Standing before a blank, wall-sized canvas, Pamela Holmes holds out her right arm as Winston Gourley unravels a tattered gray Ace bandage that looks as though it was scavenged from a battlefield. Around their wrists, he winds it tightly until the two of them are bound in solidarity.

“I’m the designated wrapper,” Gourley says, his British accent easing into a laugh.

In the background, The Clash tear through the opening track of “London Calling.” The couple are cocooned in a large tent studio outside the DIY house Pamela built with her ex-husband more than 30 years ago. The wooded 15-acre property above Timber Cove might as well be perched on the edge of the world, it’s so remote.

With their free hands, they rummage through a box of charcoal — dead, dried grapevines they cut and burned themselves — to find the right tool, their fingers turning sooty in the mix. Then, as if cued by something in the music, they start to move — an awkward tango at first, each one pushing and pulling as they find a rhythm, bodies lurching and swaying, their hands traveling across the canvas leaving a trail of black scrapes and lines in flurries. When the charcoal breaks under the pressure, they grab a new one.

“It’s a bit of a dance,” says Gourley. “And there are those moments where part of you really needs to go to the top left-hand corner, but the other person really needs to go to the bottom right-hand corner.”

There’s an athleticism to it, magnified by their breathing, like two prisoners bound on a chain gang, their work detail to render a painting instead of pounding out a road.

Next, they pick up a homemade wax stick, adding white streaks that resemble chalk marks. Then they re-tie their hands so they can both hold a brush and splatter jet-black India ink across the 80’’x 92’’ canvas, pausing only to dunk the splayed brush in fresh paint. Still bound, they walk outside and bring in two chairs to reach the highest corners of the nascent work of art.

“It’s all about dismantling one’s ego,” says Holmes.

Gourley likes to call it “a shared imagination,” something they never knew existed.

It could easily be a gimmick — the art world is full of them — but instead, it opened a portal into an entirely different way of making art for both of them.

“It’s really freeing,” Holmes says. “Neither of us make these paintings. The work that comes out of it is never predictable, and it’s not anything like either of our own works.”

Both are lifelong artists. She grew up in Pasadena, graduating with an MFA from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Gourley was raised on the British island of Guernsey off the coast of France, graduating from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Canada. Her work is more textural, sometimes coming to life in cement plastered on wood boards — almost an extension of the Holmes Wilson custom cement furniture business she founded years ago before recently retiring. Gourley, who has shown his art internationally in the past as Patrick Gourley, is drawn to both color field paintings and encaustic works that play with melted wax and resin. When he moved in with Holmes several years ago, they tried creating their own works in the same studio, but “it didn’t make any sense,” he says. “It felt weird.”

Inspired to collaborate, they tried a few drawings where they both added layers. But they realized “the problem with doing this is I’m just laying my (stuff) on yours,” Gourley says. “But if we’re tied up together, who’s in charge? Who’s in control? And then to have anything good happen, you have to give up those things. You have to give up all your habits.”

After the first painting they’ve never looked back. In this alternate universe, she adopted the alter ego “Ivy Stranger” and he became “Ernst Worth.” Together they are Stranger Worth, signing paintings “ISEW.”

They’ve even dreamed up their own vocabulary; words and phrases such as “Do the Dusinki” and “Lewst” and “Emerlink” are scribbled on scraps of paper and pinned to the studio walls as reminders. One imaginary word,“Eachin,” helps anchor their artist’s statement that reads like a manifesto: “Eachin steps away from the personal and opens up to the collective…Eachin welcomes surrender over resistance…Eachin carries no suitcases.”

But abandoning your ego, and surrendering old habits and artistic tendencies, is often easier said than done.

“In the beginning, I would cry,” says Holmes, still wistful, but able to look back now and laugh. “It was that hard.”

As they struggled to paint together, it was “hard not to feel protective of something in the painting that you liked,” she continues.

Gourley remembers the time Holmes undid the bindings and ran out the door, screaming, “I’m never painting again!”

Even on this day, midway through the session, tension lies just beneath the surface. When asked what they’ve learned about the other person through this process, Gourley replies immediately, “I love her and I hate her.”

They both laugh as she adds, “That’s very accurate. There are times when I just despise him.”

With each abstract work — there are a handful hanging around the studio, each one very different — they keep coming back to the canvas daily, adding more layers. Any discussion of what shapes or themes might be materializing is delayed for many sessions to keep the work somewhat dreamy and unpredictable.

A week after they embarked on the painting with the charred vines, they’re finished. Layered over the early black and white scars is a splash of green paint and a bright red flourish, almost like a smoke cloud of blood floating in a green sea. After coming back to it multiple times, even flipping the canvas upside down at one point, Holmes says they finally started talking about symbols they saw in the work “about the same time we started hating each other.”

“It’s been a tough one,” adds Gourley.

“This was an extremely challenging piece to make, for some reason,” she says. “Sometimes trying to break through your identities is an ambition. It’s not always easily achieved. Sometimes we butt heads more than we do other times.”

In many ways, it sounds like any couple — artistic or otherwise — working through their issues on any given day.

So far, they’ve only shown Stranger Worth paintings at the Gualala Arts Center, and hope to reach a larger audience. They’ve also thought about what it would be like to facilitate sessions for other couples trying to work through their issues, tying them together before the canvas and seeing what takes shape.

A few of their friends have tried the technique. One couple, the wife an artist and the husband a physicist, were working on their first painting and “she was just leaving the guy completely behind,” Holmes recalls. “All of a sudden, she stood back and looked at us, and said, ‘I’m such a control freak.’ The next piece they made was mind-blowing. He was finally able to come alive.”

Holmes and Gourley both bristle at the concept of couples’ art therapy, but if they were to market it, Holmes has a pitch.

“Come and try the tie-up,” she says in a way that makes it sound almost like a dance or the chorus to a song — something so catchy you can’t resist.

“I think that’s really what it boils down to,” Gourley says. “We’re doing something that’s so primal. That act of making marks together on a surface connects us directly to our ancestors.”

strangerworth.com

The post For a Timber Cove Couple, Art Is the Tie That Binds appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

When you live in Sonoma County, you’re never lonely for out-of-town visitors. Family, friends, college roommates, even casual acquaintances are all eager to catch up with you and take in all that the region offers.

Now through New Year’s is high season for house guests, with the number of invading out-of-towners larger than the kids’ gift lists. For local hosts, it can be a challenge deciding where to take restless visitors, especially those on a budget. Farm-to-table restaurants and taquerias are a given. Winery tasting rooms? Natch.

Go any direction in Sonoma County, and you will wind up somewhere intriguing. You’re never far from good food, natural beauty and wine tasting. But with so many choices, we’ve creamed off a few foolproof excursions that will fill up a day and make your guests’ stay in Sonoma County more memorable.

