Inside Sacramento

07/01/2025

PBS KVIE has launched a new Studio Series with live conversations, lectures and Q&As with four celebrities with a California connection.
The series includes travel show host and guidebook author Rick Steves, Emmy Award-winning comedian Jack Gallagher, Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi and James Beard Award-winning television host and chef Pati Jinich.

“The Studio Series offers a rare opportunity for our audience to engage with these celebrated figures in an intimate and dynamic setting,” says Kathleen Richards, director of development and marketing.

Speakers share career stories, discuss current projects and answer questions from the audience. Steves is the first speaker Monday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m.

For tickets and information, visit kvie.org/studioseries.

07/01/2025

Animal Farm
Pleasant Grove makes room for crops and critters
In golden light surrounded by fields of plump rice and recently harvested corn, beans and wheat, wildlife pecks on dinner.

This is Pleasant Grove Farms, 3,000 acres in the wetlands north of Sacramento. Owners Ed and Wynette Sills drive me around the parcels that comprise the farm.

The test of a healthy farm is the presence of wildlife. While this might seem counterintuitive, farmers who practice organic and regenerative agriculture try to create spaces where crops and other living beings thrive in harmony.

At Pleasant Grove Farms, the Sills love the land and the animals that share it—an obvious love as I see a deer, blue herons, geese, ducks, egrets and cormorants foraging in the dimming light.

Ed’s father Tom Sills founded Pleasant Grove Farms in 1946. Ed took over after graduation from UC Berkeley with a degree in forestry. His studies sparked an interest in sustainable ecosystems. In 1985, Pleasant Grove became an early bearer of the certified organic label.

Wynette Sills went to UC Davis and studied pest management. She met Ed when she worked as a master farm adviser. He asked her out to dinner and wouldn’t stop talking about his organic farm. That was 35 years ago. The couple runs Pleasant Grove Farms together and raised three children there.

Love of the land pushed them to become a certified Regenerative Organic Farm. The regenerative label means the Sills prioritize soil health crop rotations that vary the food grown on specific plots of land.

Pleasant Grove rotates heavy and poorly drained soils in two-year cycles. Lighter and more porous soils rotate in three- or four-year cycles.

In the winter, fields are sown in vetch, a nitrogen fixing legume popular for its ability to repair and replenish soil. Stalks and unharvested plant parts stay in fields after harvest. Turning organic material back into the soil replenishes it.

The couple use water to control weeds by flooding or drying fields. GPS-guided tractors pull weeds and push them back into the dirt. Thus, Pleasant Grove avoids herbicides, fumigants and pesticides.

Regenerative farming addresses the health of wildlife. Wynette says, “We will do anything we can do enhance the habitat.”

She recently planted milkweeds to attract monarch butterflies in partnership with the Monarch Preservation Organization. With several butterflies and chrysalises spotted on the farm, the milkweed project helps this threatened butterfly make a comeback.

Milkweed and other pollinator-friendly plants line the banks of what Wynette and Ed call “Willow Pond,” a place created by field runoff. Beavers and catfish live in the pond. Excess water goes into Auburn Ravine, a wild salmon habitat.

The couple partner with local organizations to promote pollinator-friendly plants. They flood fields in early fall to attract shore birds and work to identify and collect mallard duck eggs. Once hatched, the ducklings return to the fields.

Regenerative farming asks farmers to consider themselves and their workers as part of the system they invest in. With this approach, farm workers are treated with respect, paid sustainable wages and not exposed to harmful chemicals.

Pleasant Grove Farms sells popcorn, corn, rice, wheat, triticale, oats, and kidney, black, mung and urad beans wholesale to Lundberg Family Farms, True Origins Foods, Amy’s Kitchen, Comet Corn and Giusto’s Fine Foods, among other food producers.

For information, visit pleasantgrovefarms.com.

Written By Gabrielle Myers
Photography By Aniko Kiezel

Gabrielle Myers can be reached at [email protected]. Her latest book of poetry, “Break Self: Feed,” is available for $20.99 from fishinglinepress.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: .

