Siskiyou Artists Association
by Lauri Sturdivant
Photo Credit Alan Clother – Siskiyou Artists Association opening reception at SAM 8/8/26
Siskiyou Artists Association (SAA) is the oldest arts organization in Siskiyou County celebrating sixty eight years as a nonprofit volunteer run organization. In support of their mission SAA hosts an annual members show at the Siskiyou Arts Museum (SAM). SAA exists to support artists through workshops, critiques, exhibitions, awards, social media exposure and college scholarships. Activities are open to any artist living in Siskiyou County. Artists of all levels of development can come together to learn from each other, compete for awards and culturally enrich our community.”
Photo credit Alan Clother – Look for the pedestal with pencils and paper to vote for your favorite art piece.
I have been a member of SAA over the years and have attended almost every annual members show for the past 25 years. I have had work in a few shows. (Me bragging a little.) My fiber arts owl, Asher, was voted People’s Choice and was featured on their show postcard for 2025. SAA encourages audience participation asking visitors to the show to vote for their favorite piece. The viewers favorites are the artworks for the following years postcards.
Photo credit Alan Clother – Students from College of the Siskiyou showing work and enjoying the opening reception
The 68th Annual Members’ Art Show showcases artists of all ages, experienced and emerging. artists can submit up to three pieces of work and they do not need to be for sale (NFS). There is also a silent auction for donated pieces where the money goes directly into the scholarship fund. The art scholarship is a big focus of SAA. Every Spring SAA offers a $1000 arts scholarship to Siskiyou County high school seniors, students enrolled at College of the Siskiyous, or Siskiyou residents attending college outside of Siskiyou County.
Stan Sours is the 2026 SAA Critique Artist. He is best known at SAM for his ceramics, wood sculptures, and drawings. He earned his BA from CSU Chico, later returning to complete his Master’s degree in sculpture, He developed a fine arts program for a private high school in Northern California and has taught at Shasta College in Redding CA. Stan has been an exhibiting artist since the early 1970s and has exhibited his work nationally and locally including SAM and Liberty Arts. Stan lives and has his studio in Weed CA.
Interview with Anne McTavish, SAA Board President
Lauri - Anne McTavish has been the SAA Board President for four years. What is your favorite thing about being the president?
Anne - I enjoy the opportunity to meet and learn from the many talented artists living here in Siskiyou County. I am very proud of the SAA Board who keep the organization going and provide six meetings from February through July, in advance of the August Art Show at SAM. At these meetings various critique artists give feedback about work in progress or finished – always an enrichment. And I love the scholarship program, encouraging art education.
Lauri - Being a not for profit arts organization for 68 years is no small feat. What makes SAA so successful?
Anne - We are a very small organization, with revenues less than $8,000 annually. We have very little overhead, just a storage unit. We rent space for our monthly meetings. The money we raise through membership and donations is used to pay honorarium to our Critique Artists, offer workshops, and cover the scholarships. We are entirely volunteer run. I believe we continue to exist because we fill a unique role, which is a community of support outside of a school system for artists of any age to show their art and get feedback about how they are doing.
Lauri - What are the greatest needs for SAA? What is expected of members?
Anne - The Board will have some new members in 2027. Every volunteer organization needs participation from existing and new members to remain healthy and relevant. While our overhead is low because we don’t have a building to maintain, we strongly rely on places like Liberty art and Siskiyou Arts Museum for our existence. These venues are the place where the public meets the artists and are critical for our success. I look forward to strengthening the relationship between our organizations because I believe we are stronger together.
For more information about SAA visit their website https://siskiyouartists.org/
The SAA show runs through October 3, 2026. SAM is open Wednesday - Sunday 12 – 4
Photo credit Alan Clother – Patrons supporting the arts in the heART of Dunsmuir.
