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.
Please check with the venues for current status of health protocols, hours, events and exhibitions.
Arts Guild of Sonoma
Through March 28, Art of Jewelry
Showing the work of twenty AGS Member Artists.
140 E. Napa St., Sonoma
707-996-3115
www.artsguildofsonoma.org
Café Frida Gallery
Through March 27, Jaclyn Finkle
New paintings by Finkle show a raw intuitive process in which she allows the painting to evolve spontaneously as a response to the flow of her emotions.
707-303-5925
300 South A Street, #4, Santa Rosa
www.cafefridagallery.com
Calabi Gallery
456 Tenth St., Santa Rosa
707-781-7070
www.calabigallery.com
Charles M. Schulz Museum
Through March 13, 2022, Drawn from Life: The People and Places of Peanuts
Charles Schulz worked at finding new and fresh ideas to lend to his cast of characters, in addition to developing personas for the characters themselves. To do this Schulz drew from reality much of what he poured into Peanuts. He also borrowed some of the names for his characters from people he knew. Drawn from Life takes a closer look at the people and places in Schulz’s world that inspired the now well-known character names, traits, and gags.
2301 Hardies Lane, Santa Rosa
707-579-4452
www.schulzmuseum.org
Cloverdale Arts Alliance Gallery
Through March 19, Isolate
Guest artists for this exhibit are Don Ketman, Wood Artistry and Clay Vajgrt, Painting. Resident artists are Laura Paine Carr, Jane Gardner, Pamela Heck, Terry Holleman, Shelby Young and Hanya Popova Parker. Terry Holleman, drawing, is the featured resident artist.
March 19 through May 21, Challenge
Guest artists for this exhibit are Thomas Glass Phinnessee, Oil Painting, and Don Ketman, Wood Artistry. Featured Resident Artist is Laura Paine Carr, Acrylic, Mixed-Media. Also showing work by Resident Artists; Laura Paine Carr, Jane Gardner, Pamela Heck, Terry Holleman, and Hanya Popova Parker.
204 N. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale
707-894-4410
www.cloverdaleartsalliance.org
Cloverdale Sculpture Trail
Through April 27, Cloverdale Sculpture Trail
Ten new sculptures have been installed along the Cloverdale Sculpture Trail in downtown Cloverdale after a 3 month delay due to COVID-19. Cloverdale Boulevard between Citrus Fair Drive and 3rd Street is lined with an array of playful and provocative sculptures. What better way to spark our Imagination than with this impressive exhibit of public art? The current Trail will be available for viewing until April, 2022. For sculpture locations, download a map of the walkable Sculpture Trail.
https://cloverdalesculpturetrail.org/
Corricks Art Trails Gallery/ My Daughter the Framer
March 1 through April 30, In Bloom
*** First Friday receptions, March 4, and April 1, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Featured Artists are Lois Donaghey, Erin Dertner, Peter Krohn, Victoria Kochergin, Elizabeth Peyton, and Sally Baker. This exhibit is a celebration of the renewal that Spring brings, and especially the colors and forms that appear this time of year.
637 Fourth Street, Santa Rosa
707-546-2424
www.corricks.com
Fulton Crossing Gallery
1200 River Road, Fulton
707-328-1934
www.fultoncrossing.com/
Gallery 300
6780 McKinley St., Suite 130, The Barlow
707-332-1212
www.gallery-300.com
Graton Gallery
March 11 through April 17, 11th Annual Small Works Juried Show
Juror; Susan Shore.
9048 Graton Road, Graton
707-829-8912
www.gratongallery.net
Hammerfriar Gallery
132 Mill St, Healdsburg
707-473-9600
www.hammerfriar.com
Healdsburg Center for the Arts
Through March 20, Small Joys
Celebrating the art of students in grades 5 to 7 from West Side, Fitch Mountain, St. John’s, The Healdsburg School, and the After-School Art Programs – Art Lab for Youth.
