What began as a meeting of like-minded artists in 2007 has shaped into the California Contemporary Art Collective. It's a small group of familiar and recognizable artists from Fresno and outlying areas who have banded together to seek a wider audience for their work.

"We've all been working artists for a number of years," says member Trude McDermott. "We're a really good team of working artists who had the same vision of what we wanted to accomplish ... We really wanted to get greater visibility for ourselves."

On Thursday, they will open an exhibition at Infusion Gallery in downtown Los Angeles. It runs through May 25.

Collective members in this show are: McDermott, Donnalee Dunne, Juliana Harris, Linda Koch, Anne Scheid, Joan Sharma and Robert Weibel. The group has two other members, Joseph Berryhill and Joachim Schirmacher.

The collective started with a meeting, through the Fresno Arts Council, of 21 or so artists. But McDermott says it eventually narrowed to the current team, and they try to get together at least once a month.

Each member still works as an individual artist, and -- if you're a regular observer of the regional art scene -- you've seen their pieces on exhibit in places such as Gallery 25, Fig Tree Gallery and the Fresno Art Museum. These are artists who have also shown in venues in and out of California.

But the collective gives each of them an added dimension as they try to reach broader audiences in other regions.They share advise and experiences about being artists as well as the need to market. As Weibel says: "I think the synergy of being with like artists who face the same dilemmas between producing art and being creative and then having to sell it, we face a lot of the same challenges."

The LA show will feature three or four pieces by each artist. An opening reception is scheduled for May 8 as part of downtown LA's monthly Art Walk (which is akin to our twice monthly ArtHop).

And the collective is keeping an eye out for upcoming exhibits around the state to submit portfolios. Weibel says he feels lucky to be in the group: "Everybody in there is pretty accomplished and does quality work, and everybody is successful in terms of being a fine artist."