Page 314 | Bohemian | Sonoma & Napa Counties

Michael Krasny Signs Off

BohoBlog

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 12, 2020

For the last 30 years, Bay Area residents have received in-depth coverage of local and national news from KQED’s Forum, the long running radio call-in show helmed by broadcaster, author and academic Michael Krasny since 1993.

As the host of the radio program, Krasny has become an indelible part of the Bay Area. Yet, Krasny recently announced that he will be stepping away from the microphone and concluding his regular hosting duties on February 15, 2021.

“Michael is a Bay Area jewel,” says Holly Kernan, KQED’s Chief Content Officer, in a statement. “His is a model public service career and he has brought depth, compassion and the expertise of a literature professor to the airwaves on a daily basis. Forum shows how a regional public affairs program can serve listeners with reasoned and thoughtful dialogue that cuts across so many disciplines and important issues.”

A longtime resident of Marin County, Krasny began his broadcasting career in the late 1970s as host of “Beyond the Hot Tub,” a weekly program on the small Marin rock station KTIM FM.

By the mid-1980s, Krasny was working in both radio (KGO AM) and on local television. He joined KQED in 1993 as host of Forum, where he explored issues related to local and national news, politics, culture, health, public affairs, art and more.

Over the course of Krasny’s tenure, Forum developed a loyal audience whose engagement with Krasny made the show one of the Bay Area’s top drive-time radio programs. Forum is also one of the top-ranked regional programs in all of public media, reaching an average of 246,000 radio listeners each week and engaging another 70,000 online listeners.

Over his broadcasting career, Krasny has interviewed prominent figures such as Maya Angelou, President Jimmy Carter, Cesar Chavez, Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Garcia, Toni Morrison, President Barack Obama, Rosa Parks, Gene Wilder and many more. For his work, he has received several broadcasting, writing and scholarly awards, including the recent Silver SPUR Lifetime Achievement Award, the most prominent award for lifetime civic achievement in San Francisco.

In addition to his broadcasting career, Krasny has worked as Professor of English at San Francisco State University and taught at prestigious institutions like Stanford University. He has also authored several books, including Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means.

“I want to thank all of the listeners, guests and exceptional colleagues I’ve had the great fortune to encounter over the years as host of Forum,” Krasny says in a statement. “I’ve been unusually fortunate to sustain such a long career serving the Bay Area in a role that allows me to participate in such rich and thoughtful conversations about the topics of our times.”

Now 76 years old, Krasny plans to spend his retirement with family, including his first grandchild, and he will also focus on writing and other opportunities.

KQED will conduct a thorough national search for his replacement. In the meantime, Mina Kim will continue to host the 10am hour of Forum, which focuses on statewide issues.

KQED.org/Forum

Food For All

News

Will Carruthers

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Nov 11, 2020

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It’s cliche to say it, but the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed all sorts of societal inequalities. In Sonoma County, there is plenty of overlap between the pre-existing societal ills and the ongoing ones brought about by the pandemic.

Food For All – Comida Para Todos is an all-volunteer group which has delivered thousands of packages of food and other necessities to residents in Southeast Sonoma County throughout the first eight months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The group formed in an effort to fill what the group’s organizers say is a long-standing lack of resources for the residents of one of the county’s poorest and most densely-populated communities, the unincorporated areas outside of the City of Sonoma commonly known as The Springs.

Members of Food For All worked together, offering aid to residents after the October 2017 wildfires, and sprang into action again this March when they realized that nonprofits and public agencies were again failing to provide the aid that some community members in the unincorporated areas west of the City of Sonoma needed.

As food lines swelled across the nation, Food For All’s organizers realized that many residents of the unincorporated areas outside of the City of Sonoma could not access a centralized drive-up food distribution location at the Hanna Boys Center because they did not have cars.

D’Mitra Smith, one of the group’s organizers, sees the work as an effort to fill in a longstanding lack of support for the families of the hardworking, but often low-paid, workers who live in the areas they serve.

