Art Explorers Holiday
Art Explorers
333 N. Franklin Street
Beautiful hand-printed totes, dishtowels and bandannas designed and crafted by the artists at Art Explorers. Come into our studio to pick out your favorite designs! We can ship as well.
Noyo Harbor Inn Holiday
Noyo Harbor Inn
Come visit our lovely gift shop at the Noyo Harbor Inn. Clothing, arts, jewelry, homewares and more are available for yourself or for gifts for your loved ones! Mention this guide and receive 10% off!
Epperson Music Holiday
Epperson Music
Fun with ukuleles
Epperson Music is a boutique musical instrument, art, and gift store located in downtown Fort Bragg, California inside the Union Lumber Company building.
Meredith & TC Space
Meredith &
TC Space
In a previous incarnation, Meredith Frederick was a high school teacher in San Diego with a passion for printmaking, especially intaglio and lithography. Meredith was always a risk taker. So, when a mentor encouraged her to start painting in 2016, she embraced the challenge, developing a unique style influenced by California’s wild landscapes that tapped her knowledge of stenciling and employed spray paints, colored pencils, and acrylics to explore nature and the environment.
She Can Hang
Eventually Meredith made her way to Fort Bragg and found a dynamic and welcoming local art scene. When friend, fellow artist and gallery owner Tim Carmody had to give up his gallery, Meredith was asked take over, rebranding the space as TC (for Traffic Cone) and showcasing local artists in a way that would honor the community Tim had for so long supported.
Local Tip:
Stop in and take a minute to see who is hanging on the wall, it will improve your day.
At TC, Meredith employs an aesthetic she’s been working toward for years—telling a visual story with art hung in a professional way, where a deft use of light, placement and negative space ensure continuity and create excitement and drama. TC displays a variety of local, working artists who are masters of their craft. Artists appreciate a space that honors their work while communicating a cohesive story.
Erin and the Collective
Erin & the
Coast Collective
Coast Collective founder Erin Irber has a passion for fine woodworking. Starting at the Krenov School of Fine Furniture in Fort Bragg, an institution that cultivates a reverence for quality and excellence. Erin and all the Collective artisans who attended—emerged from hundreds of hours of intense study understanding that, as often as not, the nature of a piece is revealed in the handling, a slow process of discovery that requires patience, precision, an affinity for power tools and a love affair with wood.
As the name implies, Coast Collective has gathered a group of artisan woodworkers who share a commitment to quality craftsmanship and a desire to create furniture that performs and delights. All the Collective’s designs are now in stock with new furniture collections released several times a year. And unlike fast furniture destined for the landfill, members of the Collective design and build furniture meant to last and be passed on for generations.
Local Tip:
Bespoke pieces can be made to order.
Fast furniture isn’t better. In fact, with supply chain disruptions, often it isn’t even fast.
Pacific Textile & The Weavers
Pacific Textile &
The Weavers
Since the dawn of civilization, textiles have kept us warm, signaled our cultural identity and offered a canvas on which to explore and describe the world. Textile artists Lolli Jacobsen, Jackie Wollenberg and Elaine Todd understood the value of keeping the ancient art of weaving alive and with the support of their fellow Fort Bragg weavers, created a vibrant space where the local community can explore the fabric arts.
The House That Weavers Built
Established in 1993, for the last 17 years, the Pacific Textile Arts campus on Alger Street has functioned as a hybrid gallery, art school, studio space, and museum with exhibits that showcase textiles from around the world and offer classes and groups that explore a variety of disciplines from Japanese paper weaving to spinning and calligraphy. The Brockschmidt Sutherland lending library for members is an inspiring collection of over 3000 textile-related books, articles and videos.
Local Tip:
Check out the Pacific Textile Arts website to learn more about this vibrant and welcoming community and for the latest information on upcoming shows, classes and exhibits.
Kiersten & The Braggadoon
Kiersten &
The Braggadoon
If you spot a beautiful sign somewhere in Fort Brag, chances are Kiersten and her team had something to do with it.
As Owner and Creative Director of Fort Bragg creative services agency, Braggadoon, Kiersten Hanna is a central figure in the Fort Bragg and Mendocino County art and culture scene. Her agency’s wide array of creative offerings includes art direction, logo design, archival quality print production and creative signage. “Being a graphics shop in a town on the edge of nowhere, Braggadoon has to be a little bit of everything for everyone in the community,” says Kiersten. From business signage to props for local theater productions, Kiersten and Braggadoon truly can be said to influence the entire look of the town.