07/01/2025

Thanks Inside Sacramento and for supporting local art! See “Brushing Up” next to Limelight Bar & Cafe Sat.,Jan11, 5-8 pm

06/01/2025

Service Plan
Nonprofit helps homeless veterans find self-sufficiency
It took Jay Walker two years to lose his job, marriage, house and car. He called it a run of bad luck.

Problems began when the Army veteran found himself miles from home. After 18 years of sobriety, he went on a “weeklong drunk,” he says, before securing a shelter bed in North Sacramento.

The shelter was good for a cot and meals, but not much else.

“At 6 a.m. during the weekdays, they’d kick you out,” Walker says. “We all used to go down to Loaves & Fishes to hang out.”

At Loaves & Fishes, Walker learned about Nation’s Finest, a nonprofit that provides a comprehensive approach to housing, health and employment for homeless veterans. He filled out an application.

Then Walker was hospitalized with congestive heart failure. He went to Palo Alto for testing through the Veterans Administration, which led to open-heart surgery. From there, he was approved for placement at Nation’s Finest Mather location.

“These people saved my life, make no mistake about it,” Walker says.

Now he looks healthy, seated in the office of program support specialist Kerry Navarette. “They gave me a safe, clean environment to recover in and I’m getting better all the time,” Walker says. “I’m even in the process of getting my own home.”

Navarette says Walker’s story describes why the program exists.

“How to get the veterans we’re serving here to be self-sufficient enough to go from transitional housing to permanent housing and sustain living in permanent housing? Whatever that looks like for them is where my head goes every day that I come into work,” Navarette says.

The first step for veterans seeking assistance is to meet a case manager. A service plan is created with objectives related to substance abuse, mental health, medical, finances, education, employment and housing.

The nonprofit runs more than 30 locations in California, Arizona and Nevada, including one in South Sacramento and one in Mather that serves Mather Veterans Village, the first permanent supportive housing development for homeless and disabled veterans in the region.

“They have a lot of stuff for personal growth and improvement,” Walker says. “When I had a relapse, I needed to plug myself back into recovery mode. Nation’s Finest helps me walk away and stay sober today. I don’t want to go back (to addiction).”

Each site employs administrators and staff who run programs from recovery to su***de prevention. They rely heavily on volunteers.

“It’s not only monetary donations,” Navarette says. “Organizations come and donate materials and time. We have a volunteer that comes to repair bikes. The Kings and Raley’s donated a garden so residents can grow their own food. Hills Church do a monthly brunch where they give out food and talk to residents to see how they can help.”

Eleven months into his stay at Nation’s Finest and celebrating his 63rd birthday, Walker recognizes what got him there and how glad he is to find a new path.

“Speaking to vets out there, sometimes we think we’re owed something and we have a negative attitude,” he says. “But when we’re humble and grateful, things have a tendency to work out much, much better. For everyone out there in a situation, go into things realizing that you were part of the problem at a minimum, and be grateful you’re not sleeping outside.”

For information, visit nationsfinest.org and on Facebook and Instagram.

Written By Jessica Laskey
Photography By Linda Smolek

Jessica Laskey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: .

03/01/2025

Rest In Peace "Mother Rose"
Founder and manager of underground books

We will all miss your welcoming smile and thoughtful conversations.

Georgia "Mother Rose" West is the founder of Underground Books in Oak Park. It is listed as one of the top African American books stores in America.

03/01/2025

Our deepest condolences goes out to the family of “Mother Rose” Georgia West, who passed away
December 23rd at 75 after a battle with cancer.

She was the founder and manager of Underground Books in Oak Park and was always present welcoming everyone with a smile and conversation.

Her first born, Kevin Johnson, became a professional basketball player and then became Sacramento’s first Black mayor.

The community will dearly miss Mother Rose.

A celebration of life service for West is set for
Thursday Jan 23rd at 10 am - 4 pm at
Saint Paul Church of Sacramento.

