Sonoma County has been a magnet for artists and art connoisseurs for many decades, and continues to attract sophisticated artists and art collectors, along with casual art lovers. Combined with the sheer natural beauty, and general creative ambience, the area readily entices visitors, as well as long-time residents, to explore the many and varied fine art offerings. With the addition of great food, drink, and outdoor activities, it’s easy to spend a day, a week, or a lifetime traversing through the vineyards, forests, and rolling hills, along the scenic coast, and through the welcoming towns of Sonoma County.

The following is a partial list of local art exhibitions. Many eateries, wineries, and civic buildings also present changing art shows in their spaces.

*** Designates an Opening Reception.

Arts Guild of Sonoma
May 1 through June 2, Differing Views, Six Photographers, Six Perspectives
*** Opening reception Art Walk Thursday, May 2, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Featuring the work of Janie Coltrin, Cathleen Francisco, Christine Gonzalves, Tim Konrad, Stephanie Moore, and Mark Zukowski.
140 East Napa Street, Sonoma
707-996-3115
www.artsguildofsonoma.org

Backstreet Studios
May 1 through May 31, The Language of Trees
*** Artist’s Reception May 4, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Recent Works by Corrine Haverinen, the exhibit celebrates nature’s line work. To complement her solo show, Haverinen will host an artist talk with Q&A on May 11, and a poetry reading by renowned poets Gwynn O’Gara and Maya Khosla on May 18; both at 2 p.m. Woven subtly throughout the walls hung with Haverinen’s recent works will be a whimsical series of bird cut-outs created by Mary Vaughn, which extol the beauty of trees as a sanctuary to these creatures.
312 South A Street, Santa Rosa
707-206-5148
have-art.net

By Don Martin

Calabi Gallery
May 4 through July 6, Don Martin (1931-1989)
*** Opening Reception: Saturday, May 4, from 4 to 8 p.m.
Don Martin lived and worked in Mexico in the fifties, in Venice, CA, in part of the sixties, and finally on a farm near Santa Cruz for the remainder of his life. The places and times influenced his work, but his styles and choices of media were always personal, sometimes irreverent and sometimes deeply spiritual, sometimes spontaneous and sometimes painstakingly crafted. Also showing work by other masterful artists of the era including Paul Beattie, Karl Benjamin, Dorr Bothwell, Hans Burkhardt, Claire Falkenstein, Robert B. Howard, Ynez Johnston, Karl Kasten, Frank Lobdell, Mary Fuller McChesney, Robert P. McChesney, Nathan Oliveira, Deborah Remington, Louis Siegriest, June Wayne, and others.
456 Tenth St., Santa Rosa
707-781-7070
www.calabigallery.com

Charles M. Schulz Museum
Through May 20, Without Words
From “Good grief!” to “AAUGH!” Charles M. Schulz developed a lexicon that has become synonymous with the Peanuts comic strip. Yet the cartoonist’s approach to communication went well beyond words. The new exhibition explores Schulz’s pantomime comics and the artful techniques Schulz employed when telling stories using illustration alone.

Through August 4, Behind Peanuts: The Little Red-Haired Girl
Charlie Brown’s unrequited love, the Little Red-Haired Girl, was inspired by Donna Mae Johnson-Wold, the real-life first love of Charles M. Schulz. In this exhibition, learn the back story through original art, photographs, and personal interviews.

Through March 8, 2020, Peace, Love, and Woodstock
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock festival this summer, the Museum and Research Center presents a yearlong exhibition celebrating the smallest Peanuts character, Woodstock, named for the generation-defining music event. Check the website for related Public Programs.
2301 Hardies Lane, Santa Rosa
707-579-4452
www.schulzmuseum.org

Chroma Gallery / Santa Rosa Arts Center
May 3 through May 24, High School Art Exhibition
*** Opening Reception Friday May 3, from 5 to 8 p.m.
A fine array of artwork from senior art students of Santa Rosa high schools, these works were chosen by art teachers at Montgomery, Santa Rosa, Elsie Allen and Ridgway High Schools.
SOFA Arts District
312 South A Street, Santa Rosa
707-293-6051
www.chromagallery.net

Cloverdale Arts Alliance Gallery
Through May 17, Pursuit
Guest artists for this exhibit are painter Ken Berman, and fine milliner Amy Smith. Resident artists are Ralph Broussard, Laura Paine Carr, Jane Gardner, Pamela Heck, Paul Maurer and Hanya Popova Parker. Featured resident artist is Terry Holleman.
204 N. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale
707-894-4410
www.cloverdaleartsalliance.org

Corricks Art Trails Gallery/ My Daughter the Framer
May 3 through May, A Fire Story: A Graphic Memoir and Art at the Source Community Showcase
*** Friday, May 3 at 4:30 p.m., Book signing and art reception.
Local Author Brian Fies signs his new graphic novel A Fire Story: A Graphic Memoir,  sharing his own experiences, and those of the community, during and after the Tubbs Fire (and the other fires) of October 2017.
637 Fourth Street, Santa Rosa
707-546-2424
www.corricks.com