Click through the gallery for a four-day itinerary that includes some not-so-obvious explorations of Sonoma County, guaranteed to please your guests as much as you.

Meg McConahey contributed to this article. 

Day 1: Into the Armstrong Woods and to the coast

Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in Guerneville is a great place to introduce visitors to the natural superlatives of Sonoma County. Magnificent, 1,200-year-old Sequoia sempervirens, commonly known as coastal redwoods, tower in a way that makes humans feel very small and very serene. Redwoods are among the natural wonders of the world and among the planet’s oldest living organisms. And they’re an easy drive from anywhere in the county.

The Armstrong reserve features a 1½-mile, ADA-accessible trail, making this an easy outdoors experience for everyone in your group. Arrive early and with jackets to combat the marine chill. At 7:45 a.m., you’ll find an empty parking lot and the quiet woods, sans Segways and smartphone selfie-taking hordes. By contrast, visitors to Marin’s Muir Woods have to make a reservation.

After an hour among the gentle giants, depart as the parking lot begins to fill. Those arriving have had their breakfast, so now it’s time for yours. Coffee Bazaar in Guerneville provides house-roasted coffee and pastries. Or drive a little farther west, along the Russian River, to Duncans Mills’ Gold Coast Coffee and Bakery.

Founded in 1877, Duncans Mills is a quaint station on the way to the coast from the river towns, with a charming general store and a depot museum next to where the Northwestern Pacific Railroad once ran. If you still have Christmas shopping to do, then Duncans Mills is a good place to browse. Don’t miss Jim Raidl’s Jim and Willies, a real curiosity shop of quirky antiques and curios with a friendly proprietor.

On the road again, continue west. For some sea air and wide-open ocean views to amaze visitors from land-locked places, stop at the Vista Trail in Jenner at the mouth of the Russian River. If you’re lucky, you’ll spot some harbor seals.

After watching waves crash in the fresh sea air, you’ll be ready for the drive south on Highway 1 to Bodega Bay. This is the classic Sonoma Coast scene of crashing waves, and trails along the bluff are accessible to most people. Check out the whimsical wind spinners at Candy & Kites, the colorful array of saltwater taffy at Patrick’s and the Japanese prints at Ren Brown Collection Fine Art Gallery.

Start heading inland for a hit of Alfred Hitchcock in the tiny town of Bodega. Snap a “The Birds” selfie outside the old Potter School, immortalized in the scene where schoolchildren run screaming and flailing from their classroom. It’s a private residence, so stay on the road. Then swing by the nearby Saint Teresa of Avila Church, also featured in the film.

You’ll be hungry by now. For lunch, consider the Estero Cafe in Valley Ford just a few minutes’ drive away. The restaurant pays homage to local farmers with its hand-lettered chalkboard menus and homestyle food. Its inventive brunches, sandwiches and salads make it one of the county’s top foodie destinations.

Day 2: Healdsburg for the holidays

Start your day by taking in one of the most spectacular gems of Sonoma County — Lake Sonoma. Then head to Healdsburg (a 10-minute drive) for a leisurely breakfast at Costeaux French Bakery.

Costeaux French Bakery is a frequent winner in baking competitions, and its fresh breads are served in Sonoma restaurants. But not many people know that Costeaux serves great breakfasts and lunches.

After breakfast, let the bookworms and audiophiles in the group browse the fiction, vinyl and CD selection at Levin & Company. Take the stairs to the mezzanine for its collection of local art, jewelry and crafts. Next, visit the antique markets — like Shoffeitt’s Off the Square and Antique Harvest — all within easy walking distance of the plaza.

No Healdsburg visit is complete without a winery stop, or two. Lambert Bridge boasts a tasting room with a large fireplace, making it a cozy place for sipping wines in colder months. The Healdsburg Bubble Bar, nestled in a quaint 1906 Queen Anne Victorian near the plaza, offers a wide assortment of sparkling wines.

As the sun goes down, head to Barndiva for a craft cocktail and dinner, and watch the outdoor lights twinkle over the quirky art on the patio. Don’t miss the eclectic collection of British Cigarette Cards at the Gallery Bar.

Day 3: In search of lost time, and more wine, in Sonoma Valley

Winter is a good time to check out the new museum exhibit in Jack London State Historic Park. Even if it’s too cold or wet to hike, you can take cover in the House of Happy Walls museum dedicated to the great writer and his wife, Charmian.

Right outside the park gate, Benziger Family Winery offers vineyard tram tours that will get you out of the tasting room and among the vines, which have their own sculpted beauty in winter.

Make it an outdoorsy day at Sonoma Botanical Garden, one of Sonoma County’s secret spots. Few travel writers have discovered it, meaning you may have this 20-acre garden of rare Asian plants all to yourself. Easy paths wind past ponds and through dense plantings of trees and shrubs with something of interest in every season. There is a nice gift shop for garden lovers as well as golf cart tours by arrangement for those with mobility problems.

In the town of Sonoma, the walkable square offers places to sip, shop and dine. For celebratory sparkles during the holidays, there’s SIGH Champagne bar. No reservations needed, and they always offer three flights of French, Californian and other tantalizing sparklers. If you have teetotalers or beer drinkers in your party, this is a great tasting room option. They also offer draft beer, regular wine and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as snack-sized bites, both savory and sweet.

Sonoma Plaza offers holiday cheer and attractions for history buffs, from the Sonoma Mission to the barracks and Toscano Hotel, all within two blocks. There’s a big parking lot behind the barracks on First Street East.

When you’re ready for a bite to eat, consider Tasca Tasca (TT Tapas). Tasca stands for tavern or pub in Portugal. Chef Manuel Azevedo offers updated Portuguese tapas with a fresh Sonoma spin. They’re also open late. Or head down Broadway to HopMonk Tavern for bar bites and beer, washed down with live music on the weekends.

Day 4: Petaluma, Sebastopol and a farm-to-table finale in Forestville

The age of Petaluma, settled in the 1850s, might not impress visitors from Europe, but the downtown’s quaint storefronts, heritage homes and retro memorabilia will make even your English uncle or Swedish aunt melt. But first, start with breakfast at Della Fattoria, one of the country’s finest bread bakers, famous for its Meyer lemon rosemary boule. Try the breakfast toast with ricotta cheese, banana slices, toasted pecans and honey.

Downtown, check out the vintage guitars and mandolins at Tall Toad Music and the 1,800 varieties of heirloom seeds at The Seed Bank, owned by Baker Creek, one of the country’s leading purveyors of heirloom seed.

For the afternoon, get behind the wheel and drive the 17 miles to Sebastopol’s The Barlow. Designed to look like old farm industrial buildings — without the dirt and rust — this marketplace is good for browsing. Watch local makers in action at restaurants, wineries, breweries and cideries, and art, jewelry, glass, crafts, design and clothing studios.