Underground Books is located in
Oak Park at
2814 35th Street
Sacramento

03/01/2025

The Placemaker
Former mayor expanded options for tech, fun
By Gary Delsohn
After eight years as mayor, Darrell Steinberg knows the homeless crisis will be part of his legacy regardless of the resources, energy and political capital he put into the search for answers.

“I know two things,” Steinberg says. “I think I have been hurt by the expectations I set for myself and I readily acknowledge it. I came in as president of the Senate, author of the (state’s) Mental Health Services Act, and I pushed really hard, and I think the fact that it grew worse not just in the city but in the entire state, people said, ‘Come on. You said it was going to get better,’ and I have to own that.”

While critics tend to overlook his tangible results as mayor—1,200 more shelter beds, partnering with the county for services, and eventual enforcement against large encampments—there’s another part of Steinberg’s legacy I believe is more impactful.

Steinberg, who left office in December, scraped, clawed and finessed his way through the constraints of political leadership to leave a lasting imprint that will pay dividends for years.

At the UC Davis Health Center campus on Stockton Boulevard, Steinberg mediated the settlement of two neighborhood lawsuits and, with UC Davis Chancellor Gary May and others, paved the way for Aggie Square.

The $1.1 billion innovation hub is projected to generate nearly $3 billion in annual economic activity, with potential for scientific breakthroughs.

Steinberg was a driving force behind the project’s community benefits agreement to bring affordable housing, jobs and other enhancements to people near the health campus.

At the Downtown railyards, Steinberg, Republic FC soccer team and Wilton Rancheria, the tribe that owns Sky River Casino in Elk Grove, announced plans for a 12,000-seat expandable stadium.

The proposal also envisions a separate entertainment district that would include a hotel, housing, concert venue and other amenities for an investment of more than $320 million.

Much of the infrastructure will be funded by expanding an existing Stadium Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District over the entire railyard site, something pushed by Steinberg and others.

On his way out, Steinberg announced a revamped plan to upgrade the Old Sacramento Waterfront. An earlier effort was derailed by the pandemic, but the city now can leverage some $47 million in hotel tax revenues.

Those funds are available thanks to Steinberg’s championing of a 2022 voter-approved measure allowing the money to be used for “economic development projects.” The waterfront proposal includes a new hotel.

Steinberg’s role in promoting Downtown dates to before he became mayor. In 1997, when Steinberg was a City Council member and the late Joe Serna was mayor, they engineered a $74 million loan to the Kings. Team owners said the bailout was needed to balance their books and keep the Kings in town. The loan was paid back.

When Steinberg was state Senate president in 2013, Sacramento was again in danger of losing the Kings. Steinberg carried legislation to make it all but impossible to delay construction of Golden 1 Center under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Some of Steinberg’s actions were controversial. Some required slick political maneuvering. So what? That’s what it takes to get things done in a modern American city. Steinberg deserves credit for helping drive it all to fruition.

“At the end of the day, there are only two things that matter,” Steinberg said. “What you get done and how people feel about the way you did your job. I think on both counts, I’m leaving with my head very high despite some of the criticism. It’s been messy. It’s been hard. I have made my share of mistakes, no question.

“But the main job of a mayor of modern Sacramento is to aspire and achieve more places for people to have fun. To grow the economy. To build communities. To create memories. That’s why sports and music and art are so important. In a modern growing city, the mayorship is about placemaking, and we’ve done a lot of that.”

Gary Delsohn can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: .

01/01/2025

Welcome Home
Neighborliness takes work, but it’s worth it
By Cecily Hastings

Last year’s elections showed city voters are almost divided over how we want municipal leaders to address local challenges.

Mayor Kevin McCarty and Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum both won tight races. They bring fresh perspectives to City Council, along with newly elected Councilmember Roger Dickinson.

Whether your candidate won or lost, we should all hope and pray the new council can tackle the problems facing our city.

Political lawn signs are a local tradition. But knowing the person next door disagrees with you politically doesn’t mean you can’t be good neighbors.

If anything, now is the perfect time to improve your neighborly relations.