Fulton Crossing Gallery
1200 River Rd, Fulton
www.fultoncrossing.com

Gallery 300
Through May, New Beginnings
The Gallery re-opens after the Barlow flooding. Come visit.
6780 McKinley St., Suite 130, The Barlow
707-332-1212
www.gallery-300.com

Graton Gallery
Through May 26, Round and Round We Go
Imaginative Mixed-Media Work by Marylu Downing, Hap Sakwa, and Susandra Spicer. Guest Artists Monica Lee Boutz, Janet Doto, Catarina Martinico, and Lorraine Stribling.
9048 Graton Road, Graton
707-829-8912
www.gratongallery.net

by Victoria Wagner

Hammerfriar Gallery
May 18 through July 20, Victoria Wagner – Mixed Media
*** Opening Reception Saturday, May 18, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Victoria Wagner’s radiant color-play communicates beyond the attractive geometric lines and shapes that first meet the eye. Harnessing the potential of wood, aluminum, and paint, her work is a deeper channeling – a visual expression of the cosmological and psychological interplays of the human, animal and environmental world. The result of this process is at once vibrant and restful, meditative and celebratory. Her latest paintings on panel, sometimes combined with the mediums of aluminium and walnut, are mysterious and profound in unexpected ways.
132 Mill Street, Ste.101, Healdsburg
707-473-9600
www.hammerfriar.com

Healdsburg Center for the Arts
Through June 2, Reflectivity – Artists on Climate Change
Artists reflect on and respond to mankind’s most urgent global issue, Climate Change. Their vision is our looking glass that clarifies this pressing condition with the hope of inspiring solutions.
130 Plaza Street, Healdsburg
707-431-1970
https://healdsburgcenterforthearts.org

By Diana Majumdar

IceHouse Gallery
May 3 through June 14, Hiraeth
*** Opening reception, Saturday, May 4, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Hiraeth is an exhibition of extraordinary multi-media works by Diana Majumdar. HIRAETH (n.) homesickness, yearning, and longing. Nostalgia for a home you cannot return to, no longer exists, or maybe never was. Longing to be where your spirit lives.
405 East D St, Petaluma
707-778-2238

La Crema Estate
Through May 31, Jill Keller Peters
Sonoma County artist, Jill Keller Peters creates artwork that uplifts the human spirit and emanates the vibrancy that she looks for in life. Her carefully selected hues present “an oasis of calm, a serene juxtaposition of color and balance” in her inspired geometric abstractions and impressionist scenes of nature.
La Crema Estate at Saralee’s Vineyard
2nd Floor Gallery
3575 Slusser Road, Windsor
www.lacrema.com/russian-river-estate/

Laguna Foundation, Heron Hall
900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa
707-527-9277
www.lagunafoundation.org

Lauri Luck’s Pie Eyed Studio
*** Friday May 10, from 3 to 7 p.m., May 11 and 12, from 12 to 4 p.m. both days.
Pie Eyed Reunion Show & Farewell Party.
Celebrating 5 Years – 50 Shows – 80 Artists.
Look for the ART + PIE sign, and Turn at the Giant Yellow Duck!
2371 Gravenstein Hwy South, Sebastopol

Museum of Sonoma County
Art
May 5 through August 11, Kinetics: Art in Motion
*** Opening Reception Saturday, May 4, from 4 to 6 p.m.
Members Free; Non-Members, $10 general, $7 seniors/students/disabled
Kinetic Art developed as an international movement in the early 20th Century by artists seeking ways to use real space, time, and movement, explore new technologies, and make social commentary. Kinetics: Art in Motion, curated by Debra Lehane and Satri Pencak, presents contemporary artists that continue these investigations, and whose works reflect a variety of styles and modes of movement. Featuring works by Catherine Daley, Laurent Davidson, Chris Eckert, Mark Galt, Nemo Gould, Ned Kahn, Jerome Kirk, Thérèse Lahaie, Sean Paul Lorentz, Mark Malmberg, Martin Munson, Moto Ohtake, Bruce Shapiro, and Camille Utterback.