“There is no safety net for, you know, vineyard workers, their families, immigrant communities, [and] undocumented people [who live in Sonoma County],” Smith said in a recent interview with other organizers.

Food For All, which is fiscally sponsored by the North Bay Organizing Project, differs from other nonprofits in several ways.

Instead of relying on an executive director to make top-down decisions, important choices at Food For All – Comida Para Todos are made collectively. The group also avoids using images of people in poverty to receive additional financial support, an exploitative-if-well-intentioned marketing practice known as “poverty porn.”

Put simply, the group focuses on what organizer Celeste Winders calls “justice work”: providing people in need with food and other necessities with no strings or expectations attached.

“Our role is to find out what people need, to get them what they need, and to treat them with respect and dignity and honor their autonomy, honor their privacy and honor who they are,” Winders said.

The group, which includes about two dozen regular volunteer organizers and drivers, now regularly delivers two kinds of packages: one of food and another of necessities, including menstrual products, diapers and toilet paper.

Although they offer deliveries anywhere between the eastside of Sonoma and Glen Ellen, Cameron Iturri-Carpenter, one of the group’s organizers, estimates that 90 to 95 percent of the requests the group receives are from The Springs, a group of small communities outside the city limits of Sonoma, and the nearby El Verano community.

It shouldn’t be too surprising that the combined health and economic crises have hit the area hard. A 2014 report titled “A Portrait of Sonoma County ,” found that residents of Fetters Springs-Agua Caliente West, one community in The Springs, had the third-lowest median income in Sonoma County. Residents of those communities had an individual median income of $19,444 compared to the countywide median income of $30,214, according to 2012 statistics cited in the report.

Moreover, the report states that “Rental housing in Fetter Springs/Agua Caliente is crowded; it ties Sheppard [in Southwest Santa Rosa] as the census tract with the largest household size among those who are renting their homes—4.5 people—compared to 2.6 people Sonoma County–wide.” El Verano, which neighbors Fetters Springs, had a closer-to-average rental housing density rate, according to the report.

While the county Health Department currently only releases zip code–level data, the available numbers indicate that the county’s low-income and densely populated areas consistently have high numbers of cases.

As of Tuesday, Nov. 9, the 95476 zip code, which includes the Springs and the City of Sonoma, had the fifth highest rate of active Covid-19 cases, with seven percent of the county’s total cases to date. The 95407 zip code, which includes Sheppard, the Southwest Santa Rosa neighborhood which tied the Springs for population density in rental units in the 2014 report, had the highest rate of active cases in the county, with 18 percent of total cases to date.

Letters: King of Denial and the Road Warriors

Letters to the Editor

Bohemian.com

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Nov 11, 2020

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Letters: King of Denial and the Road Warriors

Trump lacks the guts to admit that he lost the election because of his own mistakes on many important issues. Any President who openly brags about conquering women with his personal wealth is almost begging to lose his chance for re-election. And openly denying the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic while thousands of his constituents are dying from this deadly virus was also a sure way to lose this election.

Yet for me the final straw that broke the camel’s back is President Trump’s adamant climate change denial. With our planet quickly overheating and igniting massive wildfires all over California, any politician who refuses to fight for our Earth’s environmental survival has no right to even think about being the President of a major greenhouse gas emitting nation.

So instead of pretending to be the victim of any election fraud President Trump needs to more honestly face his own major mistakes during his four years as our nation’s most powerful person.

Rama Kumar

Fairfax

Road Warriors

It’s too bad Sonoma County doesn’t have a genuine Fire Marshal (“Not So Safe,” Open Mic, Oct. 21).

At the August hearing when the Board of Supervisors adopted this ordinance, he failed to mention any public safety concerns, which is presumably his job. Does his professional training and background give him any insights about one lane, dead-end roads during fire storms? Who knows?

But he did talk about “regulatory takings,” a legal doctrine for which he has no training or expertise. He thinks land owners should be able to develop anything they want, anywhere, on inadequate roads. I suspect he’s mostly toeing the line of supervisors so he can keep his job and survive to retirement on a fat pension.

