Cameron Kelly

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Choose Chico 2026

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ChooseChico26

Chico Art Center's Special Offerings: 

Saturday, Feb. 28 - The Makers Cafe

Our free and family friendly maker space will supply you with plenty of free materials and tools you can use while you’re at Chico Art Center to create your own art. Enter our 1947 Pullman train car for a fully creative experience.

This particular café will be an open maker space for you to come and make art was such a wide variety of materials, cover a dinosaur in googly eyes, make a tiny diorama, go wild with the hot glue guns. Sky’s the limit!

This event is completely free to attend and family friendly though little ones will definitely need adult supervision on hand. Drop in anytime you like, we’re so excited to see you this Saturday!

 

Sunday, March 1 - Free Draw Station

Come draw at our easels placed in the gallery and on the deck. Ever tried Urban sketching? Draw the landscape outside, including our 1947 Pullman train car, people viewing the exhibit or the artwork itself. All ages welcome. Drawing supplies provided.

Come draw with us in Chico's downtown plaza for Choose Chico Day from 1:00-4:00

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Maker’s Muse Street Fair 2026

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makersMuse26

Chico Art Center's Special Offerings: 

Saturday, Feb. 28 - The Makers Cafe

Our free and family friendly maker space will supply you with plenty of free materials and tools you can use while you’re at Chico Art Center to create your own art. Enter our 1947 Pullman train car for a fully creative experience.

This particular café will be an open maker space for you to come and make art was such a wide variety of materials, cover a dinosaur in googly eyes, make a tiny diorama, go wild with the hot glue guns. Sky’s the limit!

This event is completely free to attend and family friendly though little ones will definitely need adult supervision on hand. Drop in anytime you like, we’re so excited to see you this Saturday!

 

Sunday, March 1 - Free Draw Station

Come draw at our easels placed in the gallery and on the deck. Ever tried Urban sketching? Draw the landscape outside, including our 1947 Pullman train car, people viewing the exhibit or the artwork itself. All ages welcome. Drawing supplies provided.

Chico Art Center will have a free drawing station at the end of the fair, on 5th & Orange Street. See you there!

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May 2026 | The Puzzle Show

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Puzzle Show logo 2024

May 12-29

A Community-Made Installation & Fundraiser

Closing Reception & Silent Auction Friday, May 29, 6:00 - 8:30 PM

*Bidding ends at 8:00 PM

Artists Jeb Sisk, Titus Willoughby Woods and friends bring back the largest public participatory exhibit in Northern California. The Puzzle Show originated at the 24 Hr Drive-By Gallery decades ago by David "Sisko" Sisk, his son, Jeb Sisk, and Titus Willoughby Woods.

March 28-29

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PICK UP

Come to Chico Art Center to pick up a blank puzzle piece for $20 while they last!

Be part of the show by transforming a piece. Paint, draw, collage, knit, assemblage, burn, carve, mosaic, upholster, papier mâché, sculpt, 3D print, laser cut, circuit bend... let your imagination run wild!

Kids under 13 receive a free puzzle piece with the purchase of one puzzle piece.

Enter your purchased puzzle piece numbers here

April 25-26

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DROP OFF

Bring your finished pieces back to the Chico Art Center, Saturday & Sunday, April 25-26, 10AM – 4PM.

All of the puzzle pieces will be painstakingly installed across all of the gallery walls to reveal a high relief mural. The overall effect is a total surprise!

May 12-29

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The exhibit opens May 12. Come celebrate creativity and bid on a piece! The silent auction starts on the first day and ends during the closing reception.

RECEPTION & SILENT AUCTION

Friday, May 29, 6:00 - 8:30PM

*Bidding ends at 8:00

Come enjoy the company of friends and fellow makers over refreshments while bidding on your favorite pieces! The winning bidders pick up their artwork Saturday and Sunday, May 30 & 31, the weekend after the auction, from 10am - 4pm.

Project Designers

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Titus Willoughby Woods

Paint brushes and splashes! The perfect metaphor for art in action. Who's going to clean up this mess?!

