Surprise “YES!” to Community Arts

When you “ask” for something, it may be a real surprise where it leads.  When I asked to borrow a space for one art exhibit, the owner said “OK". "How about two exhibits?  What if we helped make a series of community exhibits happen?”  From that surprise “YES” a decade ago, a whole new path opened.  Flockworks was formed, with Board, bylaws and all, as a nonprofit framework to support community arts initiatives.   In 2007, the community Art series called Art@OddFellows in Mendocino began.

1,000 Prayer Project by Larry Thomas

To use this premier space, formerly the Zimmer Gallery, Flockworks set up lights, insurance, phone lines, credit card system, seller permits, and more. Our first exhibit featured the Mendocino Figure Drawing Collective, then led by beloved local artist Bill Martin.  The second exhibit that kicked off Mendocino Audubon Society’s “Save Our Shore Birds” research project featured 340 children’s drawings and paintings of local birds.  The response was terrific and things took off from there with each month organized and hosted by a different group of local artists and the entire project run by volunteers.  

Web of Remembrance Installation

 Mural begins at Redwood School.

Flockworks’ focus on children’s creativity began in 2008 with a class visit to OddFellows.  As part of their trip, the children helped create a large abstract painting that was later sold in another exhibit. They voted to use funds to make art banners to hang on the construction fences that surrounded the Mendocino k-8 School during major renovation. Since then, more than 400 banners, 16 large scale murals, in-class art, special projects, and community events have happened.  Art by children is included in exhibits and families visit the gallery and in settings like the CV Starr Center, the Senior Center, Harvest Market, Noyo Food Forest and the Coast Trail. All of these venues host major art pieces created with local children.  Thanks to the AD Abramson Grant for Public Art from the Community Foundation of Mendocino, a new mural will be completed in the Mendocino k-8 School gym this year.  

In November, Art Explorers, the creative arts program for adults with developmental disabilities, hosts their 9th annual exhibit at OddFellows, (weekends through November 29).  The December exhibit celebrates the life, art and music of John Chamberlin.  Overall, 2,500 local adults and 5,000 children have been part of 110 shows in the Arts@Odd Fellows series.  Annually, more than 12,000 visitors from all over the world enjoy the exhibits and art sales from these shows contribute directly to the local economy. This volunteer artist initiative has become a vibrant gathering place for community creativity and spurred collaborations among artists and other groups.  Our modest percentage (15%) from sales fosters seed funds for other community initiatives.  

Noyo Printworks is our new community studio in Fort Bragg led by volunteer artists. Noyo Printworks is dedicated to learning, teaching and practicing letterpress, printmaking and book arts. Gifts of equipment got things rolling and the City of Fort Bragg gave unused space to incubate this start-up. Since doors opened in April 2015, the response has been terrific.  Nearly 200 people signed up to participate. The space hosts visitors each First Friday Art Walk, workshops on printmaking and Studio Groups meet regularly cultivating creative projects.    

“Bones & Beyond: An Ocean Celebration” is part of a growing partnership with the Noyo Center for Marine Science. Combining art and science, outreach activities with schools, exhibits and special events, this collaboration is already proving to be fruitful..  Sheila Semans, Director for the Noyo Center, says “ Working with Flockworks adds so much to how we can engage locals and visitors of all ages in caring for our oceans and sea life.”   

Flockworks weaves community collaboration into everything. Events like Stone Soup or Mendocino Coast Children’s Fund 21st Anniversary bring arts together to strengthen the sense of “community” and address important local concerns. Creative support for Mendocino Film Festival, the Noyo Food Forest, Leadership Mendocino, Coast Youth Soccer, Mendocino Coast Clinic, Safe Passages, MAPA, Mendocino Land Trust, local schools and others, has been visible with banners, murals, exhibits, installations, painted faces, crafts and more.

Flockworks’ accomplishments have all been done with volunteer time, minimal resources and an unwavering willingness to say “yes” whenever someone has asked.  Now, after ten years, the challenge is to make this sustainable.  Added time and expertise is essential.  We simply can’t do it all with volunteer time alone any longer. 

For the very first time, we are asking for community help to continue this work.  We are making our first financial appeal this Winter, planning a March Art-A-Thon and fundraising through grants to enable Flockworks to continue to say “YES” to community creativity.  

