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FORT BRAGG, CA — Housed in Fort Bragg on Franklin Street, Art Explorers is a nonprofit that serves adults with developmental disabilities or brain injuries. The organization provides an art studio stocked with high-quality art supplies, and skilled instructors offer lessons in a wide variety of art techniques.
The staff is preparing for its annual art exhibition beginning on November 3 at the Mendocino Art Center. The exhibition is music-themed, and this theme has been the focus this past year at the studio.
The Art Explorers’ building is large and open, filled with light from multiple windows. Just inside the front doors is a gallery of student art for sale, including ceramics, matted paintings, and multiple display racks of cards.
Behind the sales area is a studio that can accommodate ten artists at a time, with tables for those who wish to socialize as they work and cubby areas for those inclined to a deeper focus. Along the walls are shelves crammed with materials for multiple media project choices.
Maria Trombetta, a Co-Director at Art Explorers, listed the media experimentation as ceramics, painting in acrylics, watercolor or wash, drawing, silkscreening and lino printing, etching, and a little jewelry. Recently, the center acquired a loom to provide weaving opportunities.
Beyond the studio area is a workspace and storage for art selected to go on exhibition and for student portfolios. The final preparation of artwork happens here in an area as bright with light as the rest of the building.
What the public is generally unaware of is that these adults are experienced artists who create, exhibit, and sell their works. Some of the artists’ works have been shown and sold at progressive art galleries across the country.
Art Enables, a nonprofit gallery in Washington D.C., just closed an exhibition that included works by local artist Mike Barnes. His art piece was purchased by a government official.
Baltimore’s Make Studio’s current exhibition, open until November 10, features a few Fort Bragg artists: Mike Smart, Lupe Toscanini, Tim Peterson, Stella Peterson, and Frank Van Curen.
A third show at Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia, open from October 29 to January 28, includes art from two local artists: Jerry Turner and Frank Van Curen.
An exhibit at the NIAD Center in Richmond, CA, open through November 17, features an art piece by Kevin Pearl and the debut of the latest issue of Quickest Flip magazine, which displays art by Amanda Weaver on one of its pages.
Maria Trombetta views these opportunities as life-affirming for her 42 clients in the studio. “It’s a huge honor for our artists at Art Explorers to take part in exhibits at other progressive studios,” she commented.
She continued, “It is a great opportunity to have work recognized and sold across the nation and for our artists to make connections in major cities.”
Progressive art studios and galleries across the nation provide places for developmentally disabled adults to create and sell their art in a setting of artistic experimentation, development of style, and support by art staff who bring in artists to teach new methods, techniques, and exposure to new art media.
Art Explorers is the only such studio in Mendocino County. A few more are in Sonoma and Marin Counties, and several are in the Bay Area. Long ago, Trombetta walked into her first visit at Creativity Explored, a progressive studio in San Francisco. “It was the most magical place on earth,” she recalled.
Perhaps the most appreciated recognition of the value of art created by these adults is the recent purchase by the San Francisco Museum of Art (SFMOMA) of a progressive art exhibit from local studios.
At a cost of over $500,000, Trombetta noted, “It is the largest acquisition of outsider art that SFMOMA ever purchased. It totally legitimizes their work. These are people who have lived with labels their whole lives.”
Art Explorers accepts any developmentally disabled adult who wishes to pursue art on a regular basis in an organized setting. Tuition is the backbone of the nonprofit’s operating budget, and an hourly rate charge gives tremendous flexibility to students.
Attending artists are encouraged to come in for at least one three-hour session. Some come in four or five days a week; others less often. Guest artists come whenever the nonprofit has some funds to spare, and students have the opportunity to expand their skills.
The artists who are in this program have never been institutionalized. They have been fortunate to continue living with their own families, or are supported by Parents and friends, or have an assistance service.
Trombetta pointed out that there are “so many nonprofits around here that do super essential work.” In the twenty-three-year history of Art Explorers, there are a few art clients who have been coming for over twenty years.
“It’s where they get to create,” explained Trombetta. The studio stores all artists’ portfolios, and Trombetta commented, “It’s cool to see their work develop over the years.”
Currently, the studio has between 36 and 42 artists on their roster. One comes from Boonville, another from Point Arena. The COVID shutdown had a major impact on these artists since some of them relied on the social interaction found in the studio.
At that time, the nonprofit struggled to stay open as grants dried up, students drifted away, and public exhibits were canceled or never developed. The road back to some kind of financial health has been slow.
The two Co-Directors, Maria Trombetta and Sabine Brunner manage the operations, but the various aspects of it are quite time-consuming. Foremost is the daily running of the studio itself, attending to and instructing the artists, and developing relationships with them.
There is also the bookkeeping component of salaries, purchases, rent, tuition, repairs, and utilities. Then there is the constant fundraising, operating the gallery, and the required nonprofit paperwork.
Connections with other progressive galleries must be maintained. Shows such as craft fairs, First Fridays, and annual exhibits must be scheduled to give the artists and the studio income opportunities.
Art Explorers is fortunate to now have Solange Roberdeau as a part-time art teacher who brings tactile art opportunities to the studio. Trombetta has also recently applied for a few grants to bolster the studio’s programs. For her, two guest artists a year is almost a dream.
The Redwood Coast Regional Center funnels interested adults to Art Explorers, and funding from the state is allotted by the total count of actual clients present in the studio each day. The nonprofit has been able to provide scholarships to two adults who were injured after the age of 18.
Sales and donations cover everything else. Artists receive 50% of the sales of their own art. The nonprofit Helpers Community is assisting in financing the upcoming show in Mendocino since Art Explorers finished out last year in the red. Buying artwork at the exhibit would definitely bring direct financial support to this nonprofit.
Trombetta feels fortunate to work on the coast. “Fort Bragg is a really amazing place,” she noted. “There are a lot of services that assist with work programs and transportation.” She is open to other artists in the community who are interested in a guest spot and encourages them to contact her.
The Art Explorers music-themed printmaking show Press Play! will be open from November 3 to November 27 at Mendocino Art Center, located at 42500 Little Lake Street in Mendocino. The gallery is open Thursdays through Sundays from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
The exhibit’s opening gala will be held at the Mendocino Art Center on November 11 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The public is invited to attend and celebrate these artists. Trombetta stressed that the artwork is very reasonably priced.
Jerry Turner, an Art Explorer client, described how art affects his life. “Art helps me escape to other places. Art makes me feel that I’m going into another world.”
Art Explorers, located at 333 North Franklin Street in Fort Bragg, is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. If interested, donations can be made on the website artexplorers.org or by mail to PO Box 2710, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. Contact by phone at 707-961-6156.
mattress stand Volunteers are welcome to help in a variety of ways. Any adults interested in becoming a client of Art Explorers should contact the Redwood Coast Regional Center to sign up.