Sonoma County artists craft creative gifts that give back to fire recovery efforts
The holiday gift giving season is upon us, but for many in the wake of the October wildfires, the usual trinkets and tchotchkes appear trite and meaningless as we struggle to honor, even in a small way, the tremendous losses of so many.
The artistic community - a talented group of doodlers who, like many of us, felt helpless in the aftermath of the fire - have created an array of fire-related images and designs to raise money and mark this historic moment in time, as the community rises from the ashes to rebuild together.
These designs - from simple words of encouragement to fine art images of first responders - have been have transferred onto watercolor paper, clothing, jewelry, stickers and more. All of the profits from the items go to fire relief funds.
With these philanthropic gifts under the tree, we can all feel a little bit better about giving to our loved ones while acknowledging the pressing needs of our neighbors in need. Here are our top 10 post-fire holiday season gifts, in a wide range of styles and price ranges.
1. No more fire, please!
Agent Ink Gallery is selling a bilingual, T-shirt designed by Creative Director Matt Morgan of Harvester Co. screenprints of Sebastopol. The black, unisex T-shirts spell out “SO NO MAS FIRE POR FAVOR” (No more fires, please!) in white, red and gray capital letters. Cost is $20, with proceeds going to the Bohemian's Rebuild Sonoma, which directs funds to community-based nonprofits helping with relief efforts in Sonoma and Napa counties. The shirts are also available at Harvester Co., 6791 Sebastopol Ave. #160, across Highway 12 from Community Market in Sebastopol. agentinkgallery.com
2. From Ash Comes Love
Santa Rosa graphic designer Kristen Best, who works for Sunnyside Creative Co., was evacuated from her home off Chanate near Journey's End during the fire. Feeling helpless and with time on her hands, she started designing a simple image of water, a redwood and a heart for a sticker, tote bag and apparel line, “From Ash Comes Love.” “I had a bunch of free time,” she said, “I'm a doodler, so I started doodling.”
About a week after the fire, she and her fiancé stayed up late into the night to launch an online store, Foggy Side Up, where she is selling her products and donating the profits to the RCU fire relief fund. By Nov. 1, she had raised $12,000 with the help of a friend who is a personal trainer. “We surpassed all of our expectations,” Best said. “ We had ordered 200 stickers, and we ended up ordering 4,000 more.”
Since then, Best has added a feminine, poppy design to the line, for baby onesies and adult hoodies. Vinyl stickers are $5, tote bags are $24, onesies are $29, T-shirts and hoodies $29-$59, foggysideup.com.
3. Prints and apparel by Pete Maloney of Petaluma
Pete Maloney, an artist and professional drummer, grew up in New Jersey and attended the opening of the Twin Towers in New York with his dad. After 9/11, his alt-rock band Dishwalla performed for the first responders at St. James Chapel, a 250-year-old building that somehow survived while the towers fell all around it.
After the firestorm in October, Maloney started drawing digital portraits of first responders - a fireman, sheriff's deputy, helicopter crew, EMTs, dispatchers and a search-and-rescue team - to help himself cope, then shared them on his website to help empower the “Sonoma Strong” movement.
Maloney, whose brother is a firefighter, received such an enthusiastic response that he took the drawings to Digital Grange in Petaluma, who offered to print them for free using high-quality, watercolor paper. The six posters are now for sale on his website with proceeds going to the Redwood Credit Union North Bay Relief Fund. “I charge $75 for a print, and every penny goes into the fire relief fund,” he said. “The fireman is the most popular - he has an ax and a crowbar.”
Through the made-to-order apparel site Red Bubble, he also launched a line of men and women's T-shirts, hoodies, mugs and stickers emblazoned with his drawings. The apparel ranges from $19.50 to $45; stickers are $2.75 and mugs are $15 to $25, plus shipping fee. petemaloney.org for posters; redbubble.com for everything else.
4. Snoopy-inspired T-shirt
At the new Agent Ink Gallery in downtown Santa Rosa, owner Curt Barnickel occupies a special niche in the local art world: limited editions screen prints of concert posters along with works by local artists.
So when the owner of the Kaliber Men's Store in Santa Rosa gave him more than 100 plain T-shirts that had been donated, Curt reached out to Santa Rosa artist Zack Rhodes of Santa Rosa to come up with a design. The resulting brown and black T-shirts, sporting a Snoopy-like fireman with a hose, were printed by Farm Fresh of Sebastopol at a discount. And you can purchase either a woman's or man's shirt at both Agent Ink (531 Fifth Street) and Kaliber (315 D St.), with proceeds going to the RCU fire relief fund. agentinkgallery.com
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