We invite your support...Your donation to Flockworks will make a difference.

Click here to Make a Gift by Pay Pal with our thanks! 
Or we love to get mail... Flockworks PO Box 1603 Mendocino, CA 95460

Community Art Walks... Out & About

A special delight of our artful community is how we celebrate local arts & artists in our various Art Walks:  Come out & join in...

Fort Bragg 1st Friday (November 6) Art Walk around town...a few "not to miss".

October 1st Friday @ Noyo Printworks

Drop into Noyo Printworks (215 Laurel St) for new works & inky fun;  

Explore mixed media work by Dayle Doroshow around the corner at Visit Mendocino on Franklin St.

Pacific Textile Arts, 450 Alger St is featuring Judy Detrick's Calligraphy Study Group. 

And of course, Edgewater, NorthCoast Artists, Partners, Headlands, Tim Carmody, and more along Main, Laurel and Franklin... 

Mendocino 2nd Saturday is November 14th 

Art Explorers hosts their annual exhibit @ OddFellows "Home, Home on the Coast" with delightful work by 20 artists. 

Flockworks Studio next door hosts a BOOK ARTS mini-workshop from 2-4pm ...plus enjoy works by 12 local artists in an evening viewing.  

On Main Street, Highlight Gallery celebrates the Joy of Giving ...And Gallery Books is open too!

At the Mendocino Art Center, JoAnn Humphrey offers a lively new body of work "Under the Influence"  with new paintings, collage, sculpture, and jewelry.  

Lynne Butler & Julie Higgins exhibit over at Stanford Inn.

Lots of possibilities, lots to celebrate!

Celebrating the Oceans...

Bring your imagination, then "swim" through a kelp forest into a lively celebration of our oceans.  

Inspired by the Day of the Dead, the Celebration invites visitors to consider the life around us in our oceans.  

Tie on a memory to the Remembrance Web.

Explore altars to sea lions, sardines, and other sea life.  

Consider one rib of our Blue Whale... Immense, beautiful, curving.

Take a moment and consider our oceans...

Come join us Sunday November 1, 12-3:30 at Ft Bragg Town Hall ... and then meet at the south end park (enter through Cypress gate off highway 1) for the Processional Walk and Ocean Blessing on the South Coastal Trail.


Discovery through Science and Art...

Unleash imagination to gain new understanding of the world around us... 

A working collaboration of Noyo Center for Marine Science and Flockworks, fostering artful community.


Fast facts...

97% of the water on our earth is in our oceans...

71% of the earth's surface is covered by our ocean.


An estimated 50-80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface and the oceans contain 99% of the living space on the planet.


The blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, is the largest known animal ever to have lived on sea or land. Individuals can reach more than 110 feet and weigh nearly 200 tons, more than the weight of 50 adult elephants. The blue whale's blood vessels are so broad that a full-grown trout could swim through them, and the vessels serve a heart the size of a small car.

A group of herring is called a seige. A group of jelly fish is called a smack.

Life began in the seas 3.1 billion to 3.4 billion years ago. Land dwellers appeared 400 million years ago, a relatively recent point in the geologic time line."OCEAN PLANET" MARINE LIFE FACTS from the Smithsonian

Artist Talks @ Noyo Printworks

Larry Thomas and Judy Detrick kick off the Artist Talk series on Thursday October 22 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm at the new Noyo Printworks in Ft Bragg.  They will discuss printmaking, calligraphy, and book arts and each plan to bring along many examples of their work to share during their talk. Thomas and Detrick are part of the Leadership Team in helping establish Noyo Printworks.    

Larry Thomas's work is represented in collections in Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of American Art in Washington DC and many public and private collections.  He is recipient of numerous Fellowships, Awards and Residencies. He retired in 2005 from the San Francisco Art Institute where he  served since 1981 including Chairman of the Printmaking, Dean of Academic Affairs and Interim President.  Larry continues to teach, going out to summer programs at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology in Oregon, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts at Deer Isle, Maine and other special situations.

