Gallery 625 to host artwork from Woodland Community College students – Daily Democrat

Ridley Silva, The Fall of a Pillar, Acrylic on canvas, 2024. (Courtesy)

Exceptional artwork from Woodland Community College students will be on display at Gallery 625 for the 2nd Annual Woodland Community College Student Showcase.

Curated by college art professor Manuel Fernando Rios, the exhibition will feature student drawings and paintings including the 2024 WCC Kingsley Merit Scholarship finalists.

Each year Sacramento’s Kingsley Art Club sponsors an awards program to support emerging art students from community colleges in the Sacramento region. The visual arts faculty at each of the colleges selects one outstanding student to be recognized and receive the $550 monetary award.

“The finalists were carefully and skillfully selected by the YoloArts Exhibition Committee,” said a press release from YoloArts. “YoloArts firmly believes in the value of recognizing the top finalists and thus has happily provided the funding for this year’s additional awards.”

The hiring of Manuel Fernando Rios, the college’s first full time art professor in over a decade, revived Woodland Community College’s art department in 2020. Coupled with the announcement of the college’s new Performance and Culinary Arts building, students have been enrolling in art classes and responding with impressive artwork, as the programs are being re-built, according to Rios.

“With the addition of the new Performance and Culinary Arts building and the offering of more art courses this past year, I believe our students really responded with some inspiring artworks,” Rios said. “I believe the art community in Woodland as a whole has grown significantly since I was hired, and I’d like to think that WCC art students have a lot to do with it.”

The opening reception and awards ceremony, which is free and open to the public, will be held Friday, June 7 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The artists and Rios will be in attendance.

Live music by Amataza Yasha, light refreshments and Yolo County wine will round out the reception.

The artwork can also be viewed (and purchased) online at https://yoloarts.org/online-galleries/.

The 2nd Annual Woodland Community College Student Showcase continues at Gallery 625, located at 625 Court St. in Woodland, through July 30.