Sonoma County’s sheer natural beauty and general creative ambience 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
140 E. Napa St., Sonoma
707-996-3115
www.artsguildofsonoma.org
Charles M. Schulz Museum
Through September 16, Snoopy’s Family
Snoopy once claimed to be an “only dog,” but we know that’s not true! Enjoy an in-depth look at Snoopy’s family with original Peanuts art by Charles M. Schulz, animation cels, and products. Learn about Daisy Hill Farm, Snoopy’s parents, his siblings, and how they became a part of Peanuts.
Through January 10, Inking History
Happy 250th Birthday, America! Snoopy’s Revolutionary War patriot persona tells the story of America’s war for independence while reflecting Charles M. Schulz’s love of history. This series of Peanuts Sunday strips explores suffering and hope for a better future, brought to life through humor and reflection, in one of Snoopy’s final personas.
2301 Hardies Lane, Santa Rosa
707-579-4452
www.schulzmuseum.org
Cloverdale Arts Alliance Gallery
Through September 13, Engage
An exhibition of painting, photography, and glass that offers distinct yet interconnected ways of seeing. Some works emerge from lived experience and the passage of time. Others transform imagined forms into tangible objects. Still others frame familiar subjects through the lens of a camera or the gesture of a brush, revealing new dimensions of what might otherwise go unnoticed. Together, these works explore the relationship between perception and creation, inviting us to consider not only what we see, but how we see it. Showcasing work by Featured Resident Artist Trudie Folsom with Guest Artists Steven Folsom, and Kay Young, as well as the following artists: Laura Paine Carr, Jane Gardner, Terry Holleman, Pamela Heck, Will McCoy, Jason Taylor Morgan, Jennifer Weiss, and Community Annex Artist Eleanore Webster.
204 N. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale
707-894-4410
www.cloverdaleartsalliance.org
Corricks Art Trails Gallery/ My Daughter the Framer
September 4 through October 24, Art Trails Preview Exhibit
*** Opening Reception Friday, September 4, from 5 to 7 p.m.
With over 60 artists from the Sonoma County Art Trails Open Studios program discover new artists, meet up with old favorites, and take in the amazing diversity and beauty of Sonoma County’s top artists! Art Trails Open Studios will take place on October 10–11 and 17–18.
637 Fourth Street, Santa Rosa
707-546-2424
www.corricks.com
Erickson Fine Art Gallery, Inc.
324 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg
707-431-7073
www.ericksonfineartgallery.com
Fulton Crossing Art Gallery
1200 River Rd., Fulton
www.fultoncrossing.com/exhibitions
G Street Gallery
Through November 1, Terrain Shift: Work by Karen Olsen-Dunn
*** Reception September 26 from 4 to 7 p.m.
Terrain Shift explores landscape as a site of continual change. Drawing from coastal bluffs, Monterey cypress, oak-studded hills, working farmland and other familiar Northern California environments, Olsen-Dunn examines how place is shaped by natural forces, human intervention and shifting perception.
Watershed Building
429 1st Street, Petaluma
Gehricke Wines & Vintage House
September 1 through September 25, Ocean: Fragile Beauty
*** Reception Wednesday, September 9 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Artist Firuze Gorcke will speak about her work on whale sounds and conservation with BayQuest. Ocean: Fragile Beauty features five artists who each capture the beauty of the ocean and its inhabitants in their own unique way. The artists have committed to supporting local organizations BayQuest & Point Blue in Petaluma in their ocean conservation work and to create awareness for sea and whale conservation.
Vintage House
264 First Street, East Sonoma
On October 1, the exhibition moves to Gehricke Winery, 32 Patten Street Sonoma, where it will be part of the Sonoma Art Walk from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday October 1 and will remain on view through November 27.
Graton Gallery
Through September 13, Inner Landscapes
Featuring paintings, drawings, monoprints and collages by Sandra Rubin and Harry Frank, with Guest Artists Christine Field, Deborah Titus, Bill Shortridge, and Catherine Cruz.
