Bill Weber to be honord at Brentwood's Art, Wine and Jazz Festival on Saturday

By Roni Gehlke

Local artist Bill Weber will be honored as the "Brentwood Artist of the Year" during the Art, Wine and Jazz Festival festivities on Saturday at Brentwood City Park.

The Brentwood Art Society chose Weber for the honor. He has been an active member of the Brentwood art community for 15 years. He currently operates his own gallery in Brentwood, and through his gallery and several other past projects, has been responsible for bringing many successful art shows to the area.

Before opening The Bill Weber Gallery last March, Weber was the curator for the city of Brentwood-run art gallery for seven years. During that time he presented shows that included both nationally and locally famous artists.

"It was an honor when the city came to me and said that they had a space they would like to make into a gallery and wanted to know if I would come look at it," Weber said. "I ran with it and invited friends to bring their art."

As curator, Weber hosted four major shows a year, and featured the artwork of famed artists such as Diego Rivera, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Stanley Mouse. Weber said that he has a lot of contacts in the art field and he enjoyed bringing the art to the people of Brentwood.

After seven years of supporting the gallery, the city decided that it needed the building that the art gallery was being hosted in for other purposes and closed it down. Weber said that the building is now being used as part of the new Brentwood City Hall.

Still interested in bringing art to the residents of Brentwood, Weber decided to open a new gallery. "When the city closed their building that the previous gallery was in, I knew I had to find another location," Weber said.

The Weber Gallery, partnered with MCM Framing on Harvest Park Drive, opened its doors with a successful show in the spring with multiple artists, including featured artist Bill Sala of Castro Valley, as well as some works from Stanley Mouse, Frank Lloyd Wright, Maxfield Parish, Geoff Allen and Albrecht Durer.

While Weber was working with the city gallery, he started a program to help students who were interested in becoming artists. During that time he ran an annual student art show. Not wanting to give up on that endeavor, he worked out another location for the student show earlier this year. Now that he has his own gallery, he plans to continue in his efforts to help students with shows. "I've really tried to keep students interested in art and I want to keep that up," he said.

To that goal Weber started hosting art classes at his gallery this summer. Currently he is hosting a drawing class. In the future he will have all different medias of art represented. He isn't limiting the classes to children, but he wants to encourage children to learn about art.
"Anything I can do for the kids in the art field," Weber said.

Weber is a painter and muralist by trade. Several of his murals can be seen in Brentwood and throughout the Bay Area. Locally he has a mural in front of Gabby's Grind and inside Grazie An Italian Cafe, both on First Street in downtown Brentwood, and inside Sun N Stuff on Oak Street.

"I'm very honored to get the award," Weber said of the Brentwood Artist of the Year award. "It is nice to know that I'm appreciated for the things I do. I just tried to help the arts in any way I can."