of Terminal B. Six enclosed exhibition cases are located on the secured passenger concourses.
Current Exhibit: From Scratch: Artists who grind, forage, mine, dig up and mix their own medium

EXHIBIT DATES: June 11, 2010 – September 14, 2010


"Fire Jar", Richard Hotchkiss, wild clay from Grass Valley area, 2010

The exhibition features the work of four Sacramento area artists who create their art with materials they make from scratch.  The exhibition includes ceramic, paper, oil, encaustic, pastel, ink and egg tempera works, all of which start with handmade media from natural found items, such as earth, bark, leaves, ground rocks and minerals, wax, insects, and egg yolks.

These techniques, employed in ancient times, remain virtually unchanged today.  The encaustic medium, as seen in artist and art professor S.S. Solis’ self portrait, originates with the Greeks in 5th Century BCE.  It is made from beeswax and dammar crystals mixed with hand ground pigments.  S.S. Solis is so fascinated with how ancient artists made their materials that she created a course on the subject, which she teaches at American River College in Sacramento. 

Grass Valley ceramic artist Richard Hotchkiss is inspired by the native clays of the region.  He routinely digs up the area’s earth which he refers to as Nevada County "wild clay".  In keeping with ancient techniques, he burnishes and fires his creations in a wood fired kiln.

Sacramento paper artist Tom Weideman is passionate about the four-thousand-year-old art of kite making.  Weideman prefers to build his kites with paper he makes from materials, such as wild mustard and Japanese iris—the latter of which he found in a garden refuse pile in South Sacramento.

Originating with the ancient Egyptians, egg tempera was commonly used in medieval times to create religious icons.  Margie Miller, a Nevada City artist, utilizes this ancient technique in a contemporary application, as seen in her work titled “Luminous California: Mid Morning in a Foothill Orchard”.  Miller is drawn to the luminosity which is created through the small brush strokes and the building up of colors from dark to light.

Robert T. Matsui Art Gallery
City of Sacramento City Hall
915 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Located in the H Street lobby of the new City Hall building.
Current Exhibit: Living With Trees

EXHIBIT DATES: August 4, 2010 – January 15, 2011
RECEPTION: Open to the public, FREE, August 4, 2010, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Trees are Sacramento’s crowning glory. Anyone who has strolled beneath the cooling, canopy of towering elms and sycamores knows the city is graced by a special relationship with trees.   The exhibition Living with Trees, opening at the Robert T. Matsui Gallery on August 4, is a snapshot of this complex relationship.    

It includes a combination of historic photographs from the Sacramento Center for History, contemporary art installation by Cheri Ibes, and an interactive element that allows visitors to share their “tree stories” and drop off or post personal photographs of trees.  The three major elements collectively examine Sacramento’s interdependency with trees.

Photographs of tree-lined boulevards, parks, and residential foliage evoke an appreciation for natural beauty and 150-years of commitment to trees based on a profound understanding of the benefits that trees offer.  Many of the images, however, show some of the drawbacks of trees.  

An installation by Sacramento Cheri Ibes, titled “Preservation”, examines the relationship between human beings and nature.  Hundreds of precisely pruned tree branches, stripped bare of bark and treated with oil are installed in a giant glass case.  The installation is meant to illustrate the chaos and unpredictability of nature.