If you want to arrange for a farm-to-table grand finale, you could make reservations at Farmhouse Inn’s upscale but surprisingly low-key Michelin-starred restaurant in Forestville. For a more affordable but still delicious option, Farmhouse Inn’s casual eatery Farmstand serves woodfired dishes and pizza.

The post Holiday Guests Coming? Here Are 4 Perfect Sonoma County Day Trips appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

This article was originally published in 2016, 40 years after the installation of “Running Fence.” Christo, who made monumental art around the world, died at 84 on May 31, 2020. Jeanne-Claude, his artistic and life partner, died at 74 on Nov. 18, 2009. 

The hamlet of Valley Ford hasn’t changed much in the last four decades. There’s more traffic, of course: It’s located on scenic Highway 1, and Bodega Bay is just 8 miles to the west. But Dinucci’s Italian Dinners is still there, serving the family-style meals that made its initial reputation more than a century ago.

Local ranchers still come to the Valley Ford Market for coffee and the latest talk on lamb prices and government regulation. And the land itself seems immutable: The rolling pastures broken by eucalyptus windbreaks — speckled with fat sheep and sleek cattle — present a prospect as timeless as the nearby Pacific Ocean.

But something happened here 40 years ago that changed everything. A discreet monument marking that event stands at the Valley Ford post office, a single, corroded metal pole 18 feet high, with a small commemorative plaque at its base. It was at this spot that “Running Fence” came through, completed on Sept. 10, 1976.

If you saw the fence then, you can stand next to the pole now, close your eyes and see it again, with almost shocking clarity. You can understand now that it meant much more than you thought it did at the time of its installation.

Joe Pozzi remembers when a slight-framed man with long hair, massive horn-rimmed glasses and craggy features came to his family’s ranch near Estero de San Antonio. It was in 1972, and Pozzi and his siblings were engaged in the quotidian duty required of anyone involved in a dairy operation: milking the cows.

“We were in the barn and we saw Dad outside talking to this guy,” recalled Pozzi, then a pre-teen. “And when Dad came into the barn, we asked him what was going on, and he said, ‘Oh, some damn hippie wants to build a fence for us. I told him to come back later.’”

That “hippie” was Christo — Christo Vladimirov Javacheff — now hailed as the world’s foremost installation artist and one of the great creative visionaries of the past five decades. While it’s true that he came to the Pozzi ranch to build a fence, it wasn’t as an itinerant laborer hoping to make a few bucks stringing barbed wire.

“Christo was Bulgarian and his English wasn’t that great then, so Dad misunderstood him,” Pozzi said. “But Christo came back with his partner, Jeanne-Claude, and my mom brought out the bread, cheese and salami, like the west county Italian farmers always did when they had visitors. And Christo had this book with him, about something called the hanging curtain at Rifle Gap.”

That was Rifle Gap, Colo., and “Valley Curtain” was a project that Christo and Jeanne-Claude had recently completed, a 200,200-square-foot swath of fabric draped across a steep mountain pass. As everyone ate the antipasti, the Pozzis politely listened to Christo’s proposal. He planned another project, this one for Sonoma and Marin counties, a fence of fabric running sinuously across the land from Highway 101 to the sea. It would be about 25 miles long and almost 20 feet high.

By the end of the visit, Pozzi said, his parents still weren’t completely clear on the concept, but they were sure of one thing: They liked Christo.

“He was incredibly charismatic,” Pozzi said, “but it was more than that. He was genuine. There was a warm human quality to him that you just felt. There was nothing slick or pretentious about him. Ranchers and farmers intuitively sense character in a person. He didn’t get the ‘Running Fence’ built because he sold anybody around here on the idea. They got behind him because they liked and trusted him.”

Christo returned to the Pozzi ranch several times over the next few months, and ultimately formed a deep bond with the family. At the same time, he visited other dairy farmers and ranchers who owned land along his proposed route for the fence. He ate at their tables and drank their wine.

Christo was in no hurry, Pozzi said, as he and Jeanne-Claude seemed to relish the human contact. It was evident they enjoyed immersing themselves in the west county’s agrarian culture.

“Everyone came to understand Christo was an artist, an important artist, and that the ‘Running Fence’ was a major art project,” Pozzi said. “But that wasn’t why he appealed to us. It was more that he shared similar qualities with the agricultural community. It’s something of a paradox. We’re independent, but we also rely on each other, we’re ready to help out at a moment’s notice. And we like to get things done, to conceive a project and then work hard to see it through. Christo had a project that he wanted to get done. He wasn’t going to step on anyone to do it, but it was important to him, and he asked for our help.”

Christo and Jeanne-Claude ultimately enlisted 59 families whose properties fell within the proposed route of the fence. The ranchers and farmers weren’t merely acquiescent, however; they had become committed partisans for the project.

At the same time, news of the fence generated fierce push-back, primarily from environmentalists concerned about impacts on the land, and also from locals who were offended by promotion of the project as “art.” They formed the Committee to Stop the Running Fence, and vowed to send Christo fleeing from Sonoma.

The upshot of the discord was a seemingly endless series of meetings convened by the California Coastal Commission, the Marin County Planning Commission and the Sonoma County Planning Commission. The process was rancorous and dragged on for more than three years.

“I remember at one point somebody declaring that the fence was ‘fascist art,’” said Brian Kahn, then a freshman Sonoma County supervisor who had been newly appointed to fill a vacancy. “I didn’t physically roll my eyes, but I rolled them internally. I was perplexed by the furor. The fence drew all these incredibly intense emotions that — from my perspective, at least — it didn’t warrant. Politics and art don’t mix well, and my bias has always been to let artists do what they want.

“But the fence came along just at a point when land-use policy was the primary matter of concern in the county, and it seemed to galvanize emotions on all sides of the issue. In a way I didn’t realize at the time, it focused people on the landscape and the impact our land-use policies would have on the future of the county.”

But if opponents inveighed furiously against the project at the meetings, supporters — mainly ranchers and dairy farmers — spoke passionately in its favor. Christo seemed utterly serene. He spoke in defense of his art, and his disposition was always sunny; he never seemed worried, or even slightly anxious.

“He said on more than one occasion that the process, all the meetings, the environmental impact studies, were part of his art,” said Barbara Gonnella, owner of the Union Hotel in Occidental and Joe Pozzi’s sister. “And that was the absolute truth. If he hadn’t been able to build the fence in the end, I’m sure he would still have considered the project a success.”

Earlier this year, Gonnella hosted a screening of a film about “Running Fence” that was funded by the Smithsonian Museum of Modern Art. For Gonnella, the documentary had special resonance because it featured one of the last interviews with Jeanne-Claude before her death from a brain aneurysm in 2009.

“By the 1990s, their work was a complete collaboration,” Gonnella said. “It was never just ‘Christo.’ It was always ‘Christo and Jeanne-Claude,’ and to me, that emphasized their connection with each other and humanity at large. Christo’s art is about more than just objects and materials, more about themes, even. It incorporates the landscape and the people on it, and the relationships he builds with those people.

