The exterior of Petaluma’s Life on Earth Art looks a lot like what it is: a century-old warehouse/factory space from bygone days. The large brick building at the end of Copeland Street, with its wide loading dock and oversized metal doors, has been many things over the years ‒ including a factory that manufactured toilet seats. Surrounded by similarly industrial buildings, one might expect ‒ from outside the place ‒ that this was just another of Petaluma’s many historic commercial spaces.
Once inside, however, such assumptions evaporate instantly. The interior resembles something a girl named Alice might have encountered after tumbling down the rabbit hole. The high ceilings and soaring rafters are everywhere ornamented and embellished with art, specifically bright winged hearts ‒ flying, standing, hanging, reclining, or mounted to the old brick walls.
In short, the place is something of a wonderland.
And with a new membership program recently launched by Life on Earth Art founders Tracy and Mark Ferron, this unique combination of art gallery, maker space and artists’ collective is a wonderland that anyone with an imagination and an urge to create can drop in and play around inside.
“It’s a pretty amazing space, isn’t it?” said Terry Ferron on a recent afternoon. “Every time I walk in here I think, is this really ours?”
Life on Earth Art began as a simple idea, a notion that change can come from artistic expression. Early on adopting that engaging image of hearts with wings, the resourceful nonprofit was founded to explore all the way the transformative power of art can help heal personal and collective trauma.
“We believe the opportunity to experience and create beauty is a basic human right,” reads the Life on Earth Art mission statement. “And that the desire to express ourselves through art — our joys, our pains, our grief, our healing — is baked into our core DNA. We aim to hold open a space where all feel welcomed, and most importantly, safe, in order to foster healing through a sense of deep belonging. For anyone. For everyone.”
After establishing itself with numerous attention-grabbing, thought-provoking installations ‒ in various locations ranging from public protests and parades to museums, prisons and mental institutions ‒ the goals of Life on Earth Art have expanded and evolved significantly.
“So many people come in here and say, ‘Wow! This space is so inspiring,’” said Mark Ferron. “We feel that too, and so we’ve decided to share that creative energy with others.”
A large portion of the facility is currently being used by the Wonderstump Art Collective, with several subdivided work spaces where artists can make things. The fabrication area includes an array of machines and tools for this purpose. There is even a stage, decorated with suspended guitars.
The new membership program, announced earlier this year, allows other artists to use the space as well. Additionally, the Ferrons are now making the larger spaces available for meetings, fundraisers, public events and performances.
Last month, Life on Earth Art officially signed up its first member ‒ a local mixed-media artist ‒ on the same day that the Petaluma River Park Foundation rented the sprawling space for a major event there. Taken together, these two milestones represent a major step toward financial sustainability for the nonprofit.
“In a way, it felt like a launch, to have both of those things happen on one day,” said Tracy Ferron, adding that a recent survey ‒ handed out during a massive mixer for artists and makers, sponsored in part by the nonprofit Aqus Community ‒ proved that the local arts community has the same pressing needs that the membership program was designed to address.
“The large laser-cutter was a big hit, and there were several requests for large-format printers, to do large matting and framing projects,” she said.
The upstairs portion of the place has a number of unused offices, which the Ferrons are now making available for rent to small foundations who work in the arts. To increase the space’s usability, they’ve installed coffee-shop-style booths where people can work or converse. There is a new privacy booth for those needing quiet.
It’s like a coworking space for artists, and for the Ferrons, this in only the beginning.
“We are currently trying to figure out how to make the fabrication area into a thriving artists toy box, where artists want to come to invent and create and explore,” Tracy Ferron said, adding, “We certainly don’t want to duplicate what other people in the community are doing.”