Being a good neighbor is simple. It means being the sort of neighbor you want to have next door.

I’ve lived in two neighborhoods during my 35 years in Sacramento. For the first three decades, I moved just once—to a different house on the same street near McKinley Park.

When we arrived, most of our neighbors were elderly. They’d owned their homes for decades.

They were pleasant but not particularly welcoming. We tried to make acquaintances but never connected. It wasn’t until I had a baby and started meeting other young parents that I made neighborhood friends.

When a young couple moved in next door, they became change agents. The young man organized weekly Friday luncheons for neighborhood men. They visited restaurants and enjoyed fun and laughter. I got the scoop from my husband Jim on what was going on every Friday.

Almost four years ago, we moved to the new Sutter Park neighborhood—the opposite of where we spent three decades.

This time, my experience was different. Jim had dementia. I was more homebound and preoccupied.

But the new neighborhood was an equalizer. Everyone was new and ready to make friends.

When we moved in, we were only the third family amid empty lots. Over the next couple years, other homes were completed and neighbors arrived.

Now the empty lots on our court are filled. Neighbors can get to know one another.

My goal for 2025 is to help start the casual get-togethers that created bonds with my McKinley Park neighbors.

I know my neighbors’ names and occupations, but that’s about it. I hope to create a list of information to share as an informal Neighborhood Watch group.

Other parts of my neighborhood have active social events in the lovely public spaces built by developer Randy Sater of Stonebridge. I’m thrilled Randy moved in next door to me.

My partner Steve is a terrific social connector. He loves to meet people and learn their stories. Like Steve, I’ve learned lots about neighborliness over the years.

Little things are important. Be friendly, smile, nod and wave. If you see someone who might need help, jump in and offer.

Sometimes you don’t have to say a word. Nothing fosters good neighborhood relations better than keeping your property neat and tidy.

It’s helpful to recognize what your neighbors might be going through. Maybe something positive—a new baby, wedding or graduation. Or maybe an event not so happy—illness or injury. Send a text or leave a note. Say you are thinking of them.

Lending or borrowing between neighbors is a nice way to connect. My late husband Jim would loan anything to anybody. But he was never comfortable borrowing. That was my job.

I only had one stipulation when it came to lending tools. After two power washers we loaned came back broken, I insisted the gear never leave our garage again.

My new neighbors are terrific. I let them know via text when we’re traveling and share contact information.

The new year is a perfect time to improve relations with neighbors, especially those who just arrived and could use a special welcome.

Cecily Hastings can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: .

01/01/2025

As we step into 2025, it’s a wonderful time to reflect on the year gone by and set intentions for the future. This New Year offers a fresh start, a chance to embrace new challenges, and the opportunity to pursue dreams that may have been put on hold.

In 2025, let’s cultivate positivity and resilience, celebrating small victories along the way.
Engage in activities that bring joy, explore new hobbies, and take time for self-care.

Remember to spread kindness; even the smallest acts can create ripples of positivity in the world.

Happy New Year !!!!

31/12/2024

Wishing all our readers a joyful and prosperous New Year!
May 2025 bring you happiness, success, and countless opportunities.

Cheers to new beginnings, exciting adventures, and cherished moments with loved ones.

Here's to a fantastic year ahead!!!

All of us at Inside Sacramento

31/12/2024

Looking back in 2024 - Featured Artists
"Divine Inspiration" artist Father Sylvester in February 2024
Written By Jessica Laskey - Photography By Linda Smolek

Painting is not just painting for the Rev. Sylvester Kwiatkowski. As a priest at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in Elk Grove, Kwiatkowski sees painting as a form of prayer and a connection to himself, his community and God.

“Art helps me communicate and have contact not only with Christian people, but also people of different faiths and non-believers about universal values: love, compassion, hope, friendship, unity,” Kwiatkowski says.

Kwiatkowski has always been drawn to art, even before being ordained in 1989 in his native Poland. He loved drawing as a small child. When he went on vacation to Paris, Madrid, London and Moscow, he visited museums to study his favorite artists, among them Salvador Dalí and Vincent Van Gogh.

