It’s been almost 4 years since my husband, son and I moved to Petaluma, trading in our city life for a place with breathing room. This town captivated us, though at the time, it was hard to pinpoint the exact source of its appeal. Without knowing its formal history we could instantly sense its uniqueness from all others spread along the 101.

Each time we explored a new pocket or corner, we found ourselves admiring the organic mix of styles, tastes and influences. Small town charm peacefully coexists with modern-day conveniences. Scenic hillsides are peppered with the sweat of industry, alongside suburban enclaves. Agricultural roots serve as the context for an unexpectedly current livelihood of arts and music.

Perhaps most evident is the architectural diversity we witnessed in our search of a house to call home. We were taken by the tapestry of English cottages blending with their Spanish-style neighbors nestled beside renewed Craftsmans, mid-century ranch, modern steel-siding, and of course, elegant heritage Victorians. It was as if we had stumbled upon a place immune to the chronology of time, embracing with open arms every era with equal love. If Petaluma were an art project, it would certainly be deemed mixed media.

It was obvious that this town serves as an intersection, a meeting place if you will, where assorted personalities and perspectives come together and somehow swirl into a mix that is at once idiosyncratic and attractive.

No longer outsiders looking into this unique community, we are now enthusiastic participants falling deeper into its embrace. Over time, I’ve heard a lot of attempts to sum up this magic quality that is Petaluma. Most recently it’s been called eccentric and eclectic, both ideas that speak to the diversity and mix-ology that drew us here.

For me there might be an even simpler summation. It lies in a word so commonplace that it’s often overlooked, yet its role and meaning is so powerful when you stop to think about it. The word is AND, or better still, the symbol of “&”. The ultimate connector, “&” joins contrasting, even opposing ideas and offers them a home…together. “&” unites the unlike-minded, enjoys their differences and suspends judgment. “&” promotes dimension rather than singularity, vibrancy over monotony. Most importantly, “&” encourages harmony built on mutual respect.

At it’s essence “&” represents the core of what community should be – people from varying backgrounds and experiences, from diverse ethnicities and a spectrum of socio-economic classes coming together in conviviality. Isn’t that what true community is all about? Acknowledging, sharing, even celebrating our differences so that we may learn and grow from them?

It makes me proud to think that I live in a town that embodies “&” at its core, that connectedness that is community. If we can embrace this nature that is inherent to Petaluma, I believe that we can step forward into the future stronger, richer and a model for other communities to follow.

The unique interplay of pictures and words conveys a thrilling sense of narrative that transcends the page and transports you halfway around the globe. It is a riveting story told in a riveting way: each image is actually comprised of multiple photographs taken over the course of time (from ten minutes to several hours – a photographic approach critics have dubbed “flat film”). The result is nothing less than a new and startling way of seeing photographs.

SLOW: Life in a Tuscan Town by Douglas Gayeton from Pier Giorgio Provenzano on Vimeo.

WEDNESDAY EVENING

June 10 – August 26, 2009
4:30 PM – 8:00 PM
in the Theatre District
( 2nd Street between B & D Streets.)

SATURDAYS

May 23 – October 31, 2009
2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
in Walnut Park on the Corner of Petaluma Blvd South and D Street.

409 Petaluma Blvd South
Suite B (Behind Clavey River Co.)
707-364-9996

All proceeds are used for projectHERE and local events.

projectHERE STORE >>

After successfully defending her baccalaureate thesis that love is a pink cake, she left the midwestern
college town she razed with her power of cute to spread her infectious inventive modern postmodern
folk art around the bay area.

heidi@mciverson.com

“Drawing makes me happy. It is like, anything can happen. I get  an idea
and begin to draw it, like someone walking on clouds or  who  is smaller
than a flower. Phoebe Washer was my biggest influence. We would  sit and
paint together and just by watching her I learned  a lot.”

This is the artists statement by Stella Brown,  the  extraordinary young
lady whose work will  be  featured  in  her  first  solo  show  “…that
nothing walks with aimless feet..” at Boomerang Gallery.  At  the age of
ten, Stella is a veteran of numerous group shows  here.  Her  works have
been  displayed  and  sold  alongside  the works  of many   other, older
artists. She has been drawing and painting  for most  of  her  life, but
her work really blossomed when the late Phoebe Washer  began  to babysit
and mentor Stella and her younger brother Tiger.  They  would  paint and
draw together  for hours  and both  kids  were  put  on  a path  that we
believe will lead to a life filled with art.  We would  like  to present
“…that nothing walks with aimless feet..”. The  first  of what  we are
sure to be many solo shows by Stella  Bloom  Brown,  featuring  works on
paper and wood as well as kokeshi dolls that were  made  and  painted by
Stella.

The show will run from March 28th until April 26th. Please  join  us for
an artists reception Saturday March 28th from 7 until 9 PM.

Boomerang Gallery/Heebejeebe is located at 46 Kentucky  St in  Petaluma.

For further information or questions call: (707) 773-3222

HeebeJeebe is much more than just a novelty store. It’s home to a wide variety of housewares, jewelry, t-shirts, hats, scarves, cards for any occasion, unusual and fun toys for boys and girls of all ages, as well as wonderful and interesting things just for baby. HeebeJeebe is also home to The Champion, a mechanical horse that is a long-time favorite of small children in Petaluma, a black and white photo booth, and Boomerang Gallery. Boomerang Gallery is known for having interesting, edgy and fresh art shows that showcase local artists of all ages… especially those whose sensibilities lie somewhere close to the intersection of lowbrow and folk art.