*Disgusted

via Bohemian.com

Smoke the Vote

Rolling Papers

Jonah Raskin

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Nov 11, 2020

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Cannabis users and cannabis activists—the entire U.S. cannabis world—are giddy with success right now. In five states, blue as well as red, all the marijuana initiatives on the 2020 Election Day ballot passed with flying colors.

Ellen Komp, the Deputy Director of the California branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told me, “There’s still a long way to go. Californians can’t legally ship marijuana around the country and around the world. Federal law forbids it, and cannabis is still illegal in the eyes of the White House and the Senate, which didn’t flip, as many Democrats hoped. That makes it harder to change the laws on a national level.”

During Komp’s 30 years with NORML she has witnessed huge changes in California, Colorado, Oregon, the State of Washington and elsewhere. This Election Day, Arizona, New Jersey and Montana passed legislation permitting recreational use by adults. In the Deep South, Mississippi voters approved medical marijuana. In the Northeast, New Jersey voters okayed both recreational and medical cannabis. Jersey activists hope their new laws will pressure neighboring pot-phobic New York State. But very state has its own rules.

“At some point we’ll reach critical mass and push for federal changes,” Komp told me. “The government doesn’t just give you your rights. You have to fight for them and then you have to fight to protect them.” What’s needed, Komp points out, are workers’ rights and civil rights for cannabis users. Also, public places and public events where one can legally smoke pot.

In Arizona, voters approved Prop. 207, allowing citizens with cannabis convictions to have their records expunged. In Mississippi, Initiative 65 requires the state to issue cannabis licenses not later than Aug. 15, 2021. In Montana, 1-190 allows adults to cultivate up to four mature plants. South Dakota voters approved Constitutional Amendment A, allowing adults to cultivate up to three plants for personal use in some jurisdictions. Local authorities can also ban cannabis. Alas, that doesn’t bode well for South Dakota. Lawsuits seem inevitable.

In a press release, Erik Altieri, NORML’s executive director, said, “marijuana legalization is an issue that’s supported by Americans, regardless of party politics.” Indeed, while marijuana has divided the nation it has also brought citizens together in hippie communes, on 4/20, in the armed services and during the current pandemic.

Jonah Raskin is the author of “Marijuanaland: Dispatches from an American War.”

Sonoma’s Annual Recycled Fashion Show Walks a Virtual Runway

Arts

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 11, 2020

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Sonoma’s Annual Recycled Fashion Show Walks a Virtual Runway

Trash and fashion are not usually the best bedfellows—unless you ask the artists, designers and ecologists who contribute to Sonoma Community Center’s fundraising Trashion Fashion Show.

For the last ten years, dozens of recycled garments and recycled art made of cast-off Barbie dolls–also decked out in trash-made dresses–wow the crowds each spring, though the ‘Trashionistas’ were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic’s breakout this year and the event was postponed until this month, when the Trashion Fashion Show and the recycled Barbies art exhibit make their online debut as free virtual events open to the public.

The virtual offerings begin with the online exhibit, “Barbie: Reclaimed & Reinvented,” featuring 50 dolls that were saved from local thrift stores, recycling plants and landfills and then turned into new works of art by conservationist-minded artists who adorn the dolls in one-of-a-kind dresses made from recycled materials. “Barbie: Reclaimed & Reinvented” goes on display in a live streaming show on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 11am, and the exhibit will remain online for a week. Each Barbie will also be for sale in a silent auction to benefit the Sonoma Community Center.

“Having a virtual event is a great opportunity to reach an even wider audience than we normally do, especially when it comes to inviting guests,” Sonoma Community Center Creative Programs Manager Eric Jackson says in a statement. “For example I’m so excited that we can now have members of the Mattel Company finally make an appearance at our gallery show.”

On Saturday, Nov. 21, the tenth annual Trashion Fashion Show takes to the virtual runway during a live streaming broadcast beginning at 4pm. A panel of recycle artists and designers from around the country were handpicked to judge this year’s
Showcase of outrageous head-to-toe apparel designs handmade by local community members from recycled materials and found objects.