“Our family is still in close contact with him. When our mother died, he was the first person to send flowers. When he’s in the area, he eats at the Union Hotel. My daughter just came back from visiting his latest installation (“The Floating Piers” on Lake Iseo, Italy). He’s still part of our lives. His work still affects us. He still affects us.”

Ultimately, of course, the fence went up. Scores of volunteers laid out the route, sank the posts, strung the cables, hung the fabric. Christo was right there among them, wearing an OSHA-required hard hat, blissfully shouldering his share of the grunt labor.

“I was 13 at the time,” Pozzi said, pointing out the path the fence took across the gentle hills south of Valley Ford, now empty save for grass undulating in the wind and myriad grazing sheep. “I think I was the youngest volunteer on the installation. It was an incredible experience, and then, two weeks after it went up (in 1976), we took it down. Two months later, you couldn’t tell it had been there. But my memory of it is still so vivid. It changed people’s lives, and for the better.”

Dave Steiner, a Sonoma Mountain grape-grower who was appointed to the Sonoma County Planning Commission shortly after the fence went up, said people shouldn’t confuse Christo’s melding of government processes into his art with reflexive acquiescence to official dictates.

“Great artists don’t yield to cultural or political pressures,” Steiner said. “They are naturally subversive, and Christo certainly was in that mold. When the Coastal Commission didn’t grant him a final permit to run his fence into the sea, he did it anyway. He used government to make a point in his work, but in the end, he was happy to defy government. That defiance was part of his work, too. And I think anybody who was around here at that time and had his or her head screwed on straight said, ‘Right on!’ when that happened. The fence was always supposed to run into the sea. The entire project would have been diminished if it had stopped at the shore.”

After serving as a Sonoma County supervisor and the president of the California Fish and Game Commission, Brian Kahn moved to Montana. For a time, he directed the Montana Nature Conservancy. He now devotes himself to journalism, authoring books on environmental policy and field sports, and hosting “Home Ground,” a public-issues radio show broadcast across the intermountain West.

But he still gets back to Sonoma County with some regularity, and for the most part, he’s happy with what he sees.

“Through the mid-’70s, the county was focused on — actually divided by — a proposed general plan,” he said. “It was going to determine whether growth would be contained and orderly, or largely unregulated. The plan finally was adopted in 1978, and I’m convinced the fence was a major factor. It made people think about the land and their relationship to it. And when I drive around the county now, I see that the plan has pretty much held together.

“Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park may have merged more than was intended, but Sonoma Valley, the west county — those landscapes are largely intact, despite all the population pressures. It’s a wonderful thing to see. It’s a tremendous collective accomplishment.”

Indeed, the shift toward popular support of a general plan seemed to coincide with the completion of “Running Fence.” The project not only brought Sonoma County to the attention of the world, it also, somehow, brought the people of Sonoma County together.

“It was strange,” said Gonnella as she sat in the shadowed dining room of the Union Hotel following the lunchtime rush. “Once the fence started going up, once people could drive out and see this miraculous thing unfolding across the land, all the bitterness, all the protests, just kind of — stopped.”

She paused, looking out a window. Her eyes were moist, and when she spoke again, her voice was charged with emotion.

“I was only 17 then,” she said. “I loved living out in the west county. Everybody knew each other, most of the families were from the same region in northern Italy. But when the fence came, I got a sense of something bigger. The way it looked running across the hills, shimmering, changing colors in the light and the wind. I was so young, and it was so — so romantic. So incredibly romantic. I felt like my heart was going to burst.”

Selected Christo Installations

1962 – “Oil Barrels”- Germany

Jeanne-Claude and Christo created a piece in response to the building of the Berlin Wall, blocking off the Rue Visconti in Paris with a wall of oil drums. They convinced police to allow the installation to remain for a few hours.

1972 – “Valley Curtain” – Colorado

An orange curtain made from 200,200 square feet of woven nylon fabric was stretched across Rifle Gap in the Rocky Mountains. An earlier attempt was shredded by wind and rock.

1976 – “Running Fence” – California

1983 – “Surrounded Islands” – Florida

Eleven islands on Biscayne Bay were surrounded with 6.5 million square feet of floating pink woven polypropylene fabric covering the surface of the water and extending out from each island into the bay.

1991 – “The Umbrellas” – the U.S. and Japan

A temporary work realized in two countries at the same time, it was comprised of 3,100 opened umbrellas in Ibaraki (12 miles of them) and on Tejon Pass, along Highway 5, in Southern California (18 miles).

2005 – “The Gates” – New York

More than 7,500 gates made of saffron-colored fabric panels were installed in New York City’s Central Park, a golden river appearing and disappearing through bare tree branches.

2016 – “The Floating Piers” – Italy

From June 18 to July 3, Lake Iseo in Lombardy was partially covered in 62 miles of shimmering yellow fabric, supported by a modular dock system of 220,000 high-density polyethylene cubes floating on the surface of the water.

The post From the Archives: Memories of Christo’s Running Fence appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

As Orin Carpenter tells it, his art career began at age 5, with painting on walls. He and his mother had just returned from the library, and he needed to paint. “This was one of those days where I ran out of paper. I was like, ‘You know what? I gotta get this out.’” Seeing the white wall, he couldn’t resist.

Carpenter’s interests have led him from his native Memphis to the Bay Area, from graphic design into a career as an artist and educator. Today, he’s a whirl of activity: teaching art at Marin Catholic, completing a doctorate in educational technology, leading workshops on art and racial justice, and, of course, making art in his studio.

Recently, he’s been immersed in two series: “Quarantine State of Mind,” abstract paintings navigating this past year, and “In Danger Species,” mixed-media meditations on the experience of living while Black in America. Carpenter had been marinating on the ideas behind the latter for some time. Then last year, when Ahmaud Arbery was killed in Georgia, “I said, ‘You know what? I can’t sit on this anymore. I have to create.’ It was more for me to express and have an outlet from the anger, you know? George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the countless others. That gave the energy for that series.”

Carpenter has just been named an artist in residence at MarinMOCA, where he’ll have a solo exhibit this December, and shows his work at the Artize Gallery in Palm Springs. Carpenter has been sheltering-in-place — and teaching high school art remotely — from Petaluma, where he lives with his wife Mickele, son Kaleb, daughter Kyndall, and the family’s two rescue cats, Lando and Phasma.

Here’s how artist Orin Carpenter spends a day. (This is from a Sonoma Magazine series “A day with …” in which we follow local people doing interesting work in Sonoma County). 

4:30 a.m. I’m an early riser. I usually wake up anywhere from 4 to 5. Once I get up, being a Christian, I pray and read devotion and kind of start the day.

6:00 a.m. Sometimes I start working here, with my sketches. Then I have to get out of the space, and being outside is a refresher for me.

