One of the oldest visual arts groups in California, the Fairfield-Suisun Visual City Arts Association, is celebrating its 80th year with an art auction, each canvas showcasing work by a member of the organization.
The association began simply, with a few local artists who just wanted to get together and talk about art, said President of FSVAA Dennis Ariza. “It’s really grown from like, five artists that got together and it’s continued on.”
During the last eight decades the association has seen many artists come and go, but being able to say they have been around that long is amazing, added Ariza.
To celebrate the 80th anniversary, the FSVAA has put together an art auction. Around 60 members of the association have painted, sculpted, and photographed work to be displayed on 80 identical six by six inch canvases. “It’s creativity! When you see 80 pieces, they’re all exactly the same size and each one is completely different from the next,” he said.
Bidding on the art has been steady and consistent, said Ariza, with each canvas starting at $20 and increasing by increments of $10. The canvases are on display in the Solano Town Center and on the FSVAA website.
Last year the association did an art auction with great success and thought it would be good to try it again, he said. In addition to celebrating their anniversary, proceeds from the auction will go toward the FSVAA’s Assist-A-Grad Scholarship Program and to help support the High School Student Art Show and the Nor-Cal Regional Juried Art Show.
Although the history of the art association is the exhibit’s main focus, Ariza is also looking toward the future, saying he hopes the organization has its own building within the next 80 years.
The FSVAA has been saving up for a while, including through grants, donations and events like the auction, he said. “I’m currently looking at buildings downtown to possibly open a building for us downtown.”
In addition to the auction, the gallery is displaying it spring show “April Showers,” which Ariza says has taken many regular artists outside of their comfort zone, including himself.
“I’m a photographer. I painted,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve done a total of, I think, five paintings in my life and I think the first one I did took me, like, two years.” This time, it took him two weeks just to decide what he wanted to paint, landing on balloons.
The art auction pieces and “April Showers” are on display at the Solano Town Center Gallery through May 25, when bidding for the auction ends.
Learn more at fsvaa-arts.org