Lamorinda Arts Council invites you to view hand carved bird houses by Doug Crooks and paintings by Lois Mead, Teresa Onoda and Linda Sutton through Jan. 28 in the Art Gallery at the Orinda Library. Meet the artists at a reception in their honor on Sat. Jan 7 from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. View a sample of their artwork online after January 2 at www.lamorindaarts.org/current-exhibits/.

Doug Crooks of Hercules has been working with wood for over 50 years and just keeps getting better. He recently won first prize in the California State Fair. The hand-carved birdhouses he is exhibiting are both practical and unique. An active member of the Diablo Woodworkers, he attends meetings and classes at the Pleasant Hill Education Wood Shop. Crooks invites anyone interested in learning more about woodworking to visit www.diablowoodworkers.com/ to see what the organization offers.

Orindan Lois Mead, Lamorinda Arts Council Treasurer, is showing a variety of acrylic works in this show. If you are near the front of the CVS building on Moraga Way in Orinda, look for Mead’s 20” x 50” multicolored Artify Orinda painting, Secret Garden. Can you find three butterflies, two birds and five animals? Teresa Onoda’s landscape paintings, several in large format, capture the shimmering beauty that surrounds the East Bay through all seasons. She works out of her studio in Moraga. Linda Sutton of Martinez worked in transparent watercolors long enough to learn how to apply much of her knowledge to oil painting. Her dad was an optical engineer, so she studied light by splitting it up with a beam splitter. Look for this quality of transparency in her oil paintings.

The exhibit runs Jan. 2 through 28. Visit the gallery at 26 Orinda Way during normal library hours – Mon. – Thu. 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fri. – Sat., 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; closed Sunday. Close dates are Jan. 1, 2 and 16. Call 925-254-2184 for more information or visit http://ccclib.org/.

The mission of the Council is to ignite and sustain artistic expression and appreciation for all ages throughout Lamorinda. If you are interested in visual, performing or literary arts, please join us in keeping the arts alive. We are an engaged group of volunteers and donors who develop and produce events, partner with professional organizations and artists, give financial support and awards, and advocate for a vibrant, local culture of visual, performing, and literary arts. To donate to the Council go HERE.

In addition to curating two galleries in Orinda with new artwork every month (Art Gallery at the Orinda Gallery & Art Gallery at Wilder), here is a sample of other programs we offer: Arts Ambassadors (K-8 youth), Lamorinda Idol, High School Visual Arts Competition, Art Embraces Words, Art Embraces Music (2022), Art Embraces Poetry (new in 2023), Artify Orinda, and Lamorinda Super Shorts. If you are interested in exhibiting artwork in one of our galleries please apply online HERE.