7:00 a.m. Early on a weekend morning, when it’s quiet, I’ll wander around downtown Petaluma, kind of meditate, sketch there. I’ll go to Starbucks, get a white chocolate mocha, and maybe a chocolate croissant. (I mean, might as well overdo it with the chocolate!) Then I visit Brian’s Comics. And I don’t care how old you are — you feel like a kid when you walk in the place. I love going there; chatting with Brian about movies, books, writing; and then, of course, buying comic books. It just revives that energy — it reminds me of being a little boy going into the library.

10:00 a.m. I come home, start looking at notes. Right now, I’m working on concepts for some landscapes. I travel a lot with my family, and one of our favorite spots is Italy. I want to revisit Menaggio, because I just love the feel there. It’s funny, because I actually called it “home.” There’s something about it that’s comforting. So, I think of words that kind of go with “home” and Menaggio, start thinking about the color palettes there. I take photos and look at the color schemes and things that were there, and see if I connect with those, and, if so, are those the pieces and colors I want to put in my piece? Then I start playing with the values of those colors, kind of mapping out that series.

1:30 p.m. Because I’m painting, I create lunch here, to take a break and come back and paint. My wife and I joke about Italy. We do our rocket lettuce salad with Gorgonzola cheese and balsamic dressing and glaze, with candied pecans.

2:30 p.m. I have another virtual workshop coming up, where we actually use art as a vehicle to have these uncomfortable conversations, dealing with racial injustice. I like to be overprepared, so I make sure all the technical aspects are done, do a test run, and think about trouble spots, how to maneuver through that.

6:00 p.m. The family, we love trying restaurants. I think that’s the beauty of Northern California — you can find great places. La Rosa in Santa Rosa is our top one (500 Fourth St., 707-523-3663). Their carne asada is good, the risotto relleno is good, and the tequila shrimp is one of my favorites. I’ll get something and Mickele will get something, and we’ll try things out.

8:30 p.m. At night, it’s kind of doing a checklist: making sure I had a good stopping point for the creative work I’m doing, seeing if there are other materials I need — making sure I have all the elements, so when I continue to work on it, it doesn’t interrupt the flow. Emails go out for school and my PhD work. Kind of shutting everything down, making sure everything has been taken care of before I can go to sleep.

To see more of Petaluma artist Otis Carpenter’s recent work, visit orincarpenter.com

The post ‘In Danger Species’: Petaluma Artist Portrays Black American Experience appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Art exhibits are one of the many things that have been put on hold during the pandemic. But Napa Valley artist William Callnan III is determined to cheer up the public by exhibiting his quirky and colorful mixed media pieces. This Saturday, a “Covid-safe” solo show of his works opens at CAMi Art + Wine in downtown Calistoga. (To keep visitors safe and maintain proper social distancing, reservations are required via the CAMi website.)

Callnan’s upcoming exhibit will introduce art lovers to an inimitable style, which utilizes everyday objects, like toys, in the artist’s creations of fantastical three dimensional oil paintings. The Napa Valley artist wants art viewers to not only “feel like a kid again” but also get a “sense of wow”. He envisions that patrons of the exhibit will become “moving viewers” as they discover his three dimensional pieces from constantly changing, multiple perspectives.

The show at CAMi Art + Wine will comprise 12 pieces, including two of Callnan’s most recent works. “Social Distance,” depicts a forest scene with Pee-Wee’s Playhouse-style furniture; “Keep Swimming,” depicts a phantasmagoric sundial: giant rubber duck in center; soft baby toys forming its circumference.

Callnan likes the idea of viewers interacting with his art.

“One of the things that always struck me with painting is that you create this portal, but I think (the viewers) are always going to be able to make better portals,” he said. “How amazing would it be if you could go up to the Mona Lisa and change her smile?”

CAMi owner Laurie Shelton, also an artist, likewise enjoys the interactive element of Callnan’s art.

“Will’s work is colorful and different and explosive and exciting — the show will be the perfect way to kick off the new year and let go of 2020,” she said. “People need art right now, they need food for their souls.”

Callnan, a native of Vermont, does all his 3-D painting in his garage—what could be a more fitting place to paint for an artist who utilizes discarded objects for artistic repurpose. In addition to creating mixed-media paintings, he operates NBC pottery with his wife Nikki Ballere Callnan.

Working out of an expansive studio on their back lot, the Callnans create custom ceramics for luxury restaurants and resorts in Wine Country and beyond. These projects have included plates and bowls for chefs Christopher Kostow and Thomas Keller and ceramic products for the new Montage luxury resort in Healdsburg. Before the pandemic, the couple also taught ceramic classes at Nimbus Arts in St. Helena.

Incessantly hard at his artistic work, Callnan was particularly prolific during last year’s LNU Complex Fire. With his family safely evacuated, he opted to stay behind with local artist friends to paint in their barn studio. When Callnan returned to his garage from his friend’s barn over a week later, he carried with him half a dozen haunting paintings depicting the lightning and the flames. (None of Callnan’s fire paintings will be featured in the CAMi show — Shelton had requested that the pieces exhibited this time be “happy” and steer away from the traumas of 2020.)

Shelton notes that she has taken every precaution to make the CAMi art show as Covid-safe as possible. Guests must register in advance via Tock, a ticketing system platform, for a 30-minute window. No more than seven guests are allowed inside the tasting room at any given time. Face masks are required and, to allow proper air circulation, the windows to the tasting room will be open and an air purifier installed.

Under the conditions of the current public health order in Napa County, CAMi is not allowed to pour wine to guests. But visitors to the art show will be able to purchase wine in the tasting room, as well as snacks, to bring home with them.

As of now, the exhibit is scheduled to end Tuesday, February 9, but Shelton said she may keep Callnan’s work on the walls through Valentine’s Day. Callnan and Shelton will be available most days to engage with visitors and answer questions, and Callnan says he is open to extending the exhibition.

“I’m just happy people get to see my art,” he said. “It’s certainly something you remember.”

The post Local Artist to Exhibit Three Dimensional Works in ‘Covid-Safe’ Art Show appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Sonoma-based artist Kathryn Clark surveys a wall of her studio where a hand-stitched assemblage of pale-gray fabric swatches is affixed to a board with pearl-headed push pins. “Homage to Democracy,” as the work is called, is splashed in the light, and Clark, a self-described activist, is contemplating her next move.

The piece will become a 7×7-foot translucent tapestry representing both a map of Washington, D.C., and what Clark sees as the disintegration of government by the people, one cotton-organdy city block at a time. Clark arms herself with densely detailed city plans tattooed with colorful legends, bolts of cloth from one of San Francisco’s few remaining fabric stores, and a list of heady books that illuminate the smoldering social and political fires of the 21st century — predatory lending, demagoguery, money laundering, war-time refugees. From these sources, she produces large-format fabric works that express with quiet urgency the corrosive effects of the world’s most insidious threats, both visible and clandestine.