Jeb Sisk

Gourds the perfect organic shape, no one alike, just like the puzzle show. I’m amazed and inspired by this show every time it comes together. Thanks to all the incredibly talented people in this community and beyond who help shape this show into what you see on the walls. Without the 350 plus people who participated this year, you would only see blank plywood puzzle pieces on the walls.

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Chico Art Center to fill with puzzles

by Jennie Blevins, April 25, 2024

KZFR Butte Views and Beyond

Ray Laager interviews Lisa Freeman-Wood about the Puzzle Show, April 25, 6:30pm, 2024

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Invite Friends on Facebook

Click Here
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View the 2024 Puzzle Show

Learn more

2026 Bidder Entry Form

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April 2026 | Creative Fusion

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CreativeFusion26_Front (1)

April 7 - 24

Reception & Award Ceremony: Friday, April 24, 5:00-7:00 PM

Voting for People's choice awards starts on the first day of the exhibit and ends at 5:30 during the closing reception.

Awards will be announced at 5:45pm.

This exhibit brings together Chico's young, creative talent. Every year, our secondary school Art Teachers are tasked with selecting their student's most expressive and skillful artworks and preparing their work for exhibition. This is the only annual exhibit in our area to display the formative, 8 year span of our youth's creative development. Please join in celebrating creative minds at work in arts education.

FOR TEACHERS

This is the 22nd year that Chico Art Center has produced this exhibition, started by Reta Rickmers! We are so proud to present the creative collaboration that happens in your classrooms.

Art & design work are welcome!

Cash prizes (donated by local patrons) will be awarded to outstanding artworks.

  • 10 artworks per teacher

  • 2D work must be ready to hang. Framing is not required. If it’s not framed, it must have a way to be hung. If mounted with a mat board, 4 Command strips per artwork is ideal.

  • 3D artworks must stand with no wobble.

  • Artwork is encouraged to be for sale. It sells as is. Frames are not removed.

 

IMPORTANT DATES

Deliver Artwork: Friday, March 27, 11:30am-4pm, Sat-Sun, March 28-29,10am-4pm

Exhibit On View: April 7 - 24

Reception & Awards: Friday, April 24, 5-7PM. (You may take home work after 7pm)

Pick Up Artwork during gallery hours (weekends 10-4): April 25-26 or after the reception ends on Friday.

WALL LABEL INFO

  • A short statement (3-5 sentences) from the student about the process/technique/digital program and their intent will really help jurors.

  • Student’s phone number so that they may be texted reminders about the reception. (This does not apply to Jr. High students).

Students may fill out this entry form

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March 2026 | The Art We Live With

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March 10 - 27

Selected works from the collections of Idie Adams & Alan Carrier, Ron & Sally Ginochio, Nathan Heyman, Lois Perkins and Marilyn & Earl Souza.

Reception:
Friday, March 13, 5:00-7:00 PM

 

Featuring artworks by:

Ellen Akimoto
Natasha Bittencourt-Silva
Jose Bodas
Sal Casa
Chunhong Chang
Jessica Eastburn
Wyatt Hersey
K@ng
Portia Lyde

Dave Lane
Richard Lea
Lauri Luck
Jeff Nebeker
Mariam Pakbaz
Ann Pierce
Steve Reoutt
Stan Sours
Richard Whitehead

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Museum Weekend 2026

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MuseumWeekend26_banner

Chico Art Center's Special Offerings: 

Saturday, Feb. 28 - The Makers Cafe

Our free and family friendly maker space will supply you with plenty of free materials and tools you can use while you’re at Chico Art Center to create your own art. Enter our 1947 Pullman train car for a fully creative experience.

This particular café will be an open maker space for you to come and make art was such a wide variety of materials, cover a dinosaur in googly eyes, make a tiny diorama, go wild with the hot glue guns. Sky’s the limit!

This event is completely free to attend and family friendly though little ones will definitely need adult supervision on hand. Drop in anytime you like, we’re so excited to see you this Saturday!

 

Sunday, March 1 - Free Draw Station

Come draw at our easels placed in the gallery and on the deck. Ever tried Urban sketching? Draw the landscape outside, including our 1947 Pullman train car, people viewing the exhibit or the artwork itself. All ages welcome. Drawing supplies provided.