September 17 through October 25, The Blues
*** Artists Reception Saturday, September 19 from 1 to 4 p.m.
In this Juried Show artists show us how Blue inspires them, and how it inspires you.
9048 Graton Road, Graton
707-829-8912
http://www.gratongallery.net
Hammerfriar Gallery
Through October 17, Here & There; Paintings by D.A. Bishop
In his paintings Bishop records landscapes embedded in our common memory—images of local hills, intersections, roadside trees, buildings, and engaging skies. Rather than nostalgia, his work evokes the mysteries of this region.
132 Mill St, Healdsburg
707-473-9600
https://www.hammerfriar.com/art-gallery
Healdsburg Center for the Arts
334 Center Street, Healdsburg
707-431-1970
healdsburgcenterforthearts.org
Laguna Foundation, Heron Hall
September 5 through December 18, Spirit of My Homeland; Art by Gloria Armstrong
*** Opening Reception Saturday, September 5, from 3 to 5 p.m.
Contemporary Indigenous Art by Gloria Armstrong features a selection of paintings and drawings spanning several decades, along with her poetry and prose, along with photographs by her friend and renowned photographer, Hansel Mieth. Through her work, Armstrong reflects on the brilliance, kinship, and healing found in the natural world—a powerful and enduring source of inspiration—and offers a living testimony of a local life beautifully rooted in survivance. Developed in collaboration with her daughters, Yana and Lorelle Ross, this exhibition presents Gloria’s work for its cultural, historical, and artistic significance.
900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa
707-527-9277
www.lagunafoundation.org
Museum of Sonoma County
Art
Through November 8, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Running Fence at 50 Years
This landmark exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s monumental Running Fence, the temporary art installation that stretched 24.5 miles through Sonoma and Marin Counties. The project became world famous, and is an iconic part of North Bay culture and history. Through immersive design, powerful visuals, and firsthand accounts, the exhibit invites visitors to experience the magic and beauty that was the Running Fence – white fabric flowing across fields and cresting over hills to vanish into the Pacific Ocean – and to discover the remarkable 4-year odyssey that brought it to fruition.
Related Events:
September 12; Running Fence Reunion
September 26; Documentary Screening
For more information and further reading: https://museumsc.org/christo/
History
September 5 through November 29, Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
Presented every year since 1996, the 30th Annual Día de Muertos exhibition continues a local touchstone. Over the years, the exhibition has featured altars and artworks created by hundreds of different students, artists, altaristas, and community members, who have presented the powerful traditions of Day of the Dead in our community. To recognize the 30-year milestone, the exhibition will highlight the creations of many past participants and honor the founders of the local Día de Muertos exhibitions and celebrations.
425 Seventh Street, Santa Rosa
707-579-1500
www.museumsc.org
Occidental Center for the Arts
Through September 13, Pointless Sisters
The Pointless Sisters art quilt group strives to create an encouraging and non-competitive space for its members to develop skills while exploring their own individual journeys as artists. Individually and together, they are committed to bringing art quilting to the community through exceptional fabric creations. Learn more @ https://www.pointless-sisters.com/
September 19 through October 25, Poets Meet Artists
*** Artists Reception and People’s Choice Award October 3 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Invitational exhibit featuring local artists and poets coming together to showcase their work and create a collaboration of talents and imagination. Participating poets and artists have been working together to create poetry that represents an artist’s work, and art that creates a visual interpretation of poetry.
3850 Doris Murphy Court, Occidental
707-874-9392
www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org
Paul Mahder Gallery
Through October 4, Jake Messing; Visible Light Paintings
Visible Light explores the narrow spectrum of energy our eyes are capable of perceiving—the small fraction of light that shapes our understanding of the world. Through flowers, birds, fruit, reflective surfaces, bubbles, crystals, and other natural forms, these paintings investigate light not simply as illumination, but as a force that reveals, transforms, and connects.
