Arts Benicia is pleased to announce the opening of "Cream - the right stuff." This exhibition introduces the artists that have risen to the top of their respective classes in seven Bay Area art schools:  The San Francisco Art Institute, The California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco State University, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis, Mills College, and Sacramento State University. The curators, Kathryn Weller-Renfrow, Mark Eanes, and Gregg Renfrow, have selected artworks that indicate new tendencies in traditional and non-traditional media and imagery. The artists who have been chosen are: Gary Edward Blum, Nicole Fein, Martha Gorzycki, Patrick Haywood, Ellen Lake, Lynn Lu, Carmen McLeod, Mary Scott, John Slepian, Brett Simon, Nellie King Solomon, Patrick Rock, Abigail Rubenstein, and Hong Zhang.

Several of the artists in Cream have already been acclaimed for their production: John Slepian received the 2002 Bay Area Award in Visual Arts from New Langton Arts; Nellie King Solomon, exhibiting at the Braunstein / Quay Gallery in San Francisco, garnered unequivocal praise in a San Francisco Chronicle Datebook review by Kenneth Baker, who recognized the "sheer unforced lushness" of her paintings; and Lynne Lu recently completed a residency at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Temecula, California.

The exhibition opens on Saturday, August 3. A reception for the artists and the public will be held on Sunday, August 11 at 2 pm and an artists' talk will be held on Sunday, September 8 from 3 pm - 5pm.

Arts Benicia Center Gallery is located at 991 Tyler Street, Suite 114 in Benicia's Arsenal district.  Gallery hours are Friday, Saturday & Sunday from noon to 4 pm, or by appointment. Admission is free.  For more information regarding Cream and other Arts Benicia events, please call (707) 747-0131 or e-mail info@artsbenicia.org.

*** Arts Benicia is a non-profit organization with a contemporary gallery exhibiting the work of selected fine artists and artisans of California with emphasis on Benicia artists.  Adjunct activities include poetry readings and workshops, slide shows and talks by exhibiting artists, as well as music and dance events.  Arts Benicia is Benicia's official arts body promoting culture and the arts in the area.

Click Here to view more photos from the Gallery Exhibition of "Cream: the right stuff"