Judy Detrick taught calligraphy and graphic design at College of the Redwoods on the Mendocino coast for more than 25 years, and developed the Graphic Arts Certificate Program there. Her work can be found in several anthologies of calligraphy and graphic design, and she is represented in the Harrison Collection of Calligraphy and Lettering at the San Francisco Public Library. A parallel interest of hers is letterpress printing, and under the imprint of the Attic Press, she has produced several limited edition books and a wide collection of ephemera. She teaches regularly at the San Francisco Center for the Book, for the Friends of Calligraphy, and at other venues throughout California. 

 

Noyo Printworks  is located at 215 Laurel St in Fort Bragg; this is a project of Flockworks, a local nonprofit building community through creativity.  

 

MAKING SPACE...Box Project

Come Celebrate Arts & Crafts Week with us! 

Spend Saturday afternoon, October 10 from 3-5pm, “MAKING SPACE”  in Mendocino with Ariela Marshall as she leads a creative afternoon with demonstrations, ideas and hands-on fun with the “Box Project”.  This mini-workshop will take place at Flockworks Studio, on Kasten Street in Mendocino, next door to the historic Odd Fellows.  This month, enjoy “Crafts in Mendocino” with beautiful work by 24 local artisan. 

The Making Space project invites participants to imagine and create their own small space, literally and symbolically, using a variety of mediums on hand. Participants are encouraged to bring some special elements, (photos, miniatures) to inspire and illustrate your ideas of creatively contained magic.  Meaningful, whimsical, reflective or surreal...come make your own space.  Participants can share their creations in the January Art@OddFellows Exhibit hosted by Flockworks.  

'Making space', says Marshall, “suggests a need for something missing in life. In our fast-paced society, opportunities to invest in our own internal and personal space are rare.  The simple act of 'creating a space' for ourselves is important.”  Marshall, an artist and teacher, makes this  same creative commitment with her students at Shelter Cove School in Ft. Bragg, with a Creative Markers Table prominent in her classroom.  

Making Space Box workshop offers a fun Hands-on hosted at Flockworks Studio 

Email Flockworks1@gmail.com to reserve a place or simply drop in for the fun.

Arts & Crafts Week in Mendocino

AMERICAN CRAFT IN MENDOCINO

Visit the Odd Fellows Hall in the town of Mendocino during American Craft Week for American Craft in Mendocino. This show is a collaborative effort by two groups, Artists in Mendocino and Mendocino Coast Furniture Makers. Featured work includes contemporary quilt and fiber arts, fine woodworking, glass, ceramics, basketry, jewelry, encaustic, and wood block prints. The show will be open for through October.

ART @ ODDFELLOWS

Corner of Kasten & Ukiah St
Mendocino

 Hours: 10-6 Thursday– Sunday and Mondays 10-2

Many other events, exhibits and activities all around Mendocino County celebrate National Arts & Crafts Week. 

Sidewalk Print with Hands on Fun!

 Ink will be rolling! 

Friday October 2 Noyo Printworks hosts a Sidewalk Printmaking Event from noon to 7, 215 Laurel Street in Ft Bragg.  Activities include Letterpress printing on the Vandercook press, hand printing with a platen press, Sidewalk block printing with a Linoleum roller and mono printing on book pages by hand.  Visitors will have a chance to join in this work as well as design their own simple block print.  “Sidewalk Editions” of prints made by a number of guest artists will be completed and available for purchase.  People can tour the Studio and sign up for upcoming workshops and Studio Groups.  The Sidewalk Printmaking event is part of the Mendocino County-wide Celebration of National Arts & Crafts Week www.mendocinocraftweek.com  Exhibits, demonstrations and special activities are happening all over the County from Oct 2-12.  

Noyo Printworks is a new Community Studio begun under the umbrella of Flockworks, a local nonprofit focused on building community through creativity and best known for the Art@ Odd Fellows exhibit series in Mendocino and creative outreach with schools and children.  Noyo Printworks, led by volunteer artists, is dedicated to learning, teaching and practice of letterpress, print making and book arts.  The Studio welcomes beginners to experienced artists, with workshops and classes, on-going Studio Groups and special exhibits, events and activities.

