Bolinas Museum

May 17 closing gala at Bolinas Museum 4-7pm featuring the one and only Chris Cohen band and also the Rhinestone sunsets aka fuckaroos aka rhinestone barbarians. Last chance to see so much wonderful art by many of my art heroes such as @nathanielrussell @regularlittlewings @chrisjohansonart @catewhite @mymanymcgees @lunaavin @melchiordan @rays_reports and MANY MANY MORE….

Join us this Sunday, March 29, 5–7 PM for the opening celebration of two new exhibitions. Free and open to all, with live music, good food, and a full night at the museum. Live sets by Danny Dusk & The Twilights and The Old Guard Food for purchase by Loba (@loba.earth ) Wine by Rotoscope (@rotoscopewine ) On view March 29 – May 17, 2026: 𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗦𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗵: 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙐𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘, 𝙑𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙢𝙚 1 Curated by Noelle Hiam An imagined archive of songs by fictional bands, this exhibition expands into a collaborative, multimedia world. With LP covers and sculptures by over 30 artists alongside Smith’s own ceramic and mixed media works, it brings together a cast of outcasts, weirdos, and dreamers where music, storytelling, and visual art collide. 𝗪𝗮𝘇 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘀: 𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙪𝙩 𝙄𝙄𝙄 Curated by Jessica Shaefer A new selection of Thomas’s “Wazzies,” these works remix found printed materials into surreal, often humorous compositions. Built through instinctive cutting and recombination, they lean into the strange, the absurd, and the unexpected. Images: 1. 2. Waz Thomas, 𝘜𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥, 2022-23, Mixed media on paper, 14 x 14 inches, Courtesy of the Michael Lerner Collection at Commonweal. 2. L to R: Sonny Smith, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘮 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴, 2025, Ceramic with glaze decal, 9 x 9 inches. -Sonny Smith, 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘓𝘦𝘨 𝘐𝘥𝘢, 2025, Ceramic with glaze decal, 10.75 x 10.75 inches. - Sonny Smith, 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯, 2025, Ceramic with glaze decal, 7 x 7 inches, Courtesy of the artist.

𝗢𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟵 – 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟳, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 Opening Celebration: Sunday, March 29, 5–7 PM 🎶 Free and open to all! 🎶 𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗦𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗵: 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙐𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘, 𝙑𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙢𝙚 1 Curated by Noelle Hiam Centered around an imagined anthology of songs by fictional bands, Sonny Smith’s exhibition unfolds as a collaborative, multimedia world. Featuring LP covers and sculptures by over 30 artists alongside Smith’s own ceramic and multimedia works, the project brings to life a cast of outcasts, weirdos, and dreamers whose stories blur music, narrative, and visual form. 𝗪𝗮𝘇 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘀: 𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙪𝙩 𝙄𝙄𝙄 Curated by Jessica Shaefer This exhibition presents a new selection of Waz Thomas’s “Wazzies,” playful and unexpected works assembled from found printed materials. Through intuitive cutting and recombination, Thomas creates surreal “ironic juxtapositions” that reflect his sharp humor and fascination with the strange and absurd. Join us at the opening celebration for an evening of live music by Danny Dusk & The Twilights and The Old Guard, with food for purchase by Loba (@loba.earth ) and wine by Rotoscope (@rotoscopewine ). • Images: 1. L to R: Sonny Smith, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘮 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴, 2025, Ceramic with glaze decal, 9 x 9 inches. -Sonny Smith, 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘓𝘦𝘨 𝘐𝘥𝘢, 2025, Ceramic with glaze decal, 10.75 x 10.75 inches. - Sonny Smith, 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯, 2025, Ceramic with glaze decal, 7 x 7 inches, Courtesy of the artist. 2. Waz Thomas, Untitled, 2022-23, Mixed media on paper, 14 x 14 inches, Courtesy of the Michael Lerner Collection at Commonweal.

If you’ve been wanting one more excuse to revisit the shows, this is it. We’re now offering Waz Thomas’s book 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘶𝘵 (ft. an essay by Bolinas Museum director @jessshaefer ) alongside the 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘯𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 zine by Sonny Smith (@sonnyandthesunsets ), available through the exhibitions’ closing party on May 17.

𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘯𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤, 𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦 1 brings together an imagined archive of bands and musicians, each with their own histories, recordings, and visual worlds. For this project, artist and musician Sonny Smith (@sunnyandthesunsets ) invited artists to create album covers for these fictional acts, and collected fictional accounts of the bands in a zine (on sale for $10 at the museum), blurring the line between music history and storytelling. Here’s an excerpt: 𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗠𝗔𝗡 Album artwork by Cate White (@catewhite ), Molly Rea, Squeak Carnwath (@squeakcarnwath ), Shannon Shaw (@shannonshaw ), and Sonny Smith (@sunnyandthesunsets ). “Sometimes called ‘The Man With No Head,’ ‘The Headless Singer,’ or ‘Non-Cabeza’ in Mexico, Umar Mubarak was a Sudanese musician born near the Nile River who had no head. At thirty, he worked as an assistant gardener on the estate of a millionaire, keeping mostly to himself in a small shed on the edge of the property. It was there that the millionaire’s wife first heard him play tambor and discovered the poems he kept in a small notebook beside a vase and a rug. Convinced his music belonged to the world beyond the garden walls, she helped arrange his first recording session, which became 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘯. Against all expectations, the records made him famous. Children hid their heads inside their shirts and sang his songs in the streets, while grown men privately wished they too had no head. For two decades, Mubarak traveled the world making music, drinking wine, falling in love, and moving through life ‘intact,’ as Smith writes, ‘because of course, he had no head to lose.’” Join us this Sunday, May 17th from 4-7PM for a closing celebration of the show, featuring live performances by Chris Cohen and Rhinestone Sunsets (aka the Fuckaroos aka Rhinestone Barbarians), with food and wine pop-ups by @loba.earth and @rotoscopewine . Free and open to all!

✨ PERMANENT COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT ✨ Gary Smith – The Forest, 1977. Lithograph, edition 32/40. 22 x 28 inches. 2017.1.1 The Forest (1977) reflects Gary Smith’s sustained attention to the atmospheric and meditative qualities of the Northern California landscape. In this work, the forest becomes both subject and state of mind, where structure and texture evoke a sense of quiet immersion rather than depiction alone. Smith has lived and worked in Inverness for over 30 years, drawing deeply from the terrain of Point Reyes and Tomales Bay. His practice spans etching, lithography, silverpoint, monotype, and pastel, consistently returning to landscape as a site of observation, memory, and translation. On view in our Permanent Collection Gallery through May 17.

𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘯𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤, 𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦 1 brings together an imagined archive of bands and musicians, each with their own histories, recordings, and visual worlds. For this project, artist and musician Sonny Smith (@sunnyandthesunsets ) invited artists to create album covers for these fictional acts, and collected fictional accounts of the bands in a zine (on sale for $10 at the museum), blurring the line between music history and storytelling. Here’s an excerpt: 𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧: 𝗕𝗜𝗚 𝗟𝗘𝗚 𝗜𝗗𝗔 Album artwork by Phoebe Helander (@phoebehelander ), Barry McGee, Jeffrey Sincich (@jeffreysincich ) and Sonny Smith (@sunnyandthesunsets ) “Named Big Leg Ida at birth, she lived with a leg-length discrepancy that meant one leg was significantly shorter than the other. She traveled with a small stool, handmade by her father/uncle, inscribed with the line, ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even the past.’ By eleven, she was leading a gang known for arson and burglary. Music came later, after breaking into and burning down a music store. Ida began writing songs in juvenile hall in the early 1960s. Without access to recording equipment in prison, she relied on notation, recording only during brief stretches of freedom. In prison, she formed bands, trained as a fighter, handled rattlesnakes, and treated incarceration as part of her process. Her discography unfolded in fragments between sentences. In 2017, her run came to an end. She died quietly in the backseat of a getaway car after robbing a bookstore that specialized in Braille books for the blind.” Join us this Sunday, May 17th from 4-7PM for a closing celebration of the show, featuring live performances by Chris Cohen and Rhinestone Sunsets (aka the Fuckaroos aka Rhinestone Barbarians), with food and wine pop-ups by @loba.earth and @rotoscopewine . Free and open to all!

𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘯𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤, 𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦 1 brings together an imagined archive of bands and musicians, each with their own histories, recordings, and visual worlds. For this project, artist and musician Sonny Smith (@sunnyandthesunsets ) invited artists to create album covers for these fictional acts, and collected fictional accounts of the bands in a zine (on sale for $10 at the museum), blurring the line between music history and storytelling. Here’s an excerpt: 𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧: 𝗔𝗖𝗜𝗗 𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗧 💥 Album artwork by Ben Venom (@benvenom ). Paul Wackers (@hibbledygilbldy ), and Sarah Smith (@stainedglassswan ) Bassist Sage Appel, drummer George Horvath, and guitarist Neal Dry met as teenagers in 1968 in Haight-Ashbury, running errands for the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. When Dry discovered the acid they were helping circulate was toxic and unsellable, they abandoned the Acid Triangle and formed a band instead. During a six-month stretch marked by outrageous LSD consumption, Acid Bust recorded more than seventy-five full-length albums. Every LP was delivered with real LSD soaked into the vinyl. You had to eat the record to get high. Consequently, almost all were consumed. What remained resurfaced twenty-five years later, during a drug raid in Bolinas. Alongside cash, weapons, and blotter paper, authorities recovered a small number of surviving records. The case that followed unraveled just as strangely. Before closing arguments, the lead prosecutor was dosed with LSD. In court, he argued not just for the defendants, but for everything. People, animals, plants, the Earth, the objects of the universe, even the space between them. The case was thrown out. Their first release after it all: 𝘞𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘯. Join us May 17th from 4-7 PM for a closing celebration of the show featuring live performances by Chris Cohen and Rhinestone Sunsets (aka the Fuckaroos aka Rhinestone Barbarians), marking a final gathering around the exhibition.

