Local shops turn downtown into one-weekend Alchemia art exhibition
This weekend, all through Petaluma’s downtown area, inspiring and inventive paintings by artists from Petaluma’s Alchemia Studio and Gallery will be on display in more than two dozen storefront windows and tucked inside shops, restaurants and other businesses. Simply titled “Belonging,” it’s all part of a special pop-up art event made possible through a grant from Sonoma County’s Creative Sonoma nonprofit, and will only be on view through Sunday evening.
So don’t dawdle. It’ll be gone by Monday.
Each piece is focused on a different single word, explains Alchemia Artistic Director Liz Jahren, and the artists were given free rein to express themselves using whatever images and media felt right. The exhibit is strategically timed to take place in March, which is Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Alchemia - with facilities in Petaluma, Novato and Santa Rosa - is a multifaceted arts and performance program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and other conditions, none of which prevent the organization’s students from pursuing lives and careers as artists, singers, actors, dancers and other forms of creative expression. The current pop-up project is founded on the idea that every artist has a voice, and is designed to bring awareness to a population that is often not seen in the spotlight.
The exhibit received additional support from the Petaluma Downtown Association and The Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce. Participating businesses include the following.
Bank of Marin
Bici Sport
Brian’s Comics
Copperfield’s Books
CROWN Hair Salon
Cucina Paradiso
Dukes & Dolls Salon
Ethical Clothing
Fluorish
Flower Child Consignment
I Leoni
J. Fermi
Obsessed
Opera House Collective
Passeggiata Shoes
Petaluma Pet Company
Petaluma Pie Company
Red Umbrella Consignment
Petaluma Seed Bank
Soft Shell
Sonoma Cutlery
Sonoma Coast Surf & Skate
Spiral Jewelry & Artisery
Stitchcraft
Summer Cottage Antiques
The Shop
ToyBVille
Work Petaluma
(For additional information visit Alchemia.org)
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