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.
Feb 28, 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 3, 2025
Aniko Kiezel and I have something in common. We both hate to have our picture taken. But to Kiezel’s credit, I’ve never had more fun—or liked a photo of myself more—than when she photographed me for Inside Sacramento.
“Above all, I try to make the person I’m photographing feel comfortable,” says Kiezel, who photographs for Inside along with other publications and private clients. “I like to put them at ease and make them know I’m going to make them look good. If I’m having a good time, you’re going to have a good time.”
Kiezel photographs all kinds of people—artists, business owners, politicians, students, actors and more. She’s expert at striking up conversations with strangers.
Oct 28, 2024
For an artist, inspiration comes from anywhere. With ceramic artist Peter VandenBerge, anywhere equals a lifetime of adventure.
“Adventure can take any form,” says VandenBerge, born in the Netherlands in 1935. “It can be in the studio making art, it can be in Indonesia in the rice fields riding the big, horned buffalo. Everything is an amazing adventure. Those are the kinds of things you can remember and that come out in your work.”
Aug 28, 2024
My earliest memory of Maureen Gilli is from fourth grade at Sacramento County Day School.
She wheeled her art cart into the classroom and showed us an example of that day’s project: bird masks made from paper.
I marveled at her work. The detail of feathers. The expressive owl face. All from simple pieces of cut paper. I stared in awe. I thought, maybe someday my work will be that beautiful.
Thirty years later, the awe has not diminished. Today I’m in Gilli’s Citrus Heights home. Her work graces the walls, staircase, ceiling and tabletops in every medium you can imagine.
