Agriculture on display in art show

Artwork, guitar music, wine, beer and more will welcome the public today to a free, public reception kicking off the 23rd annual Celebrate Agriculture with the Arts exhibit 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Circle Gallery.

“It’s the longest running agriculture arts exhibition in California,” said Margaret Diebert, board member and program chair for Madera County Arts Council. “We invite artists from throughout California. We have 51 artists represented and 80 pieces of all-original artwork.”

Paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture and jewelry will be honored at the reception with awards “for best of show 1st and 2nd in each category and a number of honorable mentions,” she said. The show will include “new artists who have never exhibited at the show before” and “the widest variety of subject matter” related to agriculture.

The winners will not be known until the reception. “We let them know they’ve won an award but not which one … Whoever has best of show doesn’t know until they see the ribbon over their artwork. ... Keep them guessing,” she said. “It really does bring people into the gallery who have never come to Madera before. That’s what we encourage.”

Professional artist and educator John Shaw of Morro Bay juried the final entries for awards presentations. A guitar class from Madera South High School will perform prior to the giving out of awards by community members. Hors d’ouevres and water will be available as well as wine from San Joaquin Wine Company and beer samples from the Pine and Palm Brewing, a Maderan-owned brewery in Fresno.