222 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg
707-473-9150
www.paulmahdergallery.com
Petaluma Arts Center
September 17 through October 24, It’s Not Trash: Reclaiming and Transforming
*** Opening Reception Thursday, September 17, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The exhibition combines a selection of 40 artists from Recology San Francisco’s Artist in Residence (AIR) Program and five invited artists from the Bay Area and explores how artists transform discarded and overlooked materials into art.
Also on view in the North Gallery: Strictly Local: Piecing It Together in Sonoma County
For this exhibition, students, community members, and individual artists bring together a diverse range of voices and approaches. By considering a new purpose for found fabric, plastic bags, cardboard, clothing, e-waste, and other overlooked items, these works combine everyday remnants with creative intention, inviting viewers to reconsider assumptions about value and use.
230 Lakeville St. Petaluma
707-762-5600
www.petalumaartscenter.org
Ren Brown Collection Gallery
1781 Coast Highway One, Bodega Bay
707-875-2922
www.renbrown.com
Santa Rosa Arts Center
Through September 25, Forces of Nature
Artworks that express the qualities and power of nature’s forces, which also contribute to and sustain life on Earth.
September 3 through October 31, Beneath The Surface: Small Works
*** Artists Reception Friday, September 4 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
SOFA Arts District
312 South A Street, Santa Rosa
707-526-0135
santarosaartscenter.org/
Santa Rosa Junior College, Robert F. Agrella Art Gallery
1501 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa
707-527-4298
https://art-gallery.santarosa.edu/exhibitions
Santa Rosa Junior College, Frank P. Doyle Library Gallery
Through December 11, Jerrold Ballaine: Land and Sea
On view are 20 paintings by Ballaine who was part of the art faculty at U.C. Berkeley for over 30 years. There he befriended many artists including Joan Brown, Manuel Neri, and Richard Diebenkorn. Ballaine continues to paint and work in a variety of media in his Sebastopol studio.
1501 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa
https://libraries.santarosa.edu
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
Through September 6, Kate Haug: Collaborative Practices
This retrospective exhibition of work by Bay Area artist Kate Haug engages the Bay Area’s history of technological innovation and political activism. Working both inside and outside of the gallery, Haug employs commercial production and enters into unorthodox environments—transforming public spaces in a transitory way.
September 10 through October 18, Art Trails 2026 Preview Exhibition
*** Artist Reception September 11 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Take a first look at the artists, demonstrations, and preview exhibitions. The 42nd Annual Sonoma County Art Trails tour features 160 Sonoma County artists, each opening their studios to visitors for two weekends. The tour runs October 10–11 and 17–18, 10 to 5pm. Meet the artists, explore studios, and plan your tour at www.sonomacountyarttrails.org.
September 26 through October 11, Under Many Moons: Asian and Pacific Islander Art, Identity, and Community
*** Opening Reception Sunday, September 27 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Presented in collaboration with AAPIC North Bay and the Many Moons Festival, Under Many Moons: Asian and Pacific Islander Art, Identity, and Community is a juried exhibition exploring themes of identity, heritage, belonging, and cultural expression.
282 South High St., Sebastopol
707-829-4797
www.sebarts.org
Sebastopol Gallery
*** Saturday, September 26, from 4 to 7 p.m., Celebrate the Grand Re-Opening
Come see and celebrate the Gallery’s beautiful new location. The gallery features the work of over 25 Sonoma County artists.
186 N Main Street, Sebastopol
707-829-7200
https://www.sebastopolgallery.com
Sonoma Community Center, Gallery 212
Through September 24, Art Trails Preview Exhibit
*** Reception First Thursday Art Walk, September 3 from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Enjoy a preview selection of works from Art Trails Artists in the town of Sonoma. Discover new artists, meet up with old favorites, and take in the amazing diversity and beauty of Sonoma County’s top artists! Art Trails Open Studios will take place on October 10–11 and 17–18.