707-773-3222

A trip to the Farmer’s Market two or three times or more over the balmy summer months, perhaps, a holiday gift from an art fair or a far more concerted effort in tracking down the many great everyday products grown and hand produced right here in Petaluma?

If you were to sit down and scribble a quick list of all of all of the locally produced foods and goods that spring to mind, you’d be reassured to see that we are in fact, far better catered to in terms of quality and variety of local merchandize than one may initially have thought.

For despite the current trend to search less father afield and in doing so, discover much more, a myriad of fine, ‘made in Petaluma’ products on the market today should be making much more of an impact on local lifestyle than we have so far allowed them to.

Is it simply a matter of spreading awareness and making a collective, concerted effort to look at the purchasing choices we make on a regular basis?  By taking steps to bring the bulk of our shopping dollars back to the many growers, manufacturers and merchants of our bustling hometown we can make a substantial impact for the future wealth, health and well being of our community.

Take, for instance, the mere mention of our neighboring, well-established, decade-old ‘Marin Organic’, as it conjures a marvelous, mental slideshow of mouth watering images – armloads of rustic green veg, creamy, artisan cheese, organic wines, freshly baked breads, free range eggs and newly shucked oysters from the misty banks of Tomales Bay.

A bounty of earth’s produce, paid for at a premium by those who trade their hard earned cash for some of the best tasting, most natural and sustainable foods to be found in the region today.

We only have to take a brisk bay ride down to the Ferry Building in San Francisco to witness the wonders of regional branding. It’s a phenomenon of sorts, though in reality, what we are seeing is a canny and much-needed reshaping of a return to the region’s more traditional values.

The idea of a Made in Petaluma collaboration crosses the borders of agriculture, manufacturing and production. It is a powerful concept to promote a keener sense of place while bolstering the livelihood of local growers and hometown business as a whole.

And what we have here in Petaluma reaches way and beyond Marin Organic’s original range of biodynamic delectables. From our home-sawn Heritage Salvage reclaimed wooden furniture, to Maude’s meticulously hand stitched dolls, Petaluma is home base to the likes of the nation’s leading natural frozen food producer, Amy’s Kitchen and internationally known Barbara’s Bakery natural cereal manufacturer. Petaluma Poultry’s Rocky Range chickens have put Petaluma on the map as a Sonoma County Conservation Council’s Environmental Business of the Year, as La loo’s slow formed, kitchen fresh goat milk ice cream company continues to blaze a trail of sustainable innovation across the nation’s press.

Locavores need look no further than Petaluma’s eco-friendly Green String Farm for year-round greens, Peterson’s Farm for herbicide/pesticide free farm products and honey and family-owned Clover Stornetta for all things in the sustainable, local dairy department.

If you were to source extra virgin olive oil from the rolling hills of certified organic McEvoy Ranch, hand pick breads and pastries from Della Fattoria Bakery and Café, pick out olives, marinara sauce, salsa, jerky, bacon and ham from Angelo’s Smokehouse or Zoe’s Meats, you’d be well on your way to a well-stocked, entirely Made in Petaluma pantry.

Petaluma Creamery has a still largely undiscovered selection of  Spring Hill Farm artisan cheeses, including an organic feta and a cultured, local butter.

And when it comes to wines sourced from within the three-year-old Petaluma Gap Winegrower’s Alliance, wine aficionados need look no further than the finely crafted vintages of local labels such as Adobe Road, Copeland Creek, Cline, Ridgeway Two Pisces, Keller Estate & Kastania.

In fact, the founding of The Petaluma Gap as a nonprofit organization is a great example of a group of local growers coming together and gaining momentum and members as it recognized today’s need to put a collective stamp on the superb, cool-climate varietals now being produced in the local wine arena.

With the increase in popularity of the Artisan Cheese Festival taking place in Petaluma now for a third year, it is prime time for Petaluma to put its best foot forward in presenting its finest offerings to the world at large, as well as to the people who live and work within the area, so that they may continue to grasp the new-found, old-fashioned values of increasingly buying local.

One key question that cannot be ignored in the current credit crunch is how can the coping classes afford to buy local? This is an issue a collaborative should address sooner rather than later. A cooperative for local buyers is one possibility, and, I’m taking the liberty to suppose, could be the concept of an innovative, Made in Petaluma, stays in Petaluma currency. Now there’s some food for thought!

Frances Rivetti
Freelance Writer
Blogs:
Sonoma Country Life
Off the Cuff
Frances is a British/American, Petaluma-based freelance writer whose work appears regularly on a local basis in the Petaluma Magazine, Wine Country This Week and Petaluma 360.com. A founding member of the Petaluma Gap Winegrower’s Alliance, Frances frequently finds herself hands-on in the barrel house as girl-Friday for husband Timo’s winemaking escapades in their West Petaluma hobby vineyard. A small-town girl at heart, Frances was raised in a multi-generational family of English country shopkeepers. She has been an active member of the Petaluma community for the past 17 years.

Born in South Carolina, to Mid-western parents, and for the first 10 years of her life she bounced back and forth from Ireland to South Carolina to Korea back to South Carolina over to Hong Kong and finally back to South Carolina. Therefore you can understand that her life is about contrasts and her work reflects that.

www.paigegreenphotography.com

707-775-8048