“There is this chipping away at our Constitution that happens daily now,” she says, gesturing toward what is the first in a series of quilt works that will include cities like Kyiv, Caracas, Hong Kong, Budapest, and London. “I offer a geopolitical perspective on politics through maps of cities where democracy is flailing.”

Clark moved to the town of Sonoma full time in July 2019 with her family after first purchasing her house, just a 15-minute walk from the Plaza, in 2011 as a getaway from San Francisco. “I love Sonoma all year, but fall and winter are really why I love it here,” she says. “The weekend crowds have mostly disappeared, the Plaza lighting ceremony kicks off the holiday season, and the restaurants shift their menus to reflect what’s growing around us.”

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, Clark is the product of a Bauhaus marriage: her father was an architect, her mother a textile artist who died of leukemia when Clark was only 17. She studied art and architecture and ultimately found her way to urban planning, where she worked under New Urbanism visionary Peter Calthorpe.

While her interest in architecture followed her father’s career, she did not associate her textile talent with her mother until she married, had a child, and began experimenting with painting and photography as a stay-at-home mom. “I remembered my mom’s huge loom,” she says. “And then I had an epiphany: No wonder I wanted to work in textiles.”

In 2011, as she was turning 40, the artist stumbled upon her calling, creating large-scale works that bring light to issues of social justice. “The goal of my work is to provoke a conversation,” she says. “But I’m an introvert, so this is my way of speaking out.”

Clark synthesizes the information she gathers from books, articles, podcasts, and Instagram feeds for months or even years before beginning to execute, vetting ideas and designs with organized peer reviews.

Public institutions, not private collections, are where she strives to have her work shown.

Her “Washington, D.C. Foreclosure Quilt,” was purchased by the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery. The quilt-and-embroidery piece, rendered in linen, cotton, and recycled thread, documents the effects of the 2007 recession and the economic distress of the subprime mortgage crisis that lingered long after disappearing from the headlines. Comparable maps for Detroit, Cleveland, Miami, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and other municipalities followed.

In 2018 she completed “Paul Manafort Money Laundering Blanket,” which depicts the glittering zig-zagging of transcontinental bling from the U.S. to Belgium, Ukraine, Russia, Cyprus, and the Grenadines, in hand-embroidery and beading on cotton organdy and gold silk. Her “Refugee Stories,” shown at the Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, California, uses embroidered panels to illustrate the path of Syrian refugees into Western Europe.

Clark, her husband, Dave, and their daughter had lived in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood for 13 years before they bought the home in Sonoma. In the house, she discovered an original hand-colored drawing as well as a photocopy of a magazine feature about the home from April 1948.

The home had come in a kit designed by draftsman Alpha Sehlin, known for marketing “Affordable Swank for the WWII Generation.” Clark’s own take: “Mid-century for the working class.”

Also appealing was the compact, 950-square-foot floor plan, the third-of-an-acre lot crammed with raised garden beds, and a slower pace of life (locals are “more relaxed and less cutthroat” than in the city, she says). Among other improvements, Clark and her husband refurbished the kitchen and planted a dwarf olive tree in an established mini orchard of lemon, plum, apricot, pear, nectarine, and cherry trees.

She also decorated the walls with paintings, prints, drawings, and textural pieces by artists she finds inspiring, including Robert Motherwell, Kiki Smith, Sonya Philip, ReCheng Tsang, and her 83-year-old mentor, San Francisco artist Myrna Tatar.

Then she turned her attention to the yellow tumbledown shed in the backyard. After it was determined to be beyond rehabilitation, she tore it down and designed a gleaming-white, board-and-batten box to her own exacting specifications.

Measuring 640 square feet with a ceiling that soars to 16 feet at its peak, and large windows in loadbearing places that made Clark’s contractor squawk, the studio is a spry younger sibling to the main house across the courtyard. It features a storage loft, a guest bedroom, a small library-lounge, and a large trussed work table.

It’s here in her self-designed and purpose-built studio that Clark’s maps, fabrics, tracing paper, sewing machine, iron, rotary cutters, and spools of thread are scattered about like decorative objects: the tools of an artist whose work is anything but decorative.

The post Working out of Her Sonoma Studio, a Fabric Artist Takes a Stand on Our Political Moment appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

One of the world’s most notable graffiti artists has returned to her native Napa to add her work—legally, this time—to the growing number of public art pieces that comprise the town’s Rail Arts District.

The artist, known only as ELLE, unveiled a new untitled piece last fall, which depicts several women against a backdrop of colorful patterns drawn from Mexican folklore and textiles.

The artwork covers all sides of a railroad car that is parked along the route of the Napa Valley Wine Train and, according to ELLE, it perfectly captures the mission of her art: To use bold colors and eye-catching images to promote strong women.

“It’s important for me to represent powerful females who are kicking ass and breaking glass ceilings,” said ELLE, who uses a pseudonym because so much of her early work was technically illegal. “When I started, very few women were doing graffiti and the world of street art was predominantly male. My whole career has been about changing that.”

ELLE’s ties to Wine Country and the North Bay run deep. She attended a local catholic elementary school. She graduated from Napa High School. She attended the University of California, Davis. She has nearly a dozen family members who live and work in the Napa Valley. She still has friends in the area.

ELLE has also drawn inspiration from people and places in the Napa Valley. During her younger years, she admired the work by local artists such as Gordon Huether, and she loved visiting the modern art collection at Hess Collection, a winery on Mount Veeder. She said she also was influenced by her Napa High school art teacher, Chuck Svendsen.

All these connections make coming home even sweeter.

“It’s pretty neat to finally have a piece in my hometown,” she said, noting that the women on one side of the train are pinky-swearing, a reference to her youth. “To be honest it’s really great to see the city of Napa embracing street art in general.”

ELLE certainly is no stranger to the spotlight; the graduate of Napa High School has been creating public art for more than a decade.

In that time, her work has been exhibited in the prestigious Saatchi Gallery in London, Urban Nation Museum in Berlin, and as a 200-foot-tall projection onto the facade of the New Museum in New York. ELLE painted a 120-foot wrap around the Nike Headquarters building in Melbourne, and Vogue Australia featured ELLE’s art in a story about 32 pieces of Melbourne street art to see before you die. Her graffiti is even featured in the Tom Clancy video game, The Division.

The young artist has also engineered multiple collaborations with the sportswear brand Reebok, including the ELLExReebok graffiti legging and the ELLExReebok yoga capsule collection.

In 2019 alone, ELLE visited Melbourne for a solo show inside the prestigious Rialto Towers; Amsterdam for a joint solo exhibition with Vroom and Varossieau Gallery; and Neuf-Brisach, France, to paint inside the MAUSA Museum.

Few of those accomplishments meant as much to ELLE as returning to Napa.