In addition to the live runway event, the Trashion Fashion Show broadcast will also include pre-recorded material shot on location in Sonoma.

“Since Trashion is no longer an indoor event this year, we decided to take these wonderful outfits and film them in various different locales throughout town,” Jackson says. “So now the show has also become a love-letter to Sonoma that I think everyone will enjoy.”

The live runway show will feature several live models strutting their stuff, combined with commentary and reactions provided by returning Master of Ceremonies, Gary Saperstein, and the esteemed panel of judges. Prizes will be awarded during the show in multiple categories and votes will be collected from viewers for the “People’s Choice Award.”

The Trashion Fashion Show is partners with and is sponsored by Republic of Thrift, Recology, Chateau Sonoma, Cornerstone Sonoma, Sweet Scoops, Bon Marche, The Church Mouse, and the City of Sonoma.

Online visitors and broadcast viewers are encouraged to pre-register for both events online at Sonoma Community Center’s webpage, where they can also find ways to donate to support the center’s yearlong arts and educational programs. Supporters may donate online as well as by texting the word “TRASH” to 44321.

Sonoma County Hosts Series of Strategic Plan Meetings

News

Will Carruthers

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Nov 11, 2020

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Sonoma County Hosts Series of Strategic Plan Meetings

Sonoma County officials on Tuesday hosted the first of five virtual meetings to gather input on the county’s next five-year strategic plan. The next four meetings, with topics ranging from the county’s response to global warming and social justice, will be held over the next week.

“This is a critical opportunity for the public to get involved in helping shape our blueprint for the future,” Supervisor Susan Gorin said in a statement released last week. “This will be the guiding document that will help ensure that our future actions reflect a clear sense of purpose. This is the time to be in the room – or the Zoom – where it happens.”

The Strategic Plan is based on five pillars: Healthy and Safe Communities, Organizational Excellence, Climate Action and Resiliency, Racial Equity and Social Justice, and Resilient Infrastructure. The Supervisors expect to approve the finalized plan in February 2021.

More information about the county’s strategic plan is available here.

Information about how to join a meeting is available here. The schedule of upcoming meetings is available below.

Organizational Excellence: Tuesday, November 10; English session from 12pm to 1pm; Spanish-language session from 6pm to 7pm

Climate Action and Resiliency: Friday, November 13; English session from 12pm to 1pm; Spanish session from 6pm to 7pm

Resilient Infrastructure: Monday, November 16; English session from 12pm to 1pm; Spanish session from 6pm to 7pm

Racial Equity and Social Justice: Wednesday, November 18; English session from 12pm to 1pm; Spanish session from 6pm to 7pm

Healthy and Safe Communities: Thursday, November 19; English session from 12pm to 1pm; Spanish session from 6pm to 7pm

County Purchases Santa Rosa Hotel for use as Transitional Housing

News

Bay City News Service

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Nov 11, 2020

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County Purchases Santa Rosa Hotel for use as Transitional Housing

The purchase of a Santa Rosa hotel to provide temporary housing for vulnerable people lacking shelter was approved Tuesday by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

The $8 million acquisition of the 44-room Hotel Azura was made through the state’s Project Homekey program, established in June in response to the COVID-19 health emergency.

Officials said the hotel on Healdsburg Avenue would be converted into interim housing for up to 66 individuals when escrow is closed, possibly by next week.

“Adding Hotel Azura into our housing portfolio will give us the opportunity to bring more of our Covid-19 vulnerable individuals who are experiencing homelessness into supportive housing, with a path to permanent housing,” said Supervisor Susan Gorin. “I applaud the state for helping counties pursue housing that truly meets people’s needs, with supportive services and access to grocery stores, medical services and transportation.”

Priority access to the accommodations will go to those who are homeless and are most vulnerable to Covid-19.

Those housed at the hotel will have also receive assistance from the county’s Accessing Coordinated Care to Empower Self Sufficiency Initiative (ACCESS) program that uses county and community programs to provide needed resources.

