Rio Linda resident and former art teacher Maureen Hood was awarded Best of Show in the 2012 KVIE Art Auction for her collage “Shop Girl.”

After about a 15-year hiatus from the KVIE Art Auction, Hood’s piece was awarded top honors during the 2012 Art Auction Preview Gala, held Monday evening at KVIE.

The collage shows a young woman on the telephone surrounded by colorful books and magazines. Hood said the inspiration for this piece came from her mother’s collections – a hobby she developed later in life – and images of magazine vendors in cities from San Francisco to Paris that she has photographed in her travels.

Creativity has been a lifelong passion for Hood, and it did not take her long to realize her goal of becoming an artist.

“I decided when I was five years old that was what I wanted to be,” Hood said, adding that her parents enriched her life with constant exposure to creativity and the arts. “It began again with my mother sewing, and piecing things together,” and her father, a carpenter who built the homes she grew up in. “I enjoy (mixed media) because it has such a tactile quality to it. I’m touching the materials and shaping them. … The linear quality around collage fascinates me, too.”

Hood spent 25 years teaching art at Deterding Elementary School in Carmichael and Mira Loma High School before retiring. When asked if art-lovers would be seeing her work in the 2013 KVIE Art Auction, she said there is a good chance she’ll be back next year.

“I just really appreciate the professionalism of the whole show (preview gala) last night. … It was a very nice experience and the people who joined me last night were very impressed.”

First place award winners were also announced during the Preview Gala in seven categories: California’s Gold, “A Bend In The River,” by Bob Miller (7:30pm Sunday); Photo/Prints, “Water World,” by Bob Androvich (7:30pm Sunday); Non-California Landscape, “Hawaiian Color,” by Jay Welden (2pm Saturday); Still Life, “Plums Are Good Too,” by Kathleen Davids (2:15pm Saturday); Figurative, “Eric’s Ride,” by Sherie Drake (7:30pm Saturday); Contemporary Classics, “Untitled Card and Top Hat,” by Corey Okada, (7:30pm Saturday); and Sculpture, “Miller #15” by Robert Hossack, (7:30pm Saturday). Italicized times are when the piece will be up-for-bid in the live televised auction.

Each artist’s work, and about 350 other pieces, will be showcased in a live three-day auction broadcast on KVIE (ch 6, check local listings) that starts Friday, September 28 from 8pm to 11pm and continues Saturday, September 29 from 11am to 10pm and Sunday, September 30, from 11am to 9pm.

This year’s auction is sponsored by Wells Fargo, The Niello Company, Mansour’s Oriental Rug Gallery, The Sacramento Bee, and Warren G. Bender Co. Proceeds from the event and auction help support KVIE local productions and community outreach services.

Preview all the art and register to bid at kvie.org/artauction.