276 E Napa St., Sonoma
707-938-4626
https://sonomacommunitycenter.org/
Sonoma State University, University Art Gallery
September 3 through October 17, Mere Seconds: Andrew Owen and Insight/Incite 20/20
*** Opening Reception Thursday, September 3 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Two concurrent photography exhibitions showcase the breadth of contemporary photographic practice, bringing distinct artistic voices into conversation through shared explorations of the natural and built world, and the ways people move through both. Mere Seconds presents sixteen landscape photographs by Andrew Owen that examine ecological transformation across California during recent cycles of megafires and floods.
Insight/Incite 20/20 explores themes of resilience, identity, community, migration, environmental change, and social justice, demonstrating photography’s enduring capacity to foster dialogue and reflection.
Panel Discussion: Saturday, October 3 from 1 to 2 p.m.
1801 East Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park
707-664-2295
https://artgallery.sonoma.edu
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
Through September 6, John Paul Morabito and Norma I. Quintana
John Paul Morabito: Dancing in the Night features richly woven works that blend digital processes with handcraft, transforming ritual materials into luminous tapestries that honor Queer life with color, reverence, and exuberance. Norma I. Quintana: Paradise of Memory is a powerful portrait series drawing on itinerant photography traditions to connect personal and collective histories, celebrating everyday lives as vital expressions of cultural identity.
September 19 through January 24, The Real-Life Art History of M. Louise Stanley
*** Opening Reception Saturday, September 26, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Stanley’s large-scale acrylic paintings, gouache and watercolor works on paper, and sculptural objects are presented alongside selections of the artist’s sketchbooks, studies, photos, and notes from her personal archives, revealing her artistic process and her relentless creative pursuits. Known for her irreverent humor, imaginative storytelling, and distinctly female perspective, Stanley emerged in the 1970s alongside artists associated with Bay Area Figurative and Funk Art. She developed a singular style blending art history, mythology, everyday life, and social satire.
551 Broadway, Sonoma
707-939-7862
www.svma.org
Studio LZ
Through October 17, Debra Seal; Contours
*** Meet the Artist reception on September 26 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Contours invites viewers to encounter the human form with fresh eyes. By transforming the body into abstract, landscape-like compositions, the work moves beyond familiar social assumptions and encourages an appreciation of its raw shapes, texture, and natural beauty. Building on the conversations prompted by her earlier exhibitions, particularly around the representation of women, Seal provokes curiosity and acceptance in place of the prejudice and the preconceived notions embedded in our collective consciousness. The body becomes a landscape of quiet curves, contours, and hidden spaces. Lines and shapes flow together, moving between the familiar and the abstract, where scale shifts and the human form becomes an imagined terrain. Ceramist Anna Casadidio, from studio CASA CASA, will pair some of her ceramics with Seal’s photos.
Watershed Building
429 1st Street, Suite 130, Petaluma
www.studiolz.net
Upstairs Art Gallery
Through September 27, The Days Of Vines And Roses
*** Reception Saturday, September 5 from 3 to 6 p.m.
Donna Schaffer unveils her latest collection of oil paintings, The Days of Vines and Roses, celebrating some of her favorite views of roses blooming among the vineyards, hills, and woodlands of Sonoma County. Meet the artist: Schaffer will be hosting the Gallery on September 3 and 27 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Stairway Showcase presents artist Tosya Shore’s It’s Black and White with a Splash of Color, a collection of watercolors that begins with the fundamentals of composition: reducing an image to its two most essential elements—black and white. Working with ink, a stick, and a scraper, Shore roughens the edges of her subjects and strips away unnecessary detail, allowing light itself—not form or precision—to take center stage. Her paintings invite the viewer to experience the essence of a scene through contrast, gesture, and the expressive qualities of the medium.
306 Center Street, Healdsburg
707-431-4214
www.Upstairsartgallery.net
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