Join us in celebrating a true Mendocino original.

Please join us this Saturday, April 12th for the opening reception of the memorial show for beloved community member, Sonya Popow. The show will feature a collection of Sonya’s ceramic works, from her “Shapeshifters” to her bells and her wonderfully biomorphic sculptures inspired by the Mendocino coast. Sonya has been an integral part of the art community of Mendocino since moving here in 1970. She was always present at kiln firings: taking shifts, telling stories and inspiring young artists. Sonya will be dearly missed and we are honored to showcase this body of work.

Sonya Popow 1945-2025

Sonya Popow’s life was defined by her passion for the arts and the natural world.

Born and raised in Annapolis, MD, Sonya's journey with ceramics began at the age of seventeen and remained a constant thread throughout her life. As a young person, she apprenticed with Charles Counts at Lookout Mountain, Georgia, before studying under his own teacher, Marguerite Wildenhain—a Bauhaus-trained potter at The Pond Farm in Guerneville, California. Sonya often said that if she threw a mug, it was inevitably a mug, such was the rigor and influence of her training.

In 1970, Sonya moved to Fort Bragg, California, where she established herself as a production potter, building her own studio and kiln. In 1985, she returned to school, studying under Stan Welsh and earning her MFA from San Jose State University. She later ran the ceramics program at the National Institute of Art and Disabilities for five years, all while creating sculpture in her Oakland studio.

Returning to Fort Bragg in 2005, she continued her production pottery work for her beloved annual holiday sale. Over time, her large-scale organic sculptures from graduate school evolved into smaller, more evocative pieces. Inspired by the African art she collected in the Bay Area and the Central American pottery she encountered during her travels in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, Sonya’s work was always in dialogue with the natural world. Her studio was filled with bones, seeds, and shells, which served as constant sources of inspiration. In her later years, she found herself captivated by microscopic sources such as diatoms and pollen. Beyond pottery, Sonya’s interests spanned many fields. She had a deep passion for natural history and was actively involved with organizations such as the Audubon Society, State Parks, and the Native Plant Society. She also taught third grade for ten years, worked at a lumber mill in Fort Bragg, and spent time as a commercial fisherwoman—each role a reflection of her adventurous and curious spirit. It was, in fact, her job on a commercial fishing boat that led her to Fort Bragg, where she fell in love with the redwoods and the coastal life of a small town.

Sonya truly loved her property, with its majestic stands of redwoods. To ensure their protection for generations to come, she gifted her land to the Mendocino Land Trust, ensuring that no one would ever cut down these sacred trees. Sonya found great joy in being part of the wood fire community at the Mendocino Art Center and the Flynn Creek Kiln in Comptche. She was also involved with the Cider Creek and Aum kilns in Albion, California. For fifteen years, she was a regular participant in these firings, forming lasting friendships with young potters who admired her enthusiasm, generosity, and storytelling. No visit was complete without her signature ginger snap cookies, which she always brought to share. Though Sonya held many jobs over the years, ceramics was always her true passion. Her legacy lives on not only in the work she created but in the countless lives she touched through her artistry, her warmth, and her dedication. Sonya’s family and friends will forever miss her lively dinner parties, her engaging conversation, and her steadfast friendship.

Opening Gallery Reception

Come meet our Artists-In-Residence at the
gallery opening on Saturday, April 12th, from 5pm - 7pm.

Click here for artists information and biographies.

Mendo Latino Presents a Special Closing Event.

Are you interested in local histories that have not been widely shared?

Join the co-directors of MendoLatino, Diana Coryat and Loreto Rojas, who will share the first two audio stories of Nuestro Norte/Our North, a Bilingual community-based oral history and storytelling project that documents the arrival and growth of the Latinx community of the Mendocino Coast.

Todos y todas son bienvenidos!

For more information: www.MendoLatino.org

Come have fun and create with different types of paint. Use tempera paint cakes, transparent & opaque watercolors, watercolor crayons, acrylic paint on canvas boards and more!

This is a free drop-in event open to all families. Children, parents, grandchildren, relatives, and friends of all ages are all welcome.

With Grant Support from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, Harvest Market and the Mendocino Art Center.

Join us for a screening of Many Moons, an experimental documentary about the “last Chinese Man of Humboldt County.”