“My dream was always to somehow at some point in my life grab the palette, acrylic and brushes and do whatever my heart tells me to do,” he says.

The dream took time. Kwiatkowski left Poland for California in 2000 to work with Polish immigrants who were part of Solidarity, the Polish social movement. He worked as a chaplain for a small Polish Catholic chapel in North Sacramento. At a 30-day silent retreat in Massachusetts in 2012, divine inspiration struck.

“On the third day of the retreat, an unknown power brought me to the art room, and through my feelings and emotions, I started drawing on a piece of paper,” he writes in his artist’s statement. “When I presented my artwork to my spiritual director, he strongly encouraged me to continue my emotional outlet through art. On that day, I was not aware that it would be the beginning of my new creative journey towards art.”

His calling to “describe the movement of God’s grace through the Holy Spirit with colors and shapes” led him to an art supply store in Grass Valley, where he bought what his heart told him. In October 2012, he “threw everything on the floor and started to paint.”

Kwiatkowski was practicing intuitive painting, where an artist removes self-judgment from the equation and paints what comes to mind. For the priest, riotous color and movement and shapes came pouring out through various mediums, including watercolor, acrylic and collage.

He began incorporating his artwork into Mass, painting a particular piece as a way to enrich the readings and gospel. His congregations in North Sacramento and Elk Grove, where he moved in 2019, responded well. “They didn’t know how powerful paintings could be,” he says, until they saw them up on the dais alongside their priest.

“My friend (artist) Kathy Dana said to me once, ‘If you are using words to evangelize people, why not colors and shapes and paintings?’” Kwiatkowski recalls.

It’s tough to make time to paint, but Kwiatkowski finds 15 minutes late at night or early in the morning to create. The silence allows space to “be connected with yourself, with God, with eternity, and then the colors and shapes flow,” he says.

His paintings grace his office and the church. His nearly 6-foot painting of a monstrance—a vessel in which the consecrated eucharistic host is carried or displayed—is on view in preparation for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in 2024. He donates paintings to fundraisers to help local organizations and ministries.

“Painting brings you to a completely different reality,” Kwiatkowski says. “It can heal your trauma, increase your creativity and intuition. It brings hope and the joy of life.”

To view Kwiatkowski’s work, visit his Instagram .art.

Jessica Laskey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: .

31/12/2024

Looking Back in 2024 - Featured Artist Patris

"Artistic Reset" featuring artist Patris Studio and Gallery in March 2024
Written By Jessica Laskey - Photography By Aniko Kiezel

Last time I spoke to the painter Patris, it was May 2020, a few months into lockdown.

Her Oak Park studio was quiet. In-person classes were canceled and moved online. Patris used the downtime to return to basics and work on her already extensive drawing skills.

“In a way, it was a reset,” says Patris, born Patti Miller. “At that time, I was thinking about going into this next decade and asking myself, what do I really love and want to focus on?

“I tried my best to come in every day as if nothing had changed. I decided I wasn’t going to miss a beat, no pulling back and getting lazy. I had to fight for my vision, the dream I have for this studio and being an artist. I had to get back in the saddle.”

When we recently reconnected, I found her not just surviving, but thriving.

Her in-person teaching is better than ever. She offers multiple drawing classes, Saturday still-life painting courses, workshops with local artists, and master artist workshops with international figures such as David Lobenberg, Sarah Sedwick and David Shevlino. (The latter two are scheduled in April.)

“There’s a real hunger for people to want to be together in a learning environment,” Patris says.

In addition to administering workshops and teaching at her studio and the Crocker Art Museum, Patris works on other projects.

In 2021, she embarked on a team endeavor to design and create a 56-foot mural for the Aerospace Museum of California at McClellan Park. Titled “Hidden Heroes of Aerospace,” the mural depicts 2,000 years of aerospace history.

“It was a really amazing experience,” Patris says. “We researched whatever we could find for images of aerospace inventions, and it was a super exciting project to have during the pandemic.”