334 Center Street, Healdsburg
707-431-1970
https://healdsburgcenterforthearts.org
IceHouse Gallery
405 East D St, Petaluma
707-778-2238
www.digitalgrange.com
Laguna Foundation, Heron Hall
Through April 29, Conservation in Biodiversity Photography by Joshua Asel
Joshua Asel works as an advocate to create visual communication stories that cover Threatened, Endangered, keystone, and bellwether species. California Condors, rare marine mammals, and coastal landscapes are all part of this small cross-section of Joshua’s larger volume of internationally-recognized photographic work.
900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa
707-527-9277
www.lagunafoundation.org
Museum of Sonoma County
Art
Through June 5, Agency: Feminist Art and Power
The exhibition brings together the work of woman artists who represent different cultural backgrounds, generations, geographic locations, LGBTQ, and gender identities. Twenty-eight exhibiting artists explore the concept of agency—the capacity to act or exert one’s own power; to act independently, and to make free choices. The work examines empowerment, identity, gender roles, aging, gender fluidity, reproductive choice, women and work, violence, and urgent social topics that confront our understanding of what shapes us as individuals and communities.
History
Ongoing, Year of the Tiger: Chinese Traditions in Sonoma County 1980-2022
Featuring historic objects from the Museum’s Song Wong Bourbeau collection, as well as contemporary items generously provided from the Redwood Empire Chinese Association, the exhibition explores and recognizes the long history and continuity of Chinese traditions. The Chinese temple provided a sense of collective unity for Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans, and played a vital role in maintaining a connection with their cultural home. This exhibition shows that the important threads of community, culture, language, tradition, ritual, and history remain tightly woven into the fabric of Sonoma County.
Through May 29, Manzanar: The Wartime Photographs of Ansel Adams
The exhibition features over fifty little-known photographs by Ansel Adams that depict how Japanese Americans bore their treatment at the Manzanar incarnation camp in central California. Taken during World War II, the black and white images were originally published in Adams’ book Born Free and Equal (1944) in which he protested what he called the “enforced exodus” of a American citizens within their own country. Now, 80 years after one of America’s most horrific decisions, this exhibition is an important lesson about the past injustice done to a community because of their national origin, the urgency of confronting injustice, as well as bearing witness to the resilience of the human spirit. Working closely with the Sonoma County chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, the Museum also presents a selection of stories, objects, and images related to the experience of Sonoma County residents who faced forced incarceration in camps like Manzanar during the war.
Ongoing, Light, Clay, and Copper: Mid-Century Arts and Crafts in Sonoma County
The exhibition features three important collections from the Museum of Sonoma County: The photographs of Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel, the pottery of Marguerite Wildenhain, and the metalwork of Harry Dixon. Each was a master of their artform and all were contemporaries that shared ideals and influences. Light, Clay, and Copper explores the connections and shared experiences of these four remarkable artists.
Ongoing, Go Big or Go Home: Taking Measure of Sonoma County’s Past
From agriculture, to transportation, to architecture, big stuff has big things to say about history. From giant tools, to a massive winery door, to a long Russian River canoe, to a surrey with a fringe on top; take a journey through the world of BIG THINGS and the stories they have to tell about Sonoma County.
425 Seventh Street, Santa Rosa
707-579-1500
www.museumsc.org
Occidental Center for the Arts
Through March 6, Celebration of Black History Month
3850 Doris Murphy Court, Occidental
707-874-9392
www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org
Paul Mahder Gallery
Through April 3, Journey To The Tower
Hand painted photo sculptures by Natalia Bertotti and Michael Garlington. Using a process of “in-camera collages” the artists re-created Pamela Coleman Smith’s illustrations of the Rider Waites Tarot Cards while simultaneously bringing a sense of humor and folly to the project.
222 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg
707-473-9150
https://paulmahdergallery.com/
Petaluma Arts Center
Through March 26, Integrating Practice: Celebrating Teaching Artists of the North Bay
Artists represented are Sena Clara Creston, Frances McCormack, Joe McDonald, Chris Newhard, Chuck Pyle, Larry Thomas, and Shane Weare.