“There’s something about this area, I’m never in want of things to do, new experiences, interesting people, and creative endeavors. Plus, it is beautiful!”
- Kiersten Hanna
Local Tip:
Those amazing murals you see around Fort Bragg. Many of them were created by artists who work for Kiersten at Bragadoon.
Ryan & The Amazing Murals
Ryan & The
Amazing Murals
Part artist, part engineer, part craftsman, Ryan possesses a skillset that is at once highly creative, analytical and practical.
Ryan’s co-workers at Braggadoon Signs & Graphics gave him the moniker Mentalist for his otherworldly ability to pull off extraordinary feats of technical prowess. But less supernatural, though no less wonderful is Ryan’s artwork. Trained in oil painting and adept at large canvases and murals, his painting style evokes imagery that is at once classical and surreal. Inspired by surrounding seascapes and forest vistas, the spirit of Fort Bragg and the North Coast bubble to the surface in Ryan’s current work. And yet, it’s also his technical skills that allow him to move easily from conception through production to installation. It’s a rare and sometimes seemingly otherworldly combination that makes him such a valuable member of the team at Braggadoon, an accomplished artist and has earned him a position at the very the center of the artistic community in Fort Bragg. ryangrossman.com
Rise
Local Tip:
Ryan’s downtown Fort Bragg murals can be seen at the corner of Redwood Avenue and HWY 1, and his latest at 301 Redwood Avenue at the corner of Redwood and McPherson.
Anna & The Harbor
Anna Neumann
& The Harbor
Head down to the Noyo Harbor and treat yourself to the catch of the day right off the boat it came in on. While you’re there, say hello to Harbor Master Anna Neumann. From a childhood in Morro Bay that ingrained a love of the sea, to an advanced degree in fisheries policy, Anna isn’t just another bureaucrat who doesn’t know her stuff. She’s sailed the sea, spending two years fishing commercially with the women from The Princess to earn her way through school and loved (most) every minute of it.
A Safe Harbor For All
Her experience at sea taught her a lot about the fishing culture, specifically how the health of the harbor contributes directly to the health of the local economy. She’s working to reeducate the community that they can buy directly from fishermen right off their boats, the ultimate sustainable sea food. Anna wears many other hats, renting out the 256 slips that are the harbor’s main source of income. She’s also a grant writer and project manager. But her most significant role is in supporting all aspects of the fishing industry and ensuring the Noyo Harbor is safe in every sense of the word.
Jack of All Trades,Master of One:
The Noyo Harbor
Local Tip:
The Noyo Harbor Fish Market at South Harbor opened in April and runs on the second Saturday of the month through September.
Tristin, Grant & The Kelp
Tristin, Grant
& Helping The Kelp
A thriving nearshore ocean ecosystem is crucial to maintaining wildlife on land and at sea. Today, that ecosystem is in danger along much of the Northern California coast. In just under ten years, a ‘perfect storm’ of warming oceans, loss of apex predators, and the subsequent proliferation of the voracious native purple sea urchin has decimated 96% of kelp forests on California’s North Coast.
Community Mobilization
On the shores of Fort Bragg, Kelp Forest Restoration is a community effort. Local urchin divers like Grant Downie, The Nature Conservancy Kelp Project Director, Tristin McHugh, resource managers at the state of California, and local nonprofits like Reef Check and the Noyo Center for Marine Science all pitch in. Although in early stages, the program has seen some kelp recovery in targeted restoration areas where purple urchins have been systematically harvested by divers.
Fort Bragg’s Marine Science and Education hub, The Noyo Center for Marine Science, has locations in Fort Bragg that the public can visit to learn more about this issue and participate in activities that support kelp forest restoration.
The program has seen recent progress with areas along the North Coast where purple urchins have been removed reporting some natural recovery.
Local Need:
So much more needs to be accomplished to ensure the health of the nearshore ecosystem. Recreational divers with a valid California fishing license can join the effort by participating in the harvest of purple sea urchin from approved locations. Visit California Department of Fish and Wildlife website HERE, (section “29.06 Sea Urchin”) to learn more about the current regulations.
