The Art Dept.

moving pictures

  • video // A Good Baker

    One of our favorite things about living in Sonoma is the bread.  Our community is lucky to have one of the world’s greatest bakers making bread just for us!  Take a look at the short feature we produced on the subject above for Cult Sonoma, which writes:

    There is gravity to a good bit of bread—it carries a sort of sacramental heft that doesn’t fool around. The way the outside shatters like a mosaic as you take a carnal rip off the crust, or the way it springs forth like a cloud into your mouth, swirled with a slug of olive oil. Great bread tethers you to your mortal coil—to your teeth and tongue and bones and blood and the all the things and conversations going on around you. It keeps you from floating away into the zeitgeist and leaving nothing but status updates to show for it. Pair it with nice beer, friendly people and some amicable herbs and vegetables and you pretty much have another reason to live.

    This is why we have vaulted Sonoma’s Mike [the bejkr] Zakowski to the echelon of artisanal god. What can we say? He maketh good loaves, the sort of bread that bores into your psyche, the sort that would keep ancient fishermen alive when adrift at sea or something. I guess what we’re trying to say is that there are a lot of breads out there, but his breads feels divinely necessary.

    “Every town needs a good baker,” intones Mike from the shipping container in his backyard he’s converted to a professional, artisinal bread-baking shop.  We agree and we feel very blessed that Sonoma’s good baker is Mike!

    Please try Mike’s bread for yourself if you get an opportunity—look for him at Sonoma Valley’s farmers markets. We look forward to a lot more from Mike as he prepares to represent the U.S. in the 2012 World Cup of baking in Paris
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    music mixed by
    Max Lynch

  • video : Auteur Winery

    Few products in our marketplace harbor such a poignant, rounded evolution as wine. If you approach winemaking in the right way, you marry your skills to minerals and weather patterns, long-forgotten volcanoes and riverbeds, the unspoken arc of sun and the eventual movement from light-drenched hillsides to the cool cocoon of casks and caves. You bear witness to the grapes’ transformation, and you do your best to preserve the story of their raw ingredients. It’s time and place in a glass.

    Auteur, one of Sonoma’s highly regarded boutique wineries, radiates this understanding of winemaking. This year, the winery celebrates the release of some of winemaker/owner Kenneth Juhasz’s long-awaited estate wines as well the rebirth of their logo and label. Whether it’s that culminating moment that heralds a midnight harvest or the subtle interplay of colors in a new design, Kenneth and Laura understand the importance of process—that a million hand-wrought nuances distinguish great wine from good wine.

    We had the privilege to work with them over the course of a few months as they embarked on their own sort of transformation. Here we captured a glimpse of the story of their wine. It’s also worth mentioning we highly recommend the wine. The view from a glass of Auteur is pretty stunning.

    Click through to see some more photos!

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  • poster // Beervana

    We were recently tasked by the Sonoma Community Center to develop a graphic and poster to promote their first annual Beervana amateur beer brewing competition.  They asked us to create something to expressed the idea of “Nirvana for beer-lovers”—something a bit humorous.

    We instantly thought of an effervescent, jolly buddha rising from the frothy bubbles of a divine brew.  And a mock beer label was created.

    To attain Beervana, one must eliminate all desire and suffering through the tasting and appreciating of hand-crafted beer—and this is best accomplished by attending this sure-to-be-a-blast event.  Click here for details.

  • posters // Trashion Show

    The Sonoma Community Center is curating a “Trashion” Fashion Show & Exhibit centered around fashions created by Bay Area artists from recycled and found materials.  We were inspired by the subject matter to make our own imagery for the posters from a collage of found items and imagery.

    Click here to learn more about the April 2 event!