ACCESS services include primary health care, behavioral health services and support, economic and food assistance, and employment training.

Supervisors on Tuesday also approved the purchase of the Sebastopol Inn in Sebastopol, but that acquisition is pending state approval of funding.

Holiday Arts Guide

Features

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 11, 2020

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If 2020 proved anything, it’s that time marches on. Even as the Covid-19 pandemic shutters social gatherings in parts of the North Bay, the holidays approach, and with them comes a plethora of socially distant and virtual events that promise to brighten spirits. To help navigate the season, we present a guide to local holiday events, shopping, performances and other artsy offerings leading up to Christmas.

The Thanksgiving Play
Anyone who has experienced familial quarreling during the holidays will relate to Sonoma County–based Left Edge Theatre’s virtual production of The Thanksgiving Play. The satirical comedy about reconciling the holiday’s celebratory atmosphere with the dark legacy of colonial expansion in America is presented live over Zoom on Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 12–15, at varying times. The show will then be available to stream on demand from Nov. 16–29. $10–$30. Leftedgetheatre.com.

Warren Miller’s Future Retro
Each year, adventure-film producers Warren Miller Entertainment assemble a feature-length film based on winter sports spotlighting world-class skiers and other sports figures performing mind-bending stunts around the world. This year marks the first-ever digital release of the annual film, and Warren Miller’s Future Retro streams into homes this month. The jaw-dropping film features athletes taking big risks and finding big rewards on mountains in Iceland, Alaska and elsewhere. The film will be released in regional premieres; West Coast audiences can view Future Retro on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 7pm. The film will be available to stream for two days, and tickets include other digital content and other perks. $69. Warrenmiller.com.

Holidays Along the Farm Trail
Each winter, Sonoma County Farm Trails hosts a series of shopping and agricultural activities to celebrate the season. This year, Sonoma County Farm Trails is keeping gatherings small and close to home, though the organization will still host several virtual offerings, including farm-fresh gifts and local décor available on the group’s Facebook and Instagram pages and at Farmtrails.org.

Holidays in Yountville
Dubbed “the brightest town in Napa Valley,” Yountville annually offers an escape from big-box store shopping with down-home events and experiences throughout the season. This year’s calendar includes more than 50 virtual and safe in-person events, with craft and cooking classes, virtual tastings, an online gift guide and a virtual holiday light tour of Yountville on Friday, Nov. 27. Yountville.com.

San Rafael Parade of Lights & Holiday Festival
San Rafael’s 41st annual event moves ahead in 2020 as a single-day celebration that opens with an afternoon holiday marketplace boasting local shopping and kids activities before the evening’s brightly-lit events which include the parade at 5:30pm followed by a tree-lighting ceremony with Mr. and Mrs. Claus in the city’s plaza. Fourth and B streets, San Rafael. Friday, Nov. 27, noon to 8pm. Free. sresproductions.com.

Winter Lights
Santa Rosa’s downtown Courthouse Square lights up each Christmas with a massive tree-lighting ceremony. This year, rather than a one-day event, Winter Lights will take place from Thanksgiving through New Years Day, with activities for the family, photo opportunities, holiday specials from local restaurants and shops, and other entertaining elements presented with social distancing and safety in mind. Nov. 27 to Jan. 1, at Third Street and Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa. Downtownsantarosa.org.

Sausalito Gingerbread House Competition & Tour
This 14th-annual citywide event features festive and delicious gingerbread houses displayed in the windows of local businesses that are mostly within walking distance of each other, meaning this is a family-friendly diversion from the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping. Dec. 1–31. Downtown Sausalito. Maps are available at participating merchants or at Sausalito.org.

