By Hiya Swanhuyser, with Ani & Bonnie Bonani
In Petaluma, California sits Slough City Studios, a creative collective combining seven art studios, a shared workspace, an experimental gallery to make art accessible for local voices.
Hiya Swanhuyser: I’m here with Ani Bonani and Mr. Buttons, terrier, who are the people of Slough City Studios.
Can you tell me about the beginnings of this art community center/warren of studios/workshop spot/gallery/handmade gift shop/super queer-friendly space?
Ani Bonani: Bonn and I inherited an old 1976 GMC RV from a friend, and we had big dreams of making some sort of mobile art something. But the RV did not run, and we don’t know how to fix RVs, so that dream kind of sat in a lot in Sacramento for a year. Then we sold the RV, and truly, the next day after we had gotten the money in the account from the RV, Jennifer Mygatt, at Magic Shop Studios hooked us up with Josh Peterson, who is leasing the space. He called us the next day and said, “Do you want to come see the space?”
So we walked in and just could see the vision, right, spatially, because of the way that the front is separated for a retail gallery and then art studios back here. And for once we had a chunk of money. We said, “Is five thousand dollars going to cut it?” He said yes, and we said “Okay, well this is really exciting. We’re going to take the weekend to go really think it over.” We went into the woods, and did a bunch of thinking and feeling and brainstorming and just felt very positive.
We got keys in the beginning of May, and then we opened the front end in September of that year.
I had come off a job at Art Start in Santa Rosa, and had been back in art community again for the first time since being in art school — and just really remembered the importance and the depth of inspiration and support that art community creates when you’re hanging out around other artists making and stuff. So when that job was over, I didn’t want that part of my life to go away. And Bonnie had been working at Whole Foods for Jeff Bezos. She’s Australian, she wanted to go home and visit her family, and they fired her for leaving for longer than three weeks.
So we were kind of at this transitional point and had just the amount of money needed to put down first and last and safety deposit on the space and from there, it’s been a huge community effort
Swanhuyser: When was that?
A. Bonani: That was May of 2023. We got keys in the beginning of May, and then we opened the front end in September of that year.
Swanhuyser: I want to ask what might sound like a hostile question; it isn’t. What made you think you could do this?
A. Bonani: A number of things. We weren’t sure that we could, but because of the synchronicities of what had just happened with the RV and the email and the money, and it all being what felt like laid out in front of us, it felt like a challenge that we were being asked to step up to.
So we weren’t sure that we could, but the things that made me feel like I could were that I grew up in Petaluma and spent my youth at the Phoenix Theater and have been an art kid slash art adult, I guess, forever, and had, and have, a ton of creative community here. And I’ve seen so many talented friends make stuff and not ever have it out in the world, in the town. So it seemed like it would be a walk in the park to fill the gallery. I was like, I have a list of a million people I can think of that are wildly talented, but for whatever reason feel outside the structure of showing art to the public. I myself had had a bunch of DIY art shows of my own work over the years, kind of in empty apartment buildings; as I was leaving to move somewhere, I would have an art show of whatever I’d made during the years in that house. I’d had shows at the Phoenix, and I’d kind of curated group shows, but loosely, you know, very DIY stuff. So I had that in my pocket.
[The name] comes down to a bit of a rebuttal to the culture shifts we’re seeing in the area. The Petaluma River isn’t a river – it’s a slough. And this quaint little town that we live in … is actually a city.
Also, we’re really privileged, in that we live at my parents’ house and I knew that we had a safety net financially. If it tanked, we weren’t going to be on the street, because my parents house us. So there’s a lot of privilege involved and privilege of community — knowing that there was a need for this, and that folks would show up for it. And Buy Nothing groups.
Swanhuyser: What does “Slough City” mean?
Bonnie Bonani: For me it comes down to a bit of a rebuttal to the culture shifts we’re seeing in the area. The Petaluma River isn’t a river – it’s a slough. And this quaint little town that we live in … is actually a city.