History
Through June 2, Pacific World: The History that Binds Us to the Sea
Featuring a collection of Ming Chinese porcelain traded across the ocean, art and objects of Oceania, and artifacts related to the Sonoma Coast, the exhibition traces the influences of the Pacific World on the history of Sonoma County and the North Bay Area. Learn how present day Sonoma County became a point of convergence; where the currents carried items of trade and brought immigrants, laborers, temporary visitors, and permanent settlers. The Pacific World exhibition also features a collection of antique maps of Asia and the Pacific, objects from nineteenth-century shipwrecks, as well as a children’s gallery with an interactive game and ship model.
425 Seventh Street, Santa Rosa
707-579-1500
www.museumsc.org

By Saroj Heron

Occidental Center for the Arts
Through May 26, Garden of Dreams
Featuring works by Sonoma County artists, Juried by Teri Sloat.
3850 Doris Murphy Court, Occidental
707-874-9392
www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org

Paul Mahder Gallery
Through May, Beyond Sight: In Search of Meaning
The Photographs of Wynn Bullock. In the mid-1950s, Bullock’s artistry came into the public spotlight when Edward Steichen chose two of his photographs to include in the 1955 The Family of Man exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Child in Forest became one of the exhibition’s most memorable images. By the end of that decade, his work was being featured in many exhibitions and publications worldwide.
222 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg
707-473-9150
www.paulmahdergallery.com

Petaluma Arts Center
Through May 27, The Inside Face of Outsider Art: New Perspectives from the North Bay
This exhibit features artwork and performances by many of the 100+ clients of Alchemia in Petaluma, Cedars of Marin, and Marin Ventures. These three North Bay studios exclusively represent artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These bold artistic voices express a vision of the world in a variety of artistic mediums.
230 Lakeville Street, Petaluma
707-762-5600
www.petalumaartscenter.org

Ren Brown Collection Gallery
Housed in a refurbished building with shoji and a small, serene Japanese garden, the gallery shows contemporary art by Japanese and regional Northern California artists.
1781 Coast Highway One, Bodega Bay
707-875-2922
www.renbrown.com

By Dan Kabanuck

Riverfront Art Gallery
May 8 through July 7, Late Spring Show – Dan Kabanuck
*** Opening reception Saturday, May 11, from 5 to 8 p.m.
The featured artist is Dan Kabanuck showing his photography in the gallery.
132 Petaluma Boulevard North, Petaluma
707-775-4278
www.riverfrontartgallery.com

Santa Rosa Junior College, Robert F. Agrella Art Gallery
May 2 through May 16, Student Show, 2019
*** Opening Reception Thursday, May 2, from 4 to 6 p.m.
1501 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa
707-527-4298
https://art-gallery.santarosa.edu

Sebastopol Center for the Arts
Through May 12, Favorite Things
Artwork by people of all ages that represents a favorite thing.

May 16 through June 9, Art at the Source: Preview Exhibition
*** Opening Reception Thursday, May 16, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Sebastopol Center for the Arts (SCA) welcomes you to the 25th annual self-guided open studio tour of western Sonoma County. Travel the back roads and visit artists in their studios. Discover the abundance of artwork and creativity right here in our community.
282 High Street, Sebastopol
707-829-4797
www.sebarts.org

Sebastopol Gallery
Through May 25, The Understory
Painter Lucy Martin Reveals “The Understory” in new paintings that focus on the forest floor. Her gouache and watercolor paintings bring together mushrooms, lichens, and plants in compositions that, though meticulously detailed, also create a sense of mystery.
150 N. Main St, Sebastopol
707-829-7200
www.sebastopol-gallery.com/

Sebastopol Library Forum Room
Through May 31, Free Ice Cream!
*** Reception and Conversation with the Artists on May 22, from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Students of Sara Pringle’s art classes at Laguna High School will be exhibiting multi-media work, and YES, free ice cream provided by Screamin’ Mimi’s will be celebrating the show.
7140 Bodega Avenue, Sebastopol
707-823-7691

Sonoma State University, University Art Gallery
Through May 18, BFA Exhibition 2019
This annual exhibition features the work of eight students in the Art Department who are graduating next month with their Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), an advanced degree requiring an additional year of focused study in their chosen medium.
1801 East Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park
707-664-2295
www.sonoma.edu/artgallery

Wally Hedrick, Fred’s TV

Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
Through June 16, Sonoma Modern|Contemporary
Celebrating the remarkable artistic legacy of Sonoma County, the exhibition features historic, as well as contemporary artists who have lived and worked in Sonoma County. Works by Chester Arnold, Jane Baldwin, Fletcher Benton, David Best, Bernice Bing, Jay DeFeo, Wally Hedrick, Robert Hudson, Marc Katano, Nicole Katano, Mary McChesney, Robert McChesney, Frances McCormack, Bob Nugent, Deborah Oropallo, Hassel Smith, Jack Stuppin, William T. Wiley, Franklin Williams, and Dennis Ziemeinski, among others, are included in this exhibition. Check their website for related programs and events.
551 Broadway, Sonoma
707-939-7862
www.svma.org

Upstairs Art Gallery
Through May 26, Brush with Nature
*** Artist Reception May 18, from 2 to 6 p.m.
The May Featured Artist, Ron Sumner, presents “Brush with Nature,” an exhibit of watercolors featuring wildlife. The Small Works Showcase on the stairway features “Stoplight: a Small Works Installation” by Laura Roney. Fruits; apples, tomatoes, pears, star in her 12” x 12” still-lifes in oil.
306 Center St., Healdsburg
707-431-4214
www.Upstairsartgallery.net

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