She expanded her own body of work, partly in preparation for a solo exhibition at the PBS KVIE Gallery now through March 29. The show features pieces that give viewers a close-up view of what makes the artist tick.

There are works large and small, landscapes and still-life. Some depict regional locations Patris paints outdoors. Some are part of her Oak Park series.

“I’m having fun experimenting and pushing myself to make fun and interesting new pieces themed on Oak Park,” Patris says of the neighborhood where she relocated in 2012. “Oak Park is continuing to go forward and there are new things on the horizon, which is really cool.”

Patris enjoys painting other parts of the city. She has expansion plans for her “Broadway Rain” series, a collection of urban rainscapes she hopes to exhibit later this year or early in 2025.

“I’m always pushing myself to learn and create work,” she says. “Now this will really light the fire under me.”

For information, visit patrisstudiogallery.blogspot.com and artist-patris.com.

Jessica Laskey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: .

29/12/2024

Exciting News!
We've had the pleasure of showcasing talent, including the amazing Shirley Hazlett. As we approach 2025, we can't wait to highlight even more fantastic artists!! Stay tuned for some inspiriting features coming your way!!

For The Love Of Art from January 2024 on SShirley HazlettShirley Hazlett’s excitement is palpable. As she leads me around her studio in a building off Sutterville Road, she explains her artmaking process. Drip, pour, lift, roll, curl, glue. She runs her hands over her paintings and points out areas of interest. Clearly, Hazlett loves making art.

“Making art is an interaction with myself, the media and the substrate,” she says. “It’s about setting parameters but never being able to predict what’s going to happen.”

The Bay Area native began her art love affair early on when she saved up her allowance to buy a Brownie Starflash camera at age 7 and appointed herself family photographer.

As a teen, she moved to textiles. She was enamored of buttonhole silk thread, which is perhaps why she was drawn to the material as an adult. She pioneered a new substrate material made of silk adhered to plastic while acquiring a master’s degree at San Francisco Art Institute.

“Silk has a masculine and feminine duality,” she says, rubbing a strip between her fingers. “I love the excitement and the challenge of working with typical materials in atypical ways.”

Though Hazlett is an accomplished watercolorist, she was inspired to experiment with translucent silk organza—a common wedding dress material—and acrylic paint during her studies.

She developed a labor-intensive process of gluing silk on top of plastic, a process that can take up to two weeks to complete. The skill became the basis of much of her current work, including her 2023 series “Embrace.”

Pieces from the series are hung around her white-walled studio as part of her participation in Sac Open Studios. The paintings are large, colorful, emotive works that feature paint poured and dripped in layers to form circles—circles that, to Hazlett, represent our need to come together and “be whole again.”

“There’s a lot of chaos in the world and I sense it now more than ever,” says Hazlett, who lives near her studio in Land Park. “These abstract forms are calming to me and hopefully to others.”

Another part of Hazlett’s calming routine emerged during the pandemic. She took up the Appalachian dulcimer, a stringed instrument related to the zither.

“I have no idea why it popped into my head,” Hazlett says. “I thought, what can I do that’s new and different? And I thought of the dulcimer. I started looking for online lessons and found Dusty Thorburn, an amazing player and teacher who actually only lives about a mile away.”

Hazlett is always up for a challenge. She holds dual bachelor’s degrees from Sacramento State, and a Ph.D. from University of Oregon, plus her master’s. She’s taught at Sac State, served as an art judge for various state and county fairs, and was a longtime board member of the Creative Arts League of Sacramento.

She has exhibited all over the state, plus British Columbia and Oregon. Her work graced the walls of the Crocker Art Museum, Axis Gallery, ARTHOUSE on R, Shimo Center for the Arts and Sacramento Temporary Contemporary, among others.

Her work is also installed around the city. Hazlett primarily sells through art consultants, who often want to place her peaceful pieces in medical buildings.

As for what’s next, Hazlett smiles and shrugs.