Community donations of Letterpress, Etching Press, and related equipment got the ball rolling. City of Ft Bragg is helping incubate the start-up in unused space that was the old boy’s locker room of the old Swim Center, now transformed by volunteers into the Print Studio.   A grant from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County funds a prominent outdoor sign and other outreach materials.  The key ingredient, however, are volunteer leaders bringing this all together:  Artist leaders includes Kathy Carl, Florence Ashford, Larry Thomas, Judy Detrick, James Maxwell, Sandy Oppenhiemer, Mary Anderson and Janet Self.  Says Self “We welcome other printmakers and artists who want to add expertise, experience and time to make this work. Contact us at Noyoprintworks@gmail.com to sign up for our enews or let us know you want to be involved." 

Sidewalk Print Event is free to the public, noon to 7pm and is part of the 1st Friday Ft Bragg Art Walk.  

Clay Works @OddFellows

A true richness of works in clay by 23 artists offers the contemporary wonders of ATMOSPHERIC FIRINGS.  Ancient firing technics which include Anagama wood, salt, soda, sagger and Raku are beautifully displayed in this informative body of work.

The Exhibit, hosted by the artists, is open Daily September 1- 29:  Opening Reception in on Saturday September 12 from 5-8.  Art@ Odd Fellows is located at the corner of Kasten & Ukiah Streets in Mendocino.

Artists include:

Sonya Popow
Sarah Logan
Max Kaindl
Nick Schwartz
Alison Gardner 
Christopher Cisper 
Moss Rock Grinnell 
Havana Davidson 
Jessica Thompson 
JoAnn Humphrey 
Lizzie Helbig
Christine Schomer
 Marta Perry MacKenzie 
Dan Olson
Lynne Zickerman 
Hannah Meredith
 Scott Schmidt 
Mitch Iburg
 Hideo Mabuchi 
Jessi Kanaley 
ryan Schniebel 
Jonathan Cross 
Scott Parady 

Odd Fellows...Art Mix

Newest ART@OddFellows 

ART MIX IN MENDOCINO featuring the work of 10 local artists, offers a sophisticated experience of contemporary art making.  Painting, wood work and ceramic  by Harry Cohen, George Gruel,  Krystine Graziano, Lynne Zickerman, Odis Schmidt, and Jo Killan kicks things off and spill into a lively feast of assemblage works by Susan Spencer, Michael Wilson, Raven Mahon, and Spencer Brewer.

The exhibit is open daily 11-5 through August 29. Corner of Kasten & Ukiah Streets in Mendocino Village. 

VISIBILITY & OUTREACH

Signs of progress...

Our new sign was just installed for Noyo Printworks, giving a real presence to studio activities now at 215 Laurel St, in the heart of Fort Bragg.  

This space was formerly the Boys Locker Room at the old Swim Center (circa 1917-2009). It has been transformed into a bright, airy working studio for letterpress, printmaking and book arts.  Our thanks to the City of Fort Bragg for this special opportunity to establish this new community creative project. 

Since opening the doors in April, over 400 people have visited the studio and nearly 200 people have signed up with special interest in learning and working in the Studio.  1st Friday Art Walks with hands on activities and exhibits, mini-workshops in lino-cuts printmaking and book arts and Studio Groups in Printmaking, Monoprinting and Letterpress are fostering a lively sense of the creative possibilities in this working studio space. And new classes, workshops and events are being planned for the fall.   

The sign itself speaks to more than just making Noyo Printworks visible to street traffic.  Funding for the sign was made possible from a grant from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County for our 2015-16 Marketing and Outreach project.  The aim is to strengthen our community identity and visibility by adding support for printed materials, signage, and technology. This is groundwork for our on-going strategic development.  


We build community through creativity.  Flockworks was founded as an organizational “frame” for community art & creative initiatives.  We mobilize space, talents, time, and other resources to foster opportunities for people of all ages and experience to share, explore and participate in arts & creativity.  We add visibility and vibrancy to local arts in our Arts@OddFellows Series.  We engage children and young people in vivid art experiences on the playground, in classrooms and many diverse settings.  With public display, this art gives ‘voice’ to the importance of our children.  We contribute our unique creative twist to gatherings and efforts that support other organizations and groups.  We believe these creative threads tie us together as a community, and shape who we are, rather than see art as an endeavor of an exclusive few.