For four years Renee Marie Jordan has been hosting local artists at her Jordan Real Estate office on First Street. But, “I wanted to do something different,” she said, and since the beginning of the year she has been transforming the front of her office into a full co-op gallery.

With local artist Stephanie Grey as coordinator/director of the gallery and 16 Bay Area artists of many disciplines — metal sculpting, jewelry making, painting and collage art, to name a few — on display, Gallerie Renee Marie is finally ready for its closeup.

A reception is slated for Saturday, and Jordan couldn’t be more excited.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “It’s gone so smooth, it’s great!”

One of Jordan’s goals was to create a space where artists could display new work, and sell it at prices affordable for everybody. “We have things from thousands of dollars down to things that are 10 dollars, which is amazing,” she said.

Among the artists involved are several familiar local names: Brian Giambastani, who with Mike Kendall, another gallery artist, created the Wind, Water, Land project on permanent display at Benicia Community Center; Les Overlock, Santino Williams, LorriMarie Jenkins and and Jordan herself.

“All but two have been in a gallery before, so this is wonderful,” Jordan said. “We have experienced artists who are not involved with a gallery. So it is that much more to give to Benicia — more artists putting more work out there.

“It has been quite amazing the response of people who want to come to the reception.”

The featured artist for the grand opening, Jordan said her work is greatly influenced by Impressionism. Her new series of paintings, titled “Romanticism Exposed,” reflects the appeal of Romanticism, which had “something everyone can relate to as an ideal that sweeps across their mind and becomes a happy, private, enchanting oasis for the heart.”

Jordan said she expects Benicia to embrace the new gallery.

“It’s not like a gallery where you walk in and it’s Plein Air, and that’s all it is, or you go to Gallery 621 and it’s paintings and a few sculptures,” she said. “Ours is like A to Z. I think it’s going to fit right in with the other galleries. Nobody is really competing with anybody because we are all so different.

“It’s another great addition to the artists community that the community has come to enjoy.”

If You Go
A grand opening reception for Gallerie Renee Marie is Saturday from 4-7 p.m. To RSVP call 707-480-5501.

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