Ron Quercia

My awareness in art started at the early age of eight with a painting by Van Gogh in Life magazine. Encouraged by my mother and grandmother, I started drawing whatever I saw. In junior high, I had my first art teacher who gave me serious artistic encouragement. From then on I pursued every art course available to me.

In 1969 through 1973, I attended California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC) in Oakland, California. There I became aware of the importance of the Bay Area figurative school of art. That is when I realized I wanted to pursue a life in fine arts. I was influenced by Jacque Faberet, Arthur Okamura, Vincent Prez, Ron Dahl and Ralph Borge. Also at that time, I became aware of the importance of framing art works.

Privately collecting and dealing early California art from 1975 to 1980 brought about the opening of my first gallery in 1980, Madison Street Gallery in Petaluma, California. Collecting early California art and progressing into post World War II paintings, furthered my interest in the local contemporary art scene.

Quercia Gallery opened in 1990 in Duncans Mills, California, featuring local small works, early California, and post World War II Bay Area art. Through my awareness of the art process, I have developed a working gallery of picture framing and restoration.

In 1997, Quercia Gallery merged with Balcony Gallery in Duncans Mills, California becoming Quercia-Balcony Gallery. Then in 2000, we changed the name to Quercia Gallery. Currently, we represent twelve regional Sonoma County artists.

My recent paintings are en plein air oil paintings of the sand dunes formed by Salmon Creek and the Pacific Ocean.