A. Bonani: We chose Slough City Studios as a bit of an homage to Petaluma, in all of its charm and its grittiness. Growing up here, it was a fun fact we used to yell in the schoolyard: “It’s not a river, it’s a slough!” Meaning that it isn’t a fresh water river that flows in one direction to the ocean, rather it is connected to the wetlands and the San Francisco Bay, and rises and falls with the tides. It’s brackish water so there is very interesting diversity of marine life that inhabits the waters … and all the birds! I’ve gotten the sense over the years that Petalumans kind of wished it was a “real” river, perhaps embarrassed by or resentful of the muddy muck that becomes visible, and the interesting odor at low tide, and the fact that we can’t hop in for a swim on a hot summer day.
We thought naming the place Slough City would be an act of pride and authenticity in who we actually are, not trying to fit into some ideal of what a river town should be, but a celebration of our uniqueness, no matter how it may look or smell. Did you know we have leopard sharks, manta rays, and jelly fish in the slough?! And once, when I was a kid, a juvenile whale even got lost and ended up in Petaluma With much effort from the community they got the whale turned around and headed back towards the bay to safety. So yeah, Slough City! We are who we are and it’s a beautiful thing! That’s all to say that everybody, in their most authentic selves, are welcomed and celebrated at Slough City, and art (or artists) don’t have to fit into a box to be of value.
But folks show up, the community shows up, and we’re selling works at every opening and throughout the month, and people come shop at the handmade wonderful things shop, and then the artists who have spaces here help to pay the big rent. So it’s a community effort.
Swanhuyser: You’ve been here only a year and a half, but what have been the memorable moments, or the ones that express your project the most? What stands out at this point?
A. Bonani: For me, having queer space, queer community, in one space in this town, has felt so powerful and rad. As somebody who’s been a queer person my whole life, but it really took me a long time to figure it out, because — at least in my experience — in Petaluma, and I think this is changing now and getting better, but when I was young there was zero queer representation other than individual queer people that I knew and loved. So for me, because we do like, a queer collage community hangout every Friday, and we got the flag out front, something about being a visible queer space has felt really — oh! And we did queer life drawing in here which really celebrates queer bodies; it’s a very safe space and all the models and all the artists are all queer folks. So that’s been really rad. So for me, it’s just like some real healing-my-inner-child shit, you know? A space that I needed that wasn’t here yet, that we get to create and offer out.
In addition to that, I think the other thing that really stands out is artists who have never shown their work, or never hung a body of work like, on a wall with lights that look nice. The ability for the artist to see the value in what they are doing in a new way; to have an opening reception, with the nerves at the beginning and the impostor syndrome. And then by the end of the night, more often than not they’re glowing, and they’ll say something along the lines of “Oh, I AM an artist!” It’s like — it’s beautiful. And in my head I’m like “Well yeah dude, look at your work. You you wouldn’t have made all this stuff if you weren’t.” That opportunity for artists to get in-person appreciation and see how of-value what they’re up to is. That feels special.
That queer flag out front, we fly it proudly and on occasion, it makes me feel like a target. But that’s not gonna stop us from flying it.
Swanhuyser: What have been some of the challenges?
A. Bonani: There’s a huge learning curve. We’ve, neither Bonnie nor I, ever done anything like owning and running a business. This is our first attempt, so at first there was a ton of stress on the relationship. We were being challenged in ways we never had before, and with higher stakes. It got kind of crunchy between the two of us, which was a huge challenge, but also, we stepped up to that and we’ve grown a lot through this process — respecting each other’s beliefs and boundaries and ideas about what is and is not an appropriate way to run things with each other. We don’t have kids, but this feels like something perhaps similar to being challenged to care for something bigger than just our own selves.
And then financially, it’s been incredibly hard. But I think any business, small business owner, or just human being could relate to that, and art is a tricky — I’ve always had a hard time with art and capitalism. Though they do exist at the same time and place and successfully, in many ways, there’s something about it to me that’s always felt like oil and water. So the money part, making the rent [is a challenge] but, wildly, we’ve done it every month. We’ve made rent, so it is happening. I mean we work, like we get gigs outside of here, here and there. But folks show up, the community shows up, and we’re selling works at every opening and throughout the month, and people come shop at the handmade wonderful things shop, and then the artists who have spaces here help to pay the big rent. So it’s a community effort.