“I’m curious myself,” she says. “I like to work very experimentally, so my art continues to evolve and change. I like the element of surprise. I give myself a set of limitations—the size of the paper, which pigments I use—and then I have to be very open to whatever develops.”

For information, visit shirleyhazlett.com.

Written By Jessica Laskey
Photography By Linda Smolek

Jessica Laskey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: .

28/12/2024

Sad news

The Midtown restaurant was in the Michelin Guide for four years

28/12/2024

Exciting News!
We've had the pleasure of showcasing talent, including the amazing Thomas Nardinelli. As we approach 2025, we can't wait to highlight even more fantastic artists!! Stay tuned for some inspiriting features coming your way!!

Big Picture from July 2024 on Thomas Nardinelli

Oil painter plays with reality on a large scale
At first glance, the 5½ foot tall painting of a frog poking its head out of the water looks like a photograph. You can almost hear the gentle “bloop” of the delicate ripples, shimmering reflections and tiny bubbles created by the frog’s movement.

But look closer and realize it’s not a photo. It’s something more. It’s an oil painting done with such fine layers, richness of color and skilled brushwork you can’t help but say, “Wow.”

That reaction is courtesy of Thomas Nardinelli, prolific painter and retired arts educator who specializes in capturing the natural world—flora, fauna and faces—in vibrant color.

The Sacramento native started “doodling” in grammar school, an interest he passed on to his son Daniel, a graphic designer and Inside Sacramento’s chief operating officer. The elder Nardinelli’s parents were both artistic. Dad owned a hardware store in Fair Oaks and did metal crafts. Mom won an art contest as a kid.

But it was thanks to his brother that Thomas pursued art as a career.

“I had started off as a business major (at Sacramento State), but I liked doing art and going to museums,” Nardinelli says. “My older brother was in the military but was also a graphic designer. When he came back and reenrolled at Sac State, he said, ‘Why don’t you major in art?’ So, between 1970 and 1973, I took nothing but art classes. It was like going to art school.”

After studying with the likes of Joseph Raffael, Joan Brown, William Allan, Carlos Villa and Eduardo Carillo as an undergrad, Nardinelli pursued a master’s degree. He planned to teach college. But the job market was disheartening.

“A lot of other people were trying to get jobs and not having much success,” he says. “I went to the library and found the addresses of all the colleges in the U.S. and I applied to every one on the West Coast. And this was the old days. You had to type out each envelope on a typewriter. I got a lot of rejection and even more no responses.”

Nardinelli found it hard to break into the local gallery scene, so he focused his efforts where they were needed: in junior high and high school classrooms. He retired in 2010 after 28 years at Lodi High School as an art instructor and visual arts chair for Lodi Unified School District.

“It was very gratifying, encouraging my students and watching them feel good about what they were doing,” Nardinelli says. “Lots of them hadn’t received any positive reinforcement about their art and didn’t realize their talent.”

Retirement allowed Nardinelli to return to making art full time. This time with a different perspective.

“I got so bummed out early on because it was hard to find someplace that wanted to show large work,” he says. (He makes his own canvases that are mostly 4 feet or larger.) “I paint now for self-gratification. I’m not obligated to anyone else. I paint for myself. It’s hard to push yourself to do that, but I get up and do it every day.”

Over the decades, Nardinelli honed his process and style influenced by college instructor Joseph Raffael. Raffael encouraged him to work from photographs, and work in thin layers of oil paint that almost resemble watercolor.

Nardinelli still works from his own photographs but plays with the color palette and the subject matter to make a work that’s his own.

“When I’m doing a painting, it’s like doing a puzzle,” he says. “When (photos) get enlarged, you can see that all the little details are actually weird shapes that get put together as you paint. It’s a microcosm, all these little things put together. Those shapes allow me to explore while I’m painting. I let the painting take me where I want to go.”

For information, find Thomas Nardinelli on Facebook or email [email protected].

Written By Jessica Laskey
Photography By Aniko Kiezel
AnikoPhotos.com

Jessica Laskey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: .