Fall exhibits celebrate passion, creativity, the natural world

Student photographers, Petaluma makers, feminist icons, a modernist painter and frustration with our government are front-and-center this fall as Sonoma County museums and cultural institutions are showing riveting exhibits that celebrate passion, creativity and the natural world.

The exhibits, which run from now in some cases through the end of the year are in-person, virtual or both. Most range in price from free to upward of nearly $20 a pop.

Here’s a closer look at some of the options.

Museum of Sonoma County

Think of the first annual SoCo Clicks Photography Exhibition as a comprehensive homage to the talent of students throughout Sonoma County.

The exhibit — a competition, really — was open to previously enrolled Sonoma County students and welcomed photography produced within the last two years using color, black and white, analog, digital, collage, drone and alternative processes. It started in July and runs through Halloween.

Categories for submission included Portraiture, The Natural World, Contemporary Issues and Alternative Process. Joshua Torres, who won third place in the Contemporary Issues category with his photo of a march against police brutality in New York City, said participating in the contest was rewarding on many levels.

“Being a part of this gave me a sense of community with the other photographers,” Torres said. “Photography has the ability to connect us, even during pandemic, which has been so isolating.”

Another current exhibit at the Museum of Sonoma County spotlights work from 35 different artists — one for each year the museum has been open. The pieces, which are all from the museum’s collection, explore a broad range of media and styles.

Katie Azanza, museum marketing and visitor experience manager, said the array celebrates variety.

“What's great about our current art exhibitions is that they all celebrate incredible local talent in their own way,” Azanza said. “Sonoma County has long been an artist’s haven, and it’s our honor and pleasure to share these works with our community.”

Petaluma Art Center

Local makers are the stars of the latest exhibit at the Petaluma Arts Center. Titled “By Hand: Makers Among Us,” the exhibit spotlights a eight local makers who have become local celebrities for the work they have created and put out into the community. The exhibit runs through Sept. 18.

Executive Director Carin Jacobs curated the show and sought out some of the artists because she was so moved by the way they approach their work.

“There are a lot of people in this town who make art that doesn’t ever hang on a wall,” Jacobs said. “I was interested in and struck by the fact that almost every one of them considers a sense of place when they sit down to create their work. That and the fact that the materials they use come from where we live.”

Jacobs noted that over the course of the show, three of the featured makers will come to the Center and do live demonstrations of their work. On Saturday, Sept. 11, for instance, weaver Marta Shannon will bring a loom and demonstrate various techniques she uses on that tool.

Charles M. Schulz Museum

Two separate exhibits at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa celebrate feminism in different forms.

The first, “Lucy! Fussbudget to Feminist,” is the Schulz Museum's first deep look into the most important female character in “Peanuts,” Lucy Van Pelt. The exhibit comprises early original “Peanuts” art, vintage Lucy merchandise and appreciations from such women as Billie Jean King, Gloria Steinem and Lucille Ball. It closes Sept. 12.

The second, titled “Girl Power in ‘Peanuts,’” is in the Museum’s rotating strip gallery and spotlights other female characters such as Sally, Peppermint Patty and Marcie. This one closes Nov. 8.

“‘Peanuts’ was co-ed from the very beginning, and Charles Schulz’s strip was ground-breaking in many ways, especially as Schulz considered the role of gender in his strip,” said Curator Benjamin Clark. Clark noted this latter exhibit delves into how these characters reflected some of the women in Schulz’s life.

Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

The current exhibit at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art fetes a recently deceased artist from Berkeley with ties to the Bay Area as a whole: Ynez Johnston.

Titled “Sacred Landscapes: The Art of Ynez Johnston,” the exhibit features paintings, sculptures and prints from more than seven decades of her life. Johnston died in 2019 at age 99, concluding a glorious career that spanned nearly 85 years; she entered the art department at the University of California, Berkeley, at age 16 and had her first exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art six years later.

The exhibit closes September 5.

Santa Rosa Arts Center

Frustration with our leaders is the subject of a forthcoming exhibit at the Santa Rosa Arts Center. Titled “We the People,” the installation comprises works by Sonoma County artists exploring the promise, shortcomings and failures of our current state of government to ensure the inclusion of all citizens.

The exhibit is both in person and online, said Director Simmon Factor. It begins Sept. 3 and ends Oct. 30.

Another exhibit at the Santa Rosa Arts Center, “Our Precious Planet,” details how Sonoma County artists, poets, writers and musicians are responding to the perils of climate change by sharing their observations through various media. Factor noted that this exhibit is non-juried in recognition of SRAC’s role as an inclusive hub for art in the community. It concludes August 28.

Petaluma Historical Museum

One of the most exciting exhibits this fall at the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum is online only.

“Black and White in Black and White” features the work of John Johnson, a photographer who documented the Black population of Lincoln, Nebraska, between 1910 and 1925. Museum Director Clint Gilbert acknowledged that it might seem peculiar for a Sonoma County city to show photos of community members from the Midwest, but he noted that the connections are meaningful.

“While Petaluma and its environs are our community, we thought it would give us a chance to introduce Lincoln, Nebraska, to our community and compare to Petaluma along with world events at the same time,” Gilbert said.

He added that members of Petaluma’s Black community helped put together the content.

Sande Anfang, leader of the Petaluma Poetry Club, will organize a poetry contest in advance of the exhibit opening in October, and winners will read their work during the main event. The exhibit opens online Sept. 26 and runs through Nov. 6.