Broadway Holiday Experiences
Sonoma County’s award-winning Transcendence Theatre Company has already proven it can provide theatrical entertainment to at-home audiences with this past summer’s “Best Night Ever Online” season of virtual showcases. Now, the company sets its sights on the holidays with festive song and dance performances playing at drive-in venues and online. Broadway Holiday Experiences play Fridays to Sundays, Dec. 4–6 at SOMO Village, 1100 Valley House, Rohnert Park; and Dec. 11–13 at Sonoma Raceway, 29355 Arnold Dr., Sonoma. 5pm. $59 and up. Online performances stream Dec. 18–23 on YouTube, times vary. Free, donations accepted. Transcendencetheatre.com.

Light Up a Life
Heartland Hospice honors lives lost with annual candle- and tree-lighting ceremonies in Sonoma County each winter. This year, Light Up a Life will be a virtual tree-lighting and remembrance ceremony on Friday, Dec. 6, at 6pm. Purchase a light to honor a loved one by calling 707.778.6242.

Calistoga Lighted Tractor Parade
This small town celebrates the holiday season and its agricultural heritage each winter with a parade featuring vintage tractors, antique trucks and other rustic autos adorned in dazzling lighting displays. This year, the event has been modified to display tractors decked in lights throughout town for a social-distanced celebration on Saturday, Dec. 5. Lincoln Avenue, downtown Calistoga. 5:30pm. Free. Visitcalistoga.com.

Winterfest Sausalito
This 33rd annual event will comply with Covid-19 safety precautions when it presents its popular Lighted Boat Parade—featuring dozens of brightly decorated vessels along the Sausalito Waterfront—on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 6pm. Entry forms for participating vessels and other details can be found at Winterfestsausalito.com.

Luther Burbank Plant Sale & Gift Shop
While Luther Burbank’s historic home and gardens are not holding an annual open house this holiday season, there will be a two-day sale featuring socially distant shopping with holiday-themed cards and face-coverings available in the gift shop. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 12–13, Luther Burbank Home & Gardens, 204 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa. 1–4pm each day. Lutherburbank.org.

Songs of Light
San Rafael’s Osher Marin JCC is usually the scene of one of Marin’s biggest Hanukkah parties. This year, all are welcome to Osher Marin JCC’s virtual holiday presentation, “Songs of Light: A Multi-Genre Musical Celebration of Hanukkah” that takes place on Zoom for one night only. The event will be hosted by James Sokol, the director of the Kurland Center for Adult Learning & Living at the Osher Marin JCC, who leads a virtual program that explores the Festival of Lights through the music of Broadway, opera, pop and more. Register in advance for the free event, and take the musical trip on Sunday, Dec. 13, at 1pm. 415.444.8002.

Hanukkah with Shomrei Torah
This year this progressive Santa Rosa congregation hosts a virtual version of the Jewish holiday of lights, beginning with a three-part Zoom presentation on Hanukkah’s origins, spiritual meaning and more on three consecutive Wednesdays, Dec. 2–16, at 7pm. Free. Then, Congregation Shomrei Torah holds a virtual Hanukkah celebration—details to come—on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 6:15pm. Cstsr.org.

Holiday Gift Market
Healdsburg Center for the Arts’ annual gallery show offers an opportunity to find and purchase original, handmade creations, crafts and goods from local artists. Saturday, Nov. 21, though Wednesday, Dec. 30. Healdsburg Center for the Arts, 130 Plaza St., Healdsburg. Free. healdsburgcenterforthearts.org.

Petaluma Merchant’s Holiday Open House
Each year, downtown Petaluma helps shoppers find deals and enjoy festive holiday treats, horse-and-carriage rides, balloon art, face painting and more during an open-house outing. This year’s event will look different due to Covid-19, with details still forthcoming. For now, the open house is happening Saturday, Dec. 5. Putnam Plaza, 129 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma. 11am to 5pm. Get further details by calling 707.762.9348.

Posada Navideña
A holiday tradition in Mexico, Posada Navideña features performances blending dance, music and song. Each year, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts hosts a showcase, and this year the venue welcomes Northern California company Calidanza for a virtual performance featuring lively entertainment online on Friday, Dec. 11, at 7pm. The online performance will be available for free for 48 hours after its premiere. Lutherburbankcenter.org.