The city’s Rail Arts District–RAD for short—has become a hotspot for cutting-edge public art. Established in 2016, the group is a nonprofit organization led by the Napa Valley Vine Trail Coalition, the Napa Valley Wine Train and the local arts and business communities, and it spans a 1.7-mile section of an industrial neighborhood that parallels the Wine Train tracks through downtown Napa.

Along this stretch, artists have turned the backs of warehouses and signal boxes into canvases for murals of varying size. ELLE’s piece is the first to appear on a train car itself; though the car can move, it will be parked in its current location indefinitely.

Some of the other artists with work in the RAD include Mikey Kelley, Fintan Magee, Felipe Pantone, and bumblebeelovesyou.

For the latest pictures of ELLE’s work, follow her on Instagram.

The post One of the World’s Most Notable Graffiti Artists Leaves Her Mark on Napa Valley Train Car appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Want to usher in spring with some culture? In Sonoma County, art exhibitions and gallery shows are in full bloom this month.

Fulton Crossing Open Studios, Fulton, March 15, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.: The Fulton Crossing Artisan Center hosts an open studio show on the third Friday of every month, displaying the works of its tenants. Featured artist this month is Jaclyn Finkle, who will showcase a series of line work paintings titled “Unspoken Words.” Finkle, a San Francisco Art Institute graduate, referred to the works of  Jean-Michel Basquiat when she began incorporating words into her paintings and portraits. There will be live music and complimentary wine at the event. Fulton Crossing Gallery, Fulton. For more information, contact the gallery at 707-331-4348.

Postcards from Healdsburg Art Exhibit, Healdsburg, March 14-17: Like most visitors to Wine Country, Susa Solero spent her most recent sojourn in Healdsburg taking photographs. Unlike most visitors, the German artist will exhibit her vacation snapshots at a vernissage. View the exhibition, “Postcards from Healdsburg with love, Susa,” March 14 to 17 at Chris Foley Fine Leather shop, located two blocks north of the Healdsburg Plaza. Chris Foley Fine Leather from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., March 14-17. For more information, contact the shop at 707-473-9892.

Peace, Love and Woodstock, Santa Rosa, March 17, 2019–March 8, 2020: As the Charles M. Schulz Museum wraps up its “Then Came the Dog” exhibition, which traces the origins of Snoopy back to Schulz boyhood dog Spike, another famed Peanuts character takes the stage. From March 17, museumgoers will be able to discover Woodstock, the eccentric little bird named for the iconic music festival. During spring break, March 18-22, kids can get a little extra artsy at the museum while learning cartooning and animation. Downstairs Changing Gallery at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa. For more information, contact Faith Yazel at 707-579-4452.

Roshambo Juried Show, Graton, March 19-April 21; Artists’ Reception March 23: Take your rock-paper-scissors game to the next level as Graton Gallery calls on local artists to contribute works made of or on paper, cut with scissors, or made of rock or stoneware. Deliver your art work in person March 14 through March 17. The Roshambo Juried Show will take place March 19 to April 21, with an artists’ reception on Saturday, March 23, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Graton Gallery, Graton, gratongallery.net. For more information, contact the gallery at 707-829-8912.

Healing the Environment, Santa Rosa, through March 22: In this eco-conscious exhibition, local artists offer a commentary on climate change through photographs, sculptures and paintings. The show, hosted by the Santa Rosa Arts Center in the SOFA arts district, is modeled after a previous exhibition at the same venue, “Healing By Art: After The Fires,” which was created as a reaction to the 2017 North Bay fires. Santa Rosa Arts Center, santarosaartscenter.org. For more information, contact the gallery at 707-526-0135. 

Hitchcock Celebration, “The Birds,” Bodega, March 23, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.: The towns of Bodega and Bodega Bay were both featured in Hitchcock classic The Birds, something locals like to celebrate. On March 23 (the date of this year’s Hitchcock Film Festival), 50 local artists will be showcasing pieces inspired by the film at the Artisans’ Co-Op Art Gallery. There will be artist demonstrations, ten percent discount on all art, and a grand prize raffle for a Birds-inspired birdhouse, created by artist Elita Christensen. Artisans’ Co-op Art Gallery, Bodega, artisansco-op.com. For more information, contact Francesca Scalpi at 707-876-9830. 

Dream Vessels & A Murder of Crows, Healdsburg, through March 24: Painter and sculptor Marsha Connell began making collages to send to her daughter while she was living abroad at the time of the first Gulf War. Connell found the creative process of making collages healing; the resulting series of 150 “dream vessels” merges the beauty of life with the passage of time and an awareness of death. It will be exhibited at the Upstairs Art Gallery in Healdsburg, alongside Connell’s “Murder of Crows” collection of still life and landscapes. Upstairs Art Gallery, Healdsburg, upstairsartgallery.net. For more information, contact Beverly Bird at 707-799-1490.

The National Parks Plein Air Project, Petaluma, through March 23: Local artist and gallery owner Mary Fassbinder went on a three-and-a-half year, 72,000-mile journey to paint “en plain air” in all 60 National Parks. Her paintings, inspired by French impressionists, are now the centerpiece of an exhibition at the Petaluma Arts Center; Fassbinder hopes they will inspire viewers to help preserve our national natural treasures. The exhibition also includes works by Davis Perkins, a California landscape artist. Petaluma Arts Center, petalumaartscenter.org. For more information, contact the gallery at 707-762-5600. 

Nest: Leather + Fiber | a Love Story, Sonoma, through March 30: In this debut solo exhibition, Santa Rosa artist Keyaira Terry unveils handwoven pieces made of leather, local wool and plant materials. A self-taught artist, Terry combines a modern aesthetic with sustainably sourced materials, creating a love letter to local nature. She sources much of her materials from Fibershed, a non-profit organization that develops “regional, regenerative fiber systems.” Terry will host a workshop on March 23, 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Gallery 212 at the Sonoma Community Center, Sonoma, sonomacommunitycenter.org. For more information, contact Keyaira Terry at 707-479-2144. 

Re-Creation, Sebastopol, through March 30: Jewelry artist Michelle Hoting, whose latest work is on display at Sebastopol Gallery, creates unique jewelry from repurposed metals that reflect the natural world. She crafted her new pieces using an ancient Japanese mixed-metal technique called mokume gane, layering various metals to create wearable works of art with a wood-grain-like pattern. Sebastopol Gallery, sebastopol-gallery.com. For more information, contact Michelle Hoting at 707-791-4680.

Bronzes – Tapestries, Contemporary Works in Time Honored Media, Geyserville, through March 31: The Dallas A. Saunders Artisan Textiles gallery in Alexander Valley is currently displaying works by major American artists. Featured pieces include Jim Dine’s 1978 bronze sculptures, April Gornik’s natural landscape tapestries, and Chuck Close’s black and white realism tapestries. Dallas A. Saunders Artisan Textiles, weekends from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., dallasasaunders.com. For more information, contact the gallery at 707-708-9065.

