Art Trails

Our editorials written here each week seek to refrain from making brash edicts or direct ultimatums. But this week we are making an exception.
We feel compelled to urge each and every one of you reading this to rise from your reading positions and make plans this weekend to fan out across the Sonoma County Art Trails.
Oct. 17 and 18 is the second and final weekend of the annual open studios tour that has taken place here for 30 years. After nearly collapsing a few years ago, the Sebastopol Center for the Arts has revived the event, which this year features 161 artists and studios. Grab yourself a map (www.sonomacountyarttrails.org), recruit a friend or two, pack a picnic and celebrate some of the most creative people, beautiful settings and regenerative vibes to be found anywhere.
If we could actually make this a mandatory weekend assignment, we would. Too many of us go through our week rushing between work and home chores, never straying from the same beaten path. We act like captives, surrounded by a paradise that is off-limits to anyone who is not a well-paying tourist, VIP visitor or coach-driven entourage.
Get over it. This is our Sonoma County and October is one of the most beautiful times of every year. Art Trails is for everyone and it is where each of us will find new discoveries, new faces and new inspirations. We’ll be reminded why we love living here.
That is what art is all about. What would Sonoma County’s Wine Country be without art and artists? Go find out for yourself. Head in any direction you desire. Seek a back country road or a hidden corner of a quiet neighborhood. Look for the distinctive blue or gold studio location signs numbered according to the map. Join the meandering caravan of studio visitors. Go slow and linger. Introduce yourself to all forms of artwork, inspired by the beauty and charms of Sonoma County. Marvel at the miscellany of talents, personalities and human statements. Feel surprised and childlike in these artists’ work spaces, garden cottages, messy rooms and usually off-limit magical lairs. Consider it a treasure hunt, but leave your GPS and workaday world behind.
Art Trails is always a highlight on Sonoma County’s busy calendar of events and attractions. The open studio weekends have become a part of the county’s sense of cultural identity and quality of life. The varied collection of paintings, ceramics, sculptures, weavings and other art pieces helps all of us link our own experiences with the natural beauty and heritage of this region.
By one recent count, Sonoma County is home to 27,000 artists. This is also home to 210 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. The local arts economy supports 6,000 year-round jobs and contributes $243 million in annual revenues. In June 2014, the county Board of Supervisors launched Creative Sonoma to provide more leadership and coordination to the many community arts centers, galleries, festivals, studios and museums. Several local idea-gathering workshops are now being convened by new CEO Kirsten Madsen. The effort is designed to bring some of the same economic development strategies to the arts that have made the county’s wine and hospitality industries so successful.
Any extra support for our arts centers in Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Windsor, Guerneville and Cloverdale would be welcomed. If the county wants to add visitor taxes to the contributions of private donors, arts patrons and nonprofit volunteers, we’re all for it.
When you visit the Art Trails this weekend you will agree that supporting the arts would be a smart investment. It might remind us also to continue support for arts programs in our local schools.
This weekend’s weather forecast looks “superb.” What excuse will you use to stay at home and rake leaves or watch TV?
— Rollie Atkinson