Bay Area Health Officials Caution Against Holiday Travel

News

Will Carruthers

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Nov 9, 2020

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Bay Area Health Officials Caution Against Holiday Travel

Health officials representing 10 counties and the city of Berkeley advised Bay Area residents against traveling for the holidays this year, cautioning that family gatherings could worsen the spread of Covid-19 in the Bay Area and beyond.

Public health officers from the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Mateo, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma, and the city of Berkeley signed on to the recommendations. The full list is available in English here and in Spanish here.

Although they are not barring anyone from traveling, the health officers recommend against organizing large gatherings and planning non-necessary trips, including holiday getaways. The officers advise that “in-person gatherings be small, short, stable (no more than three households over an extended period), and outdoors.”

“With cases rising around the country, and continued high levels of COVID-19 here in Sonoma County, we must remain steadfast in our commitment to keep our community safe,” said Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County’s health officer. “The best gift you can give to your families and friends this holiday season is safety. When possible, please celebrate at home with household members and limit travel.”

If individuals do decide to travel or gather to celebrate the holidays, the health officials recommend they follow all of the normal health precautions, including maintaining social distance, wearing a mask as necessary, and washing hands regularly.

The officials strongly recommend that those who do travel self-quarantine for 14 days upon their return home if activities while traveling put them at a higher risk of catching Covid-19.

Artist Jim Isermann Designs Russian River Reopening Installation

Arts

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 9, 2020

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Artist Jim Isermann Designs Russian River Reopening Installation

In a career spanning four decades, artist Jim Isermann envisions a brighter world in his modernist, abstract work by utilizing bold patterns and colors that bridge the realms of fine art and pop culture.

Splitting his time between living in Palm Springs and Guerneville, Isermann is making the Russian River his next canvas and designing artwork that will be seen throughout the community as part of a partnership with the Russian River and Monte Rio Chambers of Commerce, Creative Sonoma, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The “Creative Reopening Project” features Isermann’s designs dotting more than five miles of art installations which appear on the roads and in businesses in the Russian River corridor. Isermann’s designs mix bright colors with messages of Sonoma County solidarity and Covid-related awareness on eye-catching signs and banners.

Isermann is a globally renowned artist, and he has shown his works in more than 30 solo exhibitions in cities like Paris, London, New York City and many others. Isermann’s other recent projects include works for the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Yale University Art Museum in Connecticut and an installation for the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

“One strength running through my forty-year practice is a belief in math, structural logic and geometric algorithms,” Isermann says in his artist statement. “The asymmetric only occurs as the result of a set of rules. What keeps me on this road is the unpredictable, the serendipitous moments that make the work imperfect, breathe and come alive.”

The “Creative Reopening Project” installation features messages that aim to educate and enliven the area, and Isermann’s patterns are meant to reflect the natural arrangements and scenery native to the Russian River, the Sonoma Coast and the Redwoods.

In addition to Isermann’s designs, the project benefits from it’s lead creative designer Bob Pullum, owner of the Guerneville Bank Club. Pullum is an art director and graphic designer who has worked at many top agencies in the United States and he is overseeing the installations to help visually unite the region.

The works on display throughout the five-mile corridor range from vinyl banners and sandwich boards to window clings and even Isermann’s specially designed face mask that’s being manufactured by San Francisco company Open Editions–which collaborates with artists to design goods made by factories in the US. The public art also hopes to enliven the region without the need for social gathering, and works can be safely viewed in small groups for from the car.

“I have had a summer cabin in Guerneville since 2010,” Isermann says in his statement. “I spend half the year in the desert and when I return to Guerneville each year I view the landscape with fresh eyes.”

“Although the patterns I create are often representative to me, this project was a rare opportunity to design two patterns that represent the Russian River to all our neighbors and visitors,” Isermann says. “The river and the redwoods were obvious choices. I solved the challenge by emphasizing the contrast between the curvilinear aspect of the river and the rectilinear design of redwood bark. I look forward to seeing the paired patterns on monumental vinyl banners, vinyl window wraps and custom face masks!”