  • Ra Ra Riot at Gundlach Bundschu

    Our friends at Gundlach Bundschu have excellent taste in music.  Case in point: last year’s first annual Huichica Music Festival headlined by Fruit Bats, Vetiver and Citay.  They’re keeping the vibe going this year with a special concert featuring rising indie chamber pop darlings Ra Ra Riot:

    There are ruckuses, ragers and rampages, but none of them come close to the riot happening this January 23, when Ra Ra Riot take the stage at Gundlach Bundschu Winery along with special guests Givers and Pepper Rabbit. Ra Ra Riot—a Syracuse-based sextet whose ebullient, string-infused brand of indie rock has enchanted industry arbiters including CMJ, Rolling stone and Pitchfork—promises an intense and unforgettable set, all framed within the extraordinary backdrop of Gundlach Bundschu’s historic redwood barn.

    We were excited to help Gundlach Bundschu with their promotional campaign for the event including press releases and print ads (see the ad above, designed by our Design Director Mary!) and we’re even more excited to go to the actual show.

    If you’re in the area, be sure to purchase tickets today (as these Gun Bun concerts are known to sell out!)  Word to the wise: it’s a rustic, unheated locale, so dress appropriately and wear layers. You can also warm up with Gun Bun’s award-winning wines . . . !

  • video // Flatbread Night

    We had the opportunity to join Sonoma’s Mike [the bejkr] Zakowski at his home last month for some delicious flat breads. Under a veil of December condensation, a group of lucky friends huddled around his outdoor brick oven while he and girlfriend Christy assembled small, steaming miracles adorned with pumpkin sauce, fresh cheeses, dandelion greens and other brilliant toppings.

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  • cult sonoma video // di Rosa

    We love art, and the Bay Area is certainly renowned for its uniquely creative vision—a vision which Sonoma area collector Rene di Rosa excelled at capturing in his extensive collection at the di Rosa preserve.  We were sorry to hear of his recent passing.  Sarah recalls, fondly, interviewing him for a story and how all he wanted to talk about was how much he loved eating his lunches at Sonoma Market.  We do too!  We’ll miss seeing him across the salad bar, but happily know his passion for art and his support for the arts will live on through the di Rosa preserve.

    Here is a short video we produced for Cult Sonoma, capturing just a fraction of the collection and di Rosa experience.

  • SONOMA magazine // Fall 2010

    Once again sporting art direction and page layouts by Peter, the latest issue of SONOMA magazine—its second issue distributed nationally—features a story on the valley’s sublime Scribe Winery by Sarah:

    “Scribe Winery is exquisitely imperfect. This is where the sheen of Wine Country ends and its patchwork, outlaw lore bubbles to the surface. It’s where the dust billows over an irregular dirt road, escorted by a long row of palm trees that beckon you back toward the coarse hillsides and corrupt histories and overgrown, feral sweetness to a turn-of-the-century hacienda wiling away its hours in a state of gauzy, dilapidated bohemian grace. It’s where Andrew Mariani, his brother Adam, their uncle Andrew Avellar and Napa-based winemaker Kristof Anderson spend their hours making a neglected property whole again, and almost coincidentally, crafting lush, drinkable wine…[read more]“

    We’ve been receiving rave reviews on this issue, and Sarah’s Scribe story in particular. Our favorite response, though, is this note from Adam Mariani of Scribe:

    “Beyond the beautiful writing and absorbing journey you take the reader on, we are moved by how well you captured SCRIBE.  It is re-inspiring to hear our manifesto spoken so well in your writing.  Thank you.”

    If you don’t subscribe, please go out and pick up a copy at the newsstand—or at least check out some of the content on the magazine’s web site!

    Also, be sure to check out the video we produced on Scribe Winery for Cult Sonoma!

  • video // Doe Bay Fest 2010

    Way back in August, the Belle Creative home offices took their show on the road to beautiful Orcas Island in the San Juans—we started off the workcation with a weekend at the stellar Doe Bay Fest enjoying meteor showers and some amazing music (we called it “band camp for adults.”) Check out our video recap and keep an eye out for Sonoma’s own Ryan William Lynch and his band Indian Valley Line . . . !