Jun 28, 2025
If something interests Steve Kellison, he turns it into art.
For his “Lost Vincent” series, Kellison was inspired by “The Painter on the Road to Tarascon,” a Vincent van Gogh work destroyed in World War II.
The image of a painter on his way to work embedded itself in Kellison’s imagination and sparked a series of drawings and paintings. In each, the central image is recognizable but captured in various styles and mediums—some in charcoal and pastel on paper, some in oil and pigment stick on canvas. Some are abstract, others more faithful to the original.
Jun 28, 2025
Since we last spoke nine years ago, Jeff Myers has been busy.
“Tractor Levitation,” the outdoor sculpture he was working on in 2016, was unveiled at McKinley Village. He’s enjoyed several solo exhibitions, received good press and traveled.
Myers also added to his three series, “The Secret Life of Machines,” “The Land Series” and “Bodyen.”
His latest artistic exploration takes him back to his roots: cameras.
Apr 28, 2025
Kent Lacin finds joy in many places. Behind a camera. Drawing or writing with a new fountain pen. Jamming on jazz piano. Teaching college students. Making films.
“I never felt like I worked a day in my life, I had so much fun,” he says. “I did so many wonderful things and met so many wonderful people, it was a dream.”
Lacin retired four years ago after a decades-long career as owner of Kent Lacin Media Services. But that’s a small part of his story.
Growing up in Arden Park, Lacin loved to draw and play the piano. His parents gave him a Pentax camera at age 8, and he loved that, too. But since neither parent had a background in the arts, Lacin thought of art as a hobby, not a career.
Apr 28, 2025
When Dan Samborski retired from American River College after teaching studio art and art history for 32 years, he was offered a retirement party or a retrospective exhibition at the on-campus James Kaneko Gallery.
He chose the exhibition.
Cheekily called “The End of Painting,” the retrospective offered a chance to create a catalog to send to museums. It also let Samborski gather his work into one collection that spans four decades, from 1983 to the present.
“When I saw all of (the paintings) together in the room, I thought, Wow, is it in focus,” Samborski says.
Mar 27, 2025
A close-up of musician Nina Simone is captured in blue, black, gray and white acrylic paint. Her face is surrounded by a large black letter “N.” Etched into the glass frame is “WORD.”
Artist Michael Stevenson created this piece for his 2015 exhibition “Civil Rights Civil Wrongs” at University of Texas. Personal experiences were the inspiration.
“My nephews were throwing the N word around very casually,” says Stevenson, a graphic designer raised in Nashville. “It’s a hip thing to do, but once you’re starting to have kids, you think about the history of the word and how hurtful and demeaning it is. So, I took on the N word. Nina Simone fought so hard to eliminate this word. Now my N word is Nina.”
Feb 28, 2025
David Sobon, who founded Wide Open Walls mural festival, has something special on his own walls.
“As I gaze at two of my Norma Roos paintings in my living room, I see something different every time I spend time with them,” Sobon says. “The passion, emotion and skill that she has in her abstract work just boggles my mind.”
Sobon is not alone. Roos, 88, is having commercial succcess with art that’s lived in her soul since childhood. Her abstract paintings sold fast in two solo shows at Twisted Track Gallery on R Street.
