March Into the Arts
By Jim Christiansen
The third Thursday Art Walk is back on March 20, and for the second time, the Modesto Junior College Art Gallery will be open during the 5 to 8 PM art walk hours. MJC professor Deborah Barr’s show “Filtered’ is the featured gallery event. Honorable Mention winner in the Circle Foundation for the Arts “Artist of the Year” Award of 500 participating artists worldwide. Barr’s work on display is worth a look, and some of the pieces will move on to a December 2025 solo show in New York.
Save the date April 5 and 6 for Stanislaus Artist Open Studio weekend. The FREE all-ages event is from 11 AM to 5 PM on Saturday and Sunday and features 47 local artists at 28 studio venues. Maps online and in print will be available this month, likely at The Queen Bean. www.stanislausaos.com
Modesto Art Group will meet at Modesto Artist Movement headquarters at the Queen Bean on the second Friday, March 15. Anna Barber and Suzanne McCaslin were among the local artist award winners at the Expressions Show last month in Tracy. Kathryn Knightsby was featured artist of the month at Bookish in Roseburg Square. Rhett Regina Owings is the featured artist at Kruse Lucas Gallery on Tully Road in a three-month display.
March is Arts Education Month. The Stanislaus County Office of Education opens a multi-county display of student art from March 1 through the end of the month. Offices are located at 1100 H Street, Modesto.
Come and support Youth Art at the Knights Ferry Art Studio on March 14 and get a free bowl of soup with the purchase of local pottery. Soup for the Youth Young Artist Showcase will include a musical performance by the Randy Mandy Band and the Frequency RESONATION. 4 to 7 PM, 17631 Main Street in Knights Ferry. Last month, the studio featured classes such as Learn to Process Wild Clay.
Ceramics and wheel throwing are among the classes for all ages at Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock. Their March Art Start in basic elements of art for the 5 to 7 age group starts March 1. MJC offers classes for older ceramics students. Dragonfly Art for Life provides a range of workshops and courses from pre-school process to Open Art Nights. Dragonfly is open Tuesdays to Saturdays. Modesto Art Academy out in Salida gives classes. Oakdale Arts recently held classes in Collage at Gallery132 N. Third Street, Oakdale.
The Stanislaus Arts Council gallery will have the annual Young at Art student show opens March 5 to the end of the month in the Stan Arts Gallery at 1315 J Street. Currently, no classes are offered, and recent fundraising email request notes added support needed, or the gallery may close in June. Stanislaus Arts Council has since been awarded a State-Local Partnership Grant of $62,959 from the California Arts Council.
Recent exhibitions from Stan Arts like the “Celebration in Black” art display at the Gallo Center and the partnership “Stanislaus Artist Exchange” of local established artists showing at CSU Stanislaus Gallery and the CSUC BFA students shown at the Stan Arts Gallery representative of the collaboration direction taken. Next Stan Arts call for artists is the Emerging Artists show, deadline to enter is March 15. The exhibition will take place from April 2 to May 2. www.stanislausarts.org