230 Lakeville Street, Petaluma
707-762-5600
www.petalumaartscenter.org
Ren Brown Collection Gallery
Through March, Year of the Tiger
Artworks on view celebrate the Year of the Tiger. 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
Riverfront Art Gallery
Through March 6, Winter Show
Featured artist is Karen Spratt, Painting Into Collage. Spratt creates collages from cut up images of her paintings.
132 Petaluma Boulevard North, Petaluma
707-775-4278
www.riverfrontartgallery.com
Santa Rosa Arts Center
March 4 through April 30, Figures and Faces
*** Artist reception Friday, March 4, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Figures and Faces features artwork from Sonoma County and the Bay Area.
Through April 27, SRAC Members Art Exhibition is on view at Finley Community Center, on West College Ave.
SOFA Arts District
312 South A Street, Santa Rosa
707-526-0135
https://santarosaartscenter.org/
Santa Rosa Junior College, Robert F. Agrella Art Gallery
On-line visiting artist lecture series. Check website for schedule.
1501 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa
707-527-4298
https://art-gallery.santarosa.edu/current-exhibits-0
Sculpturesite, Glen Ellen
Three new ceramic sculptures by Carol Fleming can be seen on the SculptureWALK. Our indoor space is now closed, but our outdoor SculptureWALK exhibition can still be viewed 7 days a week.
14301 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen
707-933-1300
www.sculpturesite.com
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
Through March 27, Still Life
A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, etc.) The exhibition was juried by Soon Y. Warren.
282 High Street, Sebastopol
707-829-4797
www.sebarts.org
Sebastopol Gallery
Through April 2, Flight Path, Paintings by Sharon Eisley
*** Reception Saturday, March 5, from 4 to 7 p.m.
Sharon Eisley presents a series of oil paintings exploring the decisions we make in our lives to turn one way or another, to stretch our wings and fly in a new direction, looking at what motivates us to make life choices, and the paradigms that constrain us.
150 N. Main St, Sebastopol
707-829-7200
www.sebastopol-gallery.com/
Sonoma State University, University Art Gallery
Through April 10, A Beautiful Mess, Weavers & Knotters of the Vanguard
The exhibition features work by 10 women artists, all of whom use knotting or weaving as their primary technique. Using rope, yarn, clay, and wire, these makers knot and twist their media into sculptures that range from minimalistic order, to joyful pandemonium, thereby upending traditional perceptions about the art of weaving, knotting, and macramé.
1801 East Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park
707-664-2295
www.sonoma.edu/artgallery
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
Through April 24, Out of Our Minds: Clayton Bailey & Tony Natsoulas
This exhibition brings together two major players of the California Funk Art movement. Known for their satire, humor, and irreverence, Tony Natsoulas and the late Clayton Bailey created sculptures from clay and other materials that reflected a preference for unrefined and distinctive methods of construction.
This exhibition is also the first museum retrospective honoring Clayton Bailey, who passed away in 2020. A significant number of Bailey’s infamous robot sculptures are included in the show. Other programs and events related to the exhibition are listed on the museum website.
551 Broadway, Sonoma
707-939-7862
www.svma.org
Upstairs Art Gallery
Through March 27, Favorite Things
*** Meet the Artist: Wilson will be hosting the gallery Saturday March 12, 11 to 6 p.m., Monday March 14, and Monday March 21, from 2:30 to 6 p.m.
Carolyn Wilson, presents Favorite Things, an eclectic collection of mixed media and collage works that explores a variety of birds, animals, florals, and landscapes. Creatures great and small, from gentle giant elephants to tiny backyard hummingbirds; landscapes exotic, local and imagined.
The Staircase Showcase presents Tosya Shore’s Treat Yourself to Travel, a collection of small paintings that celebrate the joys of travel.
306 Center Street, Healdsburg
707-431-4214
www.Upstairsartgallery.net
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