The Cultural Arts Program, which presents the quarterly Artist Showcase, has started the year with considerable success. At the end of 2007 came a significant donation from Bel-Air Swap- Meet to help promote the 2008 showcases.

The first was a highly successful showing of painter Oona Ciji Houston's work for African Art: a Look into Culture. In March, Fontana expects to live up to the growing image as a city that encourages budding artists as it prepares to introduce the second quarter's featured artist with Untamed Diversity in Cultures featuring a group of four artists who call themselves the Shameless Self-Promoters. Their works will be on display in the Art Depot gallery located at 16822 Spring Street beginning Monday, March 31 through Friday, June 20.

The eclectic troupe of artists includes Lisa Cabrera an accomplished artist from Pomona, Susan Hoskinson an aerospace engineer, Tracy Pritchard a freelance graphic designer, and Lucien Van Oosten a designer of products and tooling. Organizers promise the showcase will offer a mixture of genres and talents that will provide a new perspective to preconceived notions of formal and cultural art.

The group of artists originally met at Citrus College while taking a painting class. Following successful art shows, a proud Van Oosten returned to his class to inform his peers of what he had learned or accomplished through the showings. Eventually the other students began to kid him and call him a shameless self-promoter. Van Oosten liked the name and encouraged the others to join in a group of artists who would call themselves the Shameless Self- Promoters and enter their artwork together for showcases.

"At first they all thought I was joking, but once they realized I was serious, many of them stepped up and said why not? There have been several that have dropped out along the way and several new artists that have joined the group since the idea started to take shape. We now have a group of very talented, diverse and distinct artists that participated since the first show "Eklektikos," explains show coordinator, Lucien Van Oosten.

While several shows have featured the Shameless Self-Promoters, the City of Fontana is particularly excited to have the works on display this spring in the Art Depot.

Family Art Day, the event that engages hundreds of Fontana residents will be held on Saturday, April 5 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. The live band for the day will be "Rhythm Islands" and as always, visitors will enjoy the hands' on artistic activities. The artists will also be available to answer questions or provide demonstrations of their favorite art forms.

To view Untamed Diversity in Cultures and the collection offered by the Shameless Self- Promoters, please visit the Art Depot Gallery Tuesday through Thursday from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, Friday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Saturday from 1:00 to 6:00 pm. The gallery and Family Art Day are open to the public and all ages are welcome. To find out more, please call (909) 356-7184 or visit Cultural Arts online at www.fontanarecreation.org.