Watercolor | Doodle Tangle with Nancy Ballard
Let your imagination wander! In this playful watercolor workshop, you’ll explore the meditative art of doodle tangling—creating intricate patterns and designs one simple stroke at a time. No drawing experience necessary and no pressure to make a “perfect” picture.
No art experience necessary—just bring your curiosity and a willingness to doodle.
It’s Not Trash: Reclaiming and Transforming
Presented in partnership with the Reuse Alliance and Recology San Francisco and Santa Rosa, It’s Not Trash: Reclaiming and Transforming honors artists who repurpose discarded materials to create work centered on sustainability, storytelling, and community restoration.
Image: Marsh Trails, Lauren Crasco
Strictly Local: Piecing It Together in Sonoma County
In our North Gallery,It’s Not Trash continues with Strictly Local: Piecing It Together in Sonoma County where students, community members, and individual artists bring together a diverse range of voices and approaches.
Image: The Whale, Joseph Taylor
Color Lab with Lena Wolff
Lena Wolff leads an exciting workshop for everyone interested in learning how to experiment with color in new ways.
We Are One | Artist Talk and Presentation with Bryan Keith Thomas
In his talk and presentation, “We Are One,” Bryan Keith Thomas explores and celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Black South. Drawing on themes of ancestry, spirituality, and collective memory, Thomas uses symbols such as cotton, roses, and church fans to evoke the emotional and cultural landscapes that shape identity.
Image: Legacy, Bryan Keith Thomas
Funky Florals | Cut Paper Collage Workshop with Sally-Ann Langley
Get ready to play with color, pattern, and shape in this fun, whimsical collage workshop! You’ll create your very own Funky Floral artwork using painted papers, colorful patterns, and playful floral and leaf shapes. All levels welcomed and materials are included.
Dust to Dust | Artist Talk and Presentation with Katie Murken
Join Katie Murken as she discusses Steer Clear, the pinnacle work of her interdisciplinary series Dust to Dust. In this work, she transforms discarded materials into a meditation on the environmental crisis and the silencing of women’s voices. Murken will describe her overall process of using found materials and documentary-style photography to weave her narratives into layered, interdisciplinary works that defy categorization.
Image: Steer Clear, By Artist Katie Murken
Reuse in Art, Reuse in Life: A Conversation Between Ali Gass and Phoebe Schenker
Join Alison Gass, Founding Executive Director of the ICA San Francisco, and Phoebe Schenker, Executive Director of Reuse Alliance, for a wide-ranging conversation about reuse in contemporary and historical art and why it is more relevant than ever.
Image: By Artist Lauren DiCoccio, Beach Boys Reel to Reel
Annual Members Show 2026
This beloved year-end show shines a spotlight on the extraordinary talent of PAC’s Artist Members.
Write & Collage | Words, Images & Memory
Join Marlene Cullen for a creative two-hour experience that brings writing and collage together. In the first hour, guided freewriting prompts invite you to explore memorable moments, stories, and experiences in a welcoming, supportive environment. In the second hour, transform those reflections into a visual expression using images, colors, and textures.
Further Triennial 2027: Franklin Williams| Beauty of an Outlier
The Beauty of an Outlier celebrates the singular artistic practice of Franklin Williams, a multimedia artist based in Petaluma who has spent more than six decades cultivating an idiosyncratic and diaristic approach to artmaking. Williams has dedicated his life to what he refers to as “beauty, mystery and myth” captured into visual form and defined by deep devotion, invention, and love.
Paint & Sip with Genevieve Elkin
Join PAC and artist Genevieve Elkin for a social paint & sip evening. You’ll be guided step-by-step through painting a scenic view using acrylics, with plenty of room to make it your own
Photo by Christian Agbede
Weekly Live Figure Drawing
This is an uninstructed drop-in session with different models rotating through, usually in the nude (although sometimes with costumes and props).
Weekly Live Figure Drawing
This is an uninstructed drop-in session with different models rotating through, usually in the nude (although sometimes with costumes and props).
Weekly Live Figure Drawing
This is an uninstructed drop-in session with different models rotating through, usually in the nude (although sometimes with costumes and props).
Weekly Live Figure Drawing
This is an uninstructed drop-in session with different models rotating through, usually in the nude (although sometimes with costumes and props).
Expressions in Metal: Panel Discussion
This afternoon panel brings together 5 featured metal artists in conversation with moderator David Duskin for a dynamic exploration of the ideas and processes shaping contemporary metalwork.
Image: Circular Fan Prop Plane, Monty Monty
Three Colors & White: Building Strong Paintings from the Ground Up with George Scribner
In this 2-day workshop, discover a simple yet powerful approach to painting by focusing on the three essential elements of successful artwork: drawing, value, and color. George Scribner, born and raised in Petaluma, is an artist, filmmaker, and longtime Disney animator, director, and fine artist with more than 35 years at The Walt Disney Company.
