Cloverdale seeks arts identity

Cloverdale, a former lumber mill town, is re-casting itself as a mecca for artists and artisans.

With the realization that a major new industry or employer isn't coming any time soon, city officials have an economic development objective to make Cloverdale a destination for arts and culture.

From the perspective of City Councilwoman Carol Russell, it's part of an evolution that comes with a beautiful, natural setting that attracts creative and eccentric personalities.

"It's not so much we're re-inventing ourselves, but recognizing what we are," she said of the town of 8,600 people. "We are not going to become the next automobile manufacturing hub."

"We're just on the edge of Sonoma County. It makes us rural. But we still have access to Wi-Fi and what you need for business, to sell arts and craft-works," she said.

Russell's comments come on the heels of the City Council's allocation last week of $59,000 to develop an "artist/artisan incubator project."

The money comes from federal Community Development Block Grant funds, which target low-income populations — in this case not necessarily starving artists, but those that need a hand to sell their work.

The intent is to nurture artists and help them market their work as well as help create a studio space for those who need it.

"There are a lot of talented people that like to live here. The same with Sonoma County. It has lots of artists," said Nash Kunkle, a blacksmith-welder who co-founded Local Folkal, an artists' cooperative that opened downtown in April.

The co-op, located on a prominent spot of North Cloverdale Boulevard, sells the wares of 28 artists and crafters, most of them from Cloverdale.

In addition to paintings, stained glass, jewelry, fabrics and ceramics, it also offers "local edibles" such as apple juice, wine vinegar and olive oil produced in Cloverdale. Books from Sonoma County authors are also featured.

To add to the burgeoning arts scene, Towers Gallery, another artists cooperative, opened in June up the street.

First Street Gallery, operated by the Cloverdale Arts Alliance, has been in existence for a number of years. The alliance puts on the popular Friday Night Live concerts that draw large summertime crowds and also sponsors an annual sculpture competition.

To help create a downtown cultural hub, the City Council heavily subsidized the Cloverdale Performing Arts Center, which opened in late 2010, and the Cloverdale History Center that opened a year earlier.

"There's been a real commitment from the community to work with the Arts Alliance and Performing Arts Center, recognizing we could set ourselves apart from other communities in the county by becoming a destination for art and culture," said Carla Howell, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce.

She has a contract with the city to oversee the artist incubator project. "For the size of the community, there's a large population of artists and artisans who support themselves, or partly support themselves through their own creativity," she said. That includes potters, painters, weavers, people who do metal arts and those who produce food and music.

Cloverdale also attracts artists, Kunkle said, because it's relatively affordable in comparison to other parts of the county. He said the incubator project is useful because it can help artists learn skills such as bookkeeping, creating a market and tracking customers.

"It's very important for artists. They often get caught up creating work and don't have time for that other stuff," he said.

Councilwoman Russell doesn't foresee Cloverdale losing its lack of pretense as the art scene takes further root.

"We're not Paris," she said. "We will always have smaller galleries and interesting, surprising art."