“Artists Reveal What is Behind their Paintings at the Adobe Gallery”  Saturday, October 7 from 11 am to 1 pm

Artists Rita Sklar and Susan Sarti will be available to greet members of the community and reveal their thoughts and artistic techniques.

Rita Sklar is an award-winning artist.   Her painting was selected as best of show by the Alameda County Fair in 2022.   Three of her paintings were selected for banners to hang in S. F.   A Signature Member of the California Watercolor Association (CWA), she received a commission from Alameda County and two Oakland City grants . Eight of Sklar’s paintings were commissioned by the recently opened Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. 

 Ms Sklar was born and raised in New Jersey.  A graduate of Rutger’s University, she served in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa for two years.  Sklar studied watercolors with a master painter in Madrid, Spain for one year.  She lives in Castro Valley.  Ms. Sklar is a Signature member of the CA Watercolor Assn., a member of the S.F. Women Artists Gallery, and Valley Art Center in Walnut Creek, Art Inc.

Susan Sarti has been drawing as long as she can remember. 

As a small child, she drew on all the scratch paper, on the backs of old envelopes and with chalk on the sidewalk in front of her home in San Francisco. 

However, she emphasizes that she was not a child prodigy. Pictures her mother saved show that her art was very child like, but she just kept at it. By the time she was in high school, she was making portraits of her family, her friends and their pets.

She wanted to become an artist but the San Francisco Art Institute was too costly. Instead, she earned an Elementary teaching credential at San Francisco State University thinking that she could teach art in the classroom and take art courses in the summer at Cal State East Bay. That’s exactly what happened.

Cal State East Bay has an excellent art department and for many years, Susan took art courses there studying with Ray Saunders, Mel Ramos and Arne Wolf. She also studied at U.C. Extension and attended monthly critiques with Leonard Breger. 

Through the years, Susan has shown her work in the greater Bay Area and in Northern California. 

She continues as an abstract painter, living in Castro Valley.

Rita Sklar and Susan Sarti are looking forward to meeting you and talking about their paintings. The Adobe Gallery will be open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 am to 3 pm from September 28 to October 14, 2023. The gallery is staffed by Art Inc artists who are looking forward to sharing with visitors their particular art form and techniques.

Local artist Peggy Maurer will help you to create your own unique and charming craft project from plant material you find. This free event takes place on Saturday, July 8, from 2 to 4 pm at the Adobe Art Gallery & Center, located at 20395 San Miguel Ave. Castro Valley. Please bring your own tweezers, small scissors, and garden plant material that you think might be good to use in creating your first easy project. Peggy will also bring plant material to share with attendees.

Meghana Mitragotri will share some of the unique techniques she has developed while exhibiting her work nationally & internationally. Join us for a FREE art demo at the Adobe Art Gallery, located at 20395 San Miguel Ave. Castro Valley.

Meg hails from a family of scientists. Growing up in a diverse community in India heightened her interest in art, dance, languages, and classical music. In 2014, she immigrated to the U.S. and became a full-time professional artist. Meg draws inspiration from flowers, birds, and countryside landscapes. Usually, her style is realistic - sometimes impressionistic. Her work has received numerous awards.