A Conversation: Arthur Drooker and Richard Neill
Please join us for a conversation between Photographer Arthur Drooker and Curator Richard Neill about the inspiration for Arthur's photographic project, “Thirty-Six Views of the Golden Gate Bridge.”
Image: Crossing, Arthur Drooker
Selections from Thirty Six Views of the Golden Gate Bridge
In our North Gallery, the Arts Center presents Selections from Thirty-Six Views of the Golden Gate Bridge: Photographs by Arthur Drooker
Image: Crossing, Arthur Drooker
Expressions in Metal
Expressions in Metal invites viewers to consider how a material often associated with infrastructure and industry can become a site of storytelling and imagination. In doing so, the exhibition honors the enduring dialogue between maker and material—one forged through curiosity, skill, and the desire to transform the elemental into the expressive.
Image: Valence by Michael McGinnis
Gentle Watercolor with Nancy Ballard
Guided by Nancy Ballard, you’ll ease into the medium with simple, approachable techniques that take the fear out of painting. Through relaxed exercises and encouraging instruction, you’ll learn how watercolor really works—without pressure or perfection—while building confidence step by step.
New Voices | Panel Discussion
Join us for an inspiring afternoon at the Petaluma Arts Center for Teaching As Art Practice, a panel discussion exploring the dynamic relationship between teaching and creative practice.
New Voices
Opening June 18, this show spotlights eight recent graduates from regional educational institutions—artists at that critical, early stage in their careers.
PAC Academy
A two-week educational program of workshops and lectures by local artist/teachers and experts. For pre-teens to seniors, there’s something for all levels.
Sashiko Embroidery & Visible Mending with Lena Wolff
Lena Wolff leads an exciting workshop for everyone interested in learning the sashimi method of embroidery and mending.
The Origin Stories Symposium
An event with panel discussions, live music, and time for artists and storytellers of all kinds to celebrate the power of human connection.
What We Inherit, What We Create; Collage as Reflection
This workshop uses found imagery, vintage ephemera, and contemporary materials to reflect on memory, place, and the textures of everyday life.
Mother’s Day Community Event
Moms, Mimosas, Music. Come celebrate mom with feel good songs we all know and love. Bring the family to this memorable free event.
The Threads That Connect Us
Artists reflect narratives of heritage, arrival, adversity, resilience, and belonging.
Americana Reimagined Closing Day Curator Tour
Join a juror-led tour of Americana Reimagined, where contemporary Bay Area artists deconstruct and reinvent the iconic symbols of the nation’s founding era—from patriotic emblems to folk craft traditions. This guided walkthrough moves beyond nostalgia, offering insider perspectives on how each juried work bridges 250 years of history with urgent present-day questions of identity, belonging, and cultural memory. Discover how old and new collide in unexpected ways, as the juror illuminates the surprising juxtapositions, hidden narratives, and bold reimaginings that transform familiar Americana into something startlingly fresh.
Artists whose work is in the show will be attending to discuss their work. Tour led by Richard Neil
‘All In Favor’ Play Reading with David Templeton & Local Students
Join local playwright David Templeton and a group of local high school students for a reading of one of David’s newest works, All in Favor,
In Conversation with Inez Storer Moderated by Donna Seager
An afternoon conversation about Inez’s approach to artmaking, her family history and the stories that inform her art. There will be time for questions.
Monet and Venice Lecture
Join SRJC Art History Professor Heidi Saleh for an illuminating lecture that delves into Claude Monet’s 1908 Venetian campaign.
Workshop: Integrating watercolor with Chinese ink and oil pastel, with Dr. QinQin Liu
In this lively workshop, Dr. Liu will teach students a unique form of watercolor integration with Chinese ink and oil pastel.
Catering to the Car: A Retro Road Trip Down Petaluma’s Main Street
This presentation will step into Petaluma’s living history with historian Katherine Rinehart as she shares stories behind some of Petaluma’s classic examples of roadside architecture.
Americana Reimagined
Americana Reimagined - A juried exhibition inviting artists from across the greater Bay Area to explore and reinterpret the visual language of Americana.
States of Anxiety, States of Hope | Works of Inez Storer
States of Anxiety, States of Hope presents a selection of works by artist Inez Storer that reflect on the emotional, cultural, and political complexities of contemporary life.
Botanical Ink Making
A workshop exploring natural ink and paint making with Bay Area artist and craftswoman Lena Wolff.
Crafting Curiosity Panel Discussion
Panel discussion with Ranch Studios Artist Residents and the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity's Farm Manager