FAIR OAKS, CA (MPG) - Fine artist Patricia Mills, a fixture in the art scene in Fair Oaks and beyond for decades, has reopened Studio Tupos in the Village, roughly six years after closing the previous studio and moving it to an art complex near Sacramento City College for five years. 

Studio Tupos held a soft reopening in a new, 724-square foot space in August at California and Fair Oaks across from the park and officially kicked off the reopening with an open house March 8 and a chamber of commerce ribbon cutting ceremony March 14. 

This iteration of Studio Tupos, said Mills, has a rear space where she will work on her own projects and, beginning in May, begin offering painting classes for seniors on Wednesday afternoons, part of a partnership with the Fair Oaks Recreation and Parks Department. Those classes may be expanded to include art instruction workshops for teens by summer, she said.

“The Parks & Rec. department was already offering summer painting classes for teens, so I couldn’t add that for this session, but we are hoping to do that for the second session later in summer,” said Mills.

The studio also features a large open gallery, which will showcase rotating shows featuring works by various artists, including an exhibition by Mills herself in fall.  Impressionist paintings by Kari Breese are currently on display in the gallery.  Breese’s “Currents of Color” exhibition launched with the Second Saturday celebrations in the Village March 10 and will be on display through May.

Tupos also has something for the novice, perhaps couples looking for a fun night out or small groups planning an activity.  Beginning in May, the studio also will begin offering “Paint and Sip” nights every Saturday, which will offer painting time over wine and cheese, also a Parks & Rec. sponsored program, led by Mills.

“It could be a great way to spend a date night,” says Mills, who has lived in Fair Oaks since 1974.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University Of New Mexico and a Masters in Studio Painting from Sacramento State University.  Her work encompasses a range of styles including acrylic on paper and canvas, printmaking and oils, but her style is primarily abstract impressionist.

Mills currently has pieces hanging in the World Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland and another at the Crazy Horse Memorial in Crazy Horse, South Dakota.  

Both the Olympic and Crazy Horse museums are not coincidental connections. Mills is married to Olympian Bill Mills, (William Mervin Mills), who won a gold medal in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo in the 10,000 meter run.  He is also a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe.