Stockton Mayor Ann Johnston presented 24 awards at the opening gala reception for the 57th Stockton Art League Juried Exhibition at the Haggin Museum in Stockton Thursday, July 5. While your humble blogger was not one of them—they did use a detail from my painting for one of the banners outside the museum!

Seriously, I am honored to have been included in this show. The quality of the work is very high. The show includes representational art, including both figurative and landscape pieces; abstracts; sculpture; and pottery. Entries came from as close as Stockton and as far away as Alaska and New Jersey.

The award for Best in Show was presented to Adam Forfang, of San Francisco, for his realist piece “On Thin Ice.”

And if you’ve never been to the Haggin Museum: you’ve missed a gem. The paintings along the back wall in this photo of the awards ceremony (below) are part of the museum’s collection of Albert Bierstadt and William Keith paintings. And in other galleries there are works by Bougereau, Rosa Bonheur, Jean-Leon Gerome, William Merrit Chase, George Inness—even Gauguin and Renoir. They also have a collection of local and regional historical items, including a 1927 wooden boat.

I think it’s great that a local museum teams up with contemporary arts organizations like the Stockton Art League, the Plein Air Painters of America, and the American Society of Marine Artists to exhibit contemporary works, not just historical pieces.

Thank you to both the Stockton Art League and the Haggin Museum for including my piece in such a great show! The Stockton Art League show will be up until September 2.