California oak trees have been a popular subject matter for artists for as many years as painters have been putting brush to canvas to paint our state’s landscapes. Oak trees provide beautiful visual elements on the land which help give form to the scene. Their rounded undulating shapes, and shadows, their dark colors against the golden hills and savannas , the seasonal color changes, the sculptural flow of their branches, all combine to create beautiful points of interest, for the main elements of a painting, color, value, and composition.

For thousands of years California’s oak trees have been the source for sustaining life, for a vast number of native plants, animals and human inhabitants of our state. Today California’s oaks are under threat, due to climate change, draught and disease, fire, development, suburban expansion, etc. They are fast disappearing as a resource for animals and people relying on native food sources, healthy oak prairies/savannas, clean rivers, soil retention, and of course their visual beauty.

The purpose of this exhibition is to highlight the work of artists who revere the oak as subject matter, and show the variety of ways artists express the beauty and aesthetics of these iconic trees.

To help further the efforts to bring attention to these trees, and to support the various efforts statewide to preserve the health, and longevity of California’s oak trees, 20% of the sales of the paintings will go to The California Oaks program of the California Wildlife Foundation.