Not Just Landscapes, Sebastopol, through March 31: This international group exhibition, juried by Bay Area artist Robin Dintiman, will include artwork that reflect scenery “from cityscapes to nature views.” Pulling together seemingly disparate works in a variety of media – hybrid video paintings, kinetic art, monoprints, woodcuts, and more – the exhibition displays artistic pieces that share “a concern for our earth” and “love for the natural world.” Sebastopol Center for the Arts, sebarts.org. For more information, contact the art center at 707-829-4797.

Portals: A Space for Color, Sonoma, through April 7: Phillip K Smith III creates light-based work in his Palm Desert studio to explore relationships between color, form, surface and change. His resulting Portals series is on vibrant display at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. Each installation Smith crafts changes and adapts to the ambient light it is displayed in, as colors merge into pastels and shadows in sunlight, and at night, become saturated and envelope the surrounding space. Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, svma.org. For more information, contact the museum at 707-939-7862.

Richard Shaw and Wanxin Zhang, Sonoma, through April 7: Running concurrently with Portals, Bay Area artists Richard Shaw and Wanxin Zhang are presenting their avant-garde clay art in a self-titled exhibit at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. Their work explores the cultural exchange between the West and China and infuses satire to reference their message of global history, popular culture and personal experience. Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, svma.org. For more information, contact the museum at 707-939-7862.

See Something, Say Something, Santa Rosa, through April 20: Bay Area artists David Huffman and Evri Kwong and Los Angeles artist Linda Vallejo currently have their socially conscious work on display at the Museum of Sonoma County in an exhibit called “See Something, Say Something.” The title is derived from the warning posted in public spaces to encourage citizens to speak up if they notice something suspicious, originating from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, this exhibit, with works featuring diverse cultural perspectives, expands the call to action to motivate people to point out other social injustices, such as “racism, sexism, economic disparity and climate change.” Museum of Sonoma County, museumsc.org. For more information, contact the gallery at 707-579-1500.

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The Sonoma International Film Festival has earned a reputation for blending Wine Country lifestyle with world-class films from around the world.

This year’s festival, which takes place March 21-25, will feature 110 films from 18 countries and 200 filmmakers. The festival will celebrate food, wine and film and, in the wake of widespread sexual harassment and assault accusations in the movie industry, it will also explore gender roles in Hollywood.

The opening night headline film is Borg vs McEnroe, which explores the story of the legendary 1980 Wimbledon match between Björn Borg and John McEnroe. The film is directed by Janus Metz and stars Sverrir Gudnason as Borg and Shia LaBeouf as McEnroe.

Two other films will headline the festival: Back to Burgundy, a French film, directed by Cédric Klapisch, about three siblings trying to save their family winery, and Chef, an Indian remake of the 2014 American hit film.

Film star Karen Allen (Animal House, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Malcolm X, The Perfect Storm, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), will grace the historic Sonoma Plaza. Allen will serve on the film jury and will participate in a panel discussion titled “Reversing Gender Inequality by 2020.” The panel will also include Academy Award-nominated actress Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine, August: Osage County), actor and casting director Pamela Guest (Blue Velvet), JD Heyman, Deputy Entertainment Editor for People, Anna Serner, CEO of the Swedish Film Institute, and Ingrid Rudefors, former head of the Stockholm Film Commission.

Additional star power will be provided by actor and director Ed Begley, Jr. (Ghostbusters, Better Call Saul, Arrested Development), who also serves on the film jury.

As usual, food and drink will rule at the festival. Local restaurants including Oso, the girl & the fig, and Umbria will serve small bites paired with wine from Gloria Ferrer, Petroni, Adastra and more. There will be parties from opening to closing night at the backlot located just blocks from the Sonoma Plaza.

Thursday, March 22, features a unique five-course dinner. Each course will be prepared by a celebrity chef and will be paired with a short film. Foodie stars include Dominique Crenn of San Francisco, Evan Funke (Felix Trattoria) from LA, and two local favorites: John McReynolds (Stone Edge Farms) and John Toulze (the girl & the fig).

The Sonoma International Film Festival runs March 21-25 in Sonoma. Tickets start at $35. sonomafilmfest.org

The post Sonoma International Film Festival Announces 2018 Lineup appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

The Charles M. Schulz Museum and The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts are re-opening to the public after a nearly month-long closure due to the North Bay wildfires. 

“The arts are a vital part of Santa Rosa’s DNA,” said Brad Calkins, executive director of Visit Santa Rosa. “Even our chefs and winemakers are artists. That ‘maker’ spirit thrives here, so we weren’t surprised by how quickly our community worked to start welcoming visitors back to experience our creative culture.”

The Charles M. Schulz Museum opened Sunday, November 5, after a thorough clean-up by the collection staff and conservators. Visitors can view the new “AAUGH! The Language of Peanuts” strip rotation gallery, in addition to permanent exhibitions such as the Snoopy Labyrinth and Sparky’s Studio.

“We will open our doors with a renewed faith in the importance of preserving Charles Schulz’s legacy for all of us to find joy, laughter, whimsy, wisdom, and wonder in his characters, giving meaning to our daily lives and becoming a source of great memories for years to come,” said museum director Karen Johnson, in a statement released by the museum.

(The Santa Rosa home of late “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz burned to the ground in the wildfires; his widow Jean Schulz evacuated before flames engulfed the hillside home on Monday, October 9).

The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts will re-open this Thursday, November 9, welcoming visitors back with “Shopkins Live! Shop It Up!” – a musical based on the popular children’s toy.

The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts sustained damage from the Tubbs Fire, losing a group of classrooms at one end of its 140,000-square-foot campus. The main stage was unaffected and is now ready to open thanks to a 50-person cleanup- and landscaping crew. (See before and after photos of Sonoma County landmarks damaged or destroyed by the fires here)

During the month of November, the Center will offer a “Pay What You Can” ticket program to those affected by the early October fires and to first responders.

“During these challenging times, we believe the Center provides a place for the community to come together, connect, find solace and experience the restorative power of a live performance, and we want that opportunity to be available to everyone,” said Rick Nowlin, president and CEO of Luther Burbank Center, in a statement released by the center.

The “Pay What You Can” program includes Shopkins Live! Shop it Up,” Austrailian soft rock duo Air Supply,  “La Belle” performed by Imago Theatre, country singer Dwight Yoakam, stage show “PJ Masks Live! Time to Be a Hero,” and new age electronic and classical ensemble Mannheim Steamroller. Other upcoming performances at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts include Tony Bennett and Trevor Noah (not included in the “Pay What You Can” program).

Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, 2301 Hardies Lane, Santa Rosa 95403, 707-579-4452, schulzmuseum.org

The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa 95403, 707-546-3600, lutherburbankcenter.org

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