Robert Ortbal: Encounters

October 10 – November 30, 2025
Reception: October 10, 6-9 PM
Artist Talk: October 18, 3-4:30 PM

Robert Ortbal combines a vast array of both common and odd materials, applying them in endless variations to create small-scale, uniquely masked figures, traveling-case environments that house them, and wearable sculptures that are, at times, worn outside the gallery environment in performative public works. For Encounters, a 20-foot towering sculpture made from electrical conduit soars up into the clerestory and snakes along the gallery floor, displaying an assortment of his wearable works.

Catalog Sponsor: Nancy Roe
Exhibit Sponsors: Kim Ohlson & Allen Barnes
Installation Sponsor: MAK Design + Build

A New Spin on Vinyl:
Group Show

October 7 – November 5, 2025
Reception: October 10, 6-9 PM

A New Spin on Vinyl showcases the artistry of regional artists who alter and incorporate vinyl records as a creative material into their artwork. The annual exhibit, which began in 2018, was first dedicated to Russ Solomon, the founder of the world-renowned Tower Records. The Pence exhibit includes many returning artists, a selection of award-winning community college students, and several new artists, who bring inventive adaptations of vinyl, paint, and interactive elements into their two-dimensional and three-dimensional work. 

This exhibit is curated by Dwight Head, Barbetta Lockart, and Cynthia Lou.

Raquel Cox:
Beauty, Seen and Felt

October 3 – November 30, 2025
Reception: October 10, 6-9 PM

Raquel Cox is an oil painter whose recent work celebrates the beauty of nature and the way it lifts the human spirit. Painting mainly from life, Raquel portrays a wide variety of subjects but is particularly fascinated with observing the structure, delicacy, vibrancy, and impermanence of flowers. She views her work as a delicate balance between portraying nature truthfully and trying to capture the beauty and poetry that she finds in each subject.

This exhibit is sponsored by Jim & Sue Smith and Tereza Joy Kramer.

Please be aware that this exhibit is located in our upstairs gallery. Access may be slightly limited due to occasional events and classes that occur in this space. To ensure that your visit and enjoyment of this exhibit is not interrupted, please refer to our Programs page.

Surrounding Landscapes: Paintings by Marlene Lee

October 3 – November 16, 2025

In her recent series of oil paintings, plein air painter Marlene Lee portrays the farms and ranches she visited while participating in Yolo Arts’ Art & Ag Project. Her experience with being directly in these vast, expansive landscapes led her to capture the different shades of greens or reds of trees and distant mountain ranges, with hints of trees and gorges. Signs of human habitation also figure in her work, revealing her fascination with capturing small details, such as a house hidden amongst the trees and the reflection glinting off the metal roof of a shed.