🌿 Spring Soirée tickets are live! 🌿 (link in bio) Join us for a golden hour celebration of creativity and community at a stunning lagoon-side property with sweeping views of Mount Tam. Enjoy music, art and dance activations, delicious seasonal dishes by Chef Kate Sylvan (@loba.earth ), a selection of wines from Idell Family Vineyards, and more! Early bird pricing is available through May 19 – don’t miss out! Proceeds support Bolinas Museum’s exhibitions, programs, and collections, helping to keep the museum free and open to all. ✨ Special thanks to our wonderful hosts Mike Light and John Lum ✨ Artwork by @lu_shiso

Join us this Saturday, May 9 from 12–2PM for a participatory maker workshop inspired by 𝘈 𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴, on view in tandem with 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘶𝘵 𝘐𝘐𝘐 featuring original montages by Bolinas-based artist Waz Thomas. Spanning a 25-year correspondence between Thomas and his partner Victor Marchese, 𝘈 𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 traces their ongoing exchange of hand-made postcards sent each week between Marchese’s apartment in San Francisco’s Castro district and Thomas’s cottage in Bolinas. What began with commercial, ready-made postcards has evolved into intricate montages built from found imagery, layered with coded messages, weather notes, symbols, and playful naming rituals. Together, these works form an intimate and expansive archive of connection, shaped by repetition, humor, and care. Visitors are invited to respectfully handle and spend time perusing the postcards. For the workshop, participants are invited to create their own postcards inspired by Thomas’s intuitive and experimental approach. Make one for a mother figure, a friend, yourself, or someone unexpected. Materials will be provided. Free and open to all!

🌬️FROM THE ARCHIVES: THE SHIPWRECK OF THE R.D. INMAN. ⚓️ Many great ships safely made long and treacherous trips over the Atlantic Ocean, across the Pacific Ocean, or along the West Coast, only to come to a dramatic end on the rugged rocks of Duxbury Reef. The largest shale reef in North America, the reef has long, rocky fingers that extend into the sea and are often hidden by high tide or fog. Here, ships fell victim to powerful winds, unpredictable currents, violent surf, blankets of dense fog, or human error. In 1907, the new wood-hulled steam schooner R.D. Inman was built on the Oregon coast and launched into service in the Pacific Coast lumber trade. On the evening of March 20, 1909, darkness fell as it left San Francisco Bay under deep overcast skies and a heavy ocean swell. She was bound for Portland. Heading north, Captain A. J. Lancaster saw a fire—an urgent signal from a vessel in distress! An experienced seaman, he knew the code of the sea was to respond to any vessel in distress, so he headed toward it. But as he drew near, he realized it was not a vessel but a huge bonfire on a Bolinas beach. Before he could retreat, the back of the ship struck the reef and swung inward, breaking the steering gear and rudderpost. Much to the surprise of the people gathered around the bonfire, the R.D. Inman was swept over the reef into a shallow basin near the shore and wedged in rocks. The crew safely left the ship, and the owners collected insurance and abandoned her. The creditors brought in a salvage crew, and their work attracted sightseers and visitors, including Bolinas photographer Gertrude Southworth. The crew even lifted Southworth and her friend, artist Mary Barber, onto the deck. Parts of the R.D. Inman were still lodged on the reef in 1914, when Southworth photographed the shipwreck of the Polaris nearby on Duxbury Reef. ⭐️To learn more about the fascinating history of Bolinas, join us this Saturday, April 25, at 4PM in the @thebolinascommunitycenter for an exciting slideshow and talk by Elia Haworth!⭐️ 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘴 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.

☀️ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗕𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗦 🌊 A Slideshow + Talk by Elia Haworth Saturday, April 25, 4PM Bolinas Community Center Join Bolinas Museum’s Curator of History and Collections, Elia Haworth, for a slideshow presentation of historic images from the early days of Bolinas, the oldest town in coastal Marin. This presentation explores the fascinating early history of the town through stories, local lore, and surprising, rarely seen images drawn from Haworth’s ongoing research. Learn more about her current history book project and gain a deeper understanding of the people and moments that shaped Bolinas. Free and open to all!