Artists, at least some of us, are wonderful and weird and want privacy, want a room that we can shut ourselves in, and have walls that separate us so you can really get into your creative practice. Part of the vision of this place is having an active artist community working in here.
Swanhuyser: Have you had challenges from outside at all? Are you safe here?
A. Bonani: Culturally, all of our neighbors are really awesome and we’ve gotten to know them personally. And so in this space, I do feel safe because I feel surrounded by folks that love and care about us. That queer flag out front, we fly it proudly and on occasion, it makes me feel like a target. But that’s not gonna stop us from flying it. It has been ripped down once, which felt aggressive, but we were kind of hoping that perhaps it was just some very excited queers coming back from karaoke and like, doing a photo shoot and swinging off of it. We’re just imagining that. Sometimes I get a little nervous, but it seems important to be courageous and be visible anyways.
Swanhuyser: Bonnie, I see on your website that you’ve only recently started identifying as an artist. How is artist life going? How has Slough City affected your art life?
B. Bonani: Slough City has been a whirlwind of inspiration for my art life! Getting to speak with artists daily and have the time and space to absorb their art work is just phenomenal. Every month I get to stare at the gallery walls and by the end of each month the shows feel different. It’s like they whisper before the shows are hung, speak when the arts up.. but by the end of the month they’re screaming with meaning, colours, shapes and form.
Add onto that that we have almost one of every art supply you could imagine. So my artist life – it’s thriving!
People walk in this door that we’ve never seen before, and something beautiful grows out of whatever their inspiration is.
Swanhuyser: Let’s talk about your plans for the future. What’s next?
A. Bonani: We’ll see, because it depends on what happens, but I think we’ll carry on as we’ve been, because it’s feeling really successful! We’re kind of settling into this, because we’re we’re a bit far off the main drag; people are still wandering in and getting to know us. Ideally, we could just keep doing what we’re doing, and keep growing the community, growing the knowledge that we’re here — like with the weekly queer collage, that is getting more and well-attended as we move forward.
I would really love to have more peer support groups, things related and unrelated to art and artists. I’m somebody who has PTSD, and I’ve wanted for myself a support group for folks with PTSD. So that’s something I might get going. I think a lot of art therapy just kind of naturally happens in here — I’m not a licensed therapist, so I wouldn’t be therapizing anybody but just peer support. Space is hard to come by, and this is a big building, so it seems like a cool thing to offer to anybody, whatever, we’re open to anybody’s needs and ideas. Like there’s a lesbian wine tasting group that’s going to start doing their wine tastings here with a lesbian wine maker. And there’s been talk of queer speed dating. There’s been talk of a poetry writing group coming in and using the space. So ideally just more kind of more community-based goings-on, and then we have our full calendar for the gallery for ’25, so we’ve got a lot of really great artists getting ready to do solo shows and a couple we’re going to do with Drew Washer from Heebe Jeebe.
There used to be a community gallery in Petaluma that did only group shows with really fantastic themes. It was open to everybody. Drew from Heebe ran it, and it hasn’t happened in many years; that gallery is no longer. But people have come in here asking, “Oh, do you remember those shows at the Back House Gallery? We should do that, do that, do that.” And I just haven’t felt like I had the curative creative skills to do the theme stuff that Drew came up with — the most inspiring prompts for us artists. So Drew is going to guest cameo a show, it’ll kind of bring back the the Back House Gallery group show! That’s in May, and then a queer group show in June, and then a ton of really fantastic solo shows from artists who haven’t had that opportunity yet, for the most part. So the gallery is stacked for ’25! And it’s just exciting: Things come up. People walk in this door that we’ve never seen before, and something beautiful grows out of whatever their inspiration is.
This interview was edited for length, grammar, and clarity. This interview was partially conducted via email.