VALLEJO — California Forever – the company that has been buying up land in rural Solano County with the intention of building a new city – announced in February that it would open its offices in downtown Vallejo for an artist showcase during the city’s 100th second Friday Art Walk. 

It invited the public to stop by to “learn more about our project and our support for the local arts community. There will be music, local art installations and food!”  During the next Art Walk this week, the company plans to hold a Women's Artist Showcase.

California Forever’s involvement in Art Walk is being received by the community with a mixture of surprise, joy, confusion and protest. Some welcome the support and infusion of money into the local arts scene. Others accuse the company of “artwashing” and of manipulating the community to support their project.

Art Walk has been a fixture of Vallejo’s downtown since 2014. Local artists and crafters display their wares on Vallejo's downtown sidewalks, as restaurants, shops and galleries stay open late. Musicians and performance artists contribute to the ambiance. 

Art Walk’s grassroots approach to revitalizing Vallejo’s downtown would seem to be an odd fit for California Forever, a group of Silicon Valley investors that plans to build a new city on agricultural land and open space between Travis Air Force Base and Rio Vista. But their first step is to get an initiative on the November ballot to lift the land use restrictions of  Solano County’s Orderly Growth Initiative, so the group is looking to make inroads in the community.

California Forever’s participation in Art Walk has injected controversial local politics in a space that has previously been about promoting local art. Vallejo Art Walk artist liaison Victoria Preciado said that Vallejo Art Walk is not supposed to be a political group. “It really hasn't been a problem until now.” she said. “I mean, nobody's tried to be political, up until now.”

The first California Forever Art Walk event was initially presented to the Art Walk organizers as a launch party for Vallejo 3^rd Space, a new entity that popped up just as suddenly and mysteriously as Flannery Associates, the landowning subsidiary of California Forever.

“It wasn't until I walked into the space that I found out that it was California Forever,” Preciado said. “And I was like, ‘Oh, that's interesting, they must be trying to have influence.’”

Director and Team Leader for Vallejo 2nd Friday Art Walk Carmen Slack wrote in an email to the Vallejo Sun, “We are committed to maintaining and ensuring that our events do not serve as platforms for the promotion of any other specific political or religious views, including those of CA Forever.”

California Forever did not respond to requests for comment.

Artists against billionaires

Aiden Mayhood, a founding member of the group Solano Together that formed to oppose the California Forever project, was at the California Forever Art Walk event in February, and said he thought the company was being disingenuous by drawing people in for art and then giving them a sales pitch for the project.

“I don't like what they want to do in Solano County, but I don't think anybody can complain about them holding local events and supporting artists and supporting our existing communities,” Mayhood said. “Right when you walk into the door, the first thing you notice is not a piece of art, but a map of their initiative, so it was pretty obvious what they were there to do.”

On the sidewalk outside the office, artist Anna Kirsch, whose artist name is “Girl on Bus,” set up a small table with a sign that read, “Artists against billionaires. They won’t save us.” 

“In my opinion, it seems like they're trying to manufacture consent, and now they're trying to bring artists into it,” Kirsch said. “As an artist myself, who lives in Vallejo and was born and raised in the Bay Area, I feel very strongly against what's going on.”

A new Instagram page for the Coalition of Artists Against Billionaires posted for the first time just after Art Walk with a post that said, “Stop California Forever.”  It defines “artwashing” as  “the use of art and artists in a positive way to distract from or legitimize negative actions by an individual, organization, country, or government — especially in reference to gentrification.”

Inside the California Forever office, the artwork and the ambiance of the event was pleasant. Seandale Turner’s large, luminous representations of pop culture icons, and Verlanñia Manchester’s bas-relief and sculptural pieces transformed California Forever’s spacious Virginia Street storefront into an art gallery. Uplifting music by DJ Jah Yzer enhanced the mood, and the food by Mammasan’s Bistro was free.

Vallejo artist Radhika Lynette Kaplan organized the California Forever gallery show and Vallejo 3^rd Space.

Kaplan spoke in support of the project  at California Forever’s Jan. 17 ballot initiative introduction in Rio Vista. She told the Vallejo Sun that she approached California Forever about getting involved with Art Walk.

“I’m like ‘Hey, you guys want to help the community? I'm really involved in the art scene. It would be great if you could help us out,’” Kaplan said. “If you really want people to see what your new community is going to look like, let's show them what it's gonna look like.”

The Vallejo 3^rd Space Instagram account first posted only three days before the February Art Walk. Kaplan also founded a production company, RadCo Productions, which is listed on the California Forever teams page. RadCo’s website, which was published a few days ago, says it creates “immersive events, innovative marketing and branding campaigns,” and includes a video from the February Art Walk event.

Kaplan described the proposed California Forever project as ambitious. “If they succeed at doing this, this is going to be a model for the country and the world,” she said. “They're gonna give $200 million to all the Solano County cities, spread out for development, after the initiative gets passed.”

But those campaign promises are not necessarily guaranteed.

Kaplan said she thinks people opposed to California Forever’s project are misinformed. “The whole idea that farmers are being forced to sell their land, it’s not true, that it's going to be a utopia for billionaires – not true,” she said. 

But California Forever’s lawsuits against farmers are real. A subsidiary of California Forever  sued 35 farmers and landowners last year, alleging they colluded with each other to price-fix their land and not sell to the company unless it met a specific price. The lawsuit is ongoing. 

U.S. Rep. John Garamendi attended the official launch of Solano Together Coalition on Feb. 4 and raised concerns about the continued viability of Travis Air Force Base and potential for increased traffic congestion.

“120,000 times a year, the air men and women practice critical nighttime programs, critical training, and how to enter into a war zone in a contested airbase. And the reason it happens here is because of the open space to the east of Travis Air Force Base. Take that away, and one of the principal tasks of Travis Air Force Base disappears,” Garamendi said. “Flannery and Associates is set about to put a dagger right in the heart of one of our principal national security assets, Travis Air Force Base, we cannot let that happen.”

He concluded, “Any organization that sets about to sue family farmers for $500 million dollars so they can force the sale deserves to be thrown out of this county!”

Participating artists welcome the opportunity

Verlanñia Manchester, one of the artists whose work was displayed at the February event, said she knew nothing about the California Forever project before the night of the event. She said she was invited to hang her art there only the day  before after another artist canceled. She said she was glad for the opportunity because her usual Art Walk location, Temple Arts Lofts, was hosting another show. 

Manchester said that participating in the show was a good experience for her. She said she made some sales, had some good conversations, and met a lot of new people. 

Seandale Turner, another artist who participated in February,  said he was honored to be included in the show, and spoke with enthusiasm about his future participation with Vallejo 3^rd Space. “I'm just definitely thankful for the opportunity to present my art the way I did, but I'm looking to do more for not only myself as an artist, but for the community,” he said.

Turner said he’s aware there is some controversy around the California Forever project. “The good part about it is that it didn't come up during the show. The fun part about it is that they just allowed me to be an artist.”

Regarding California Forever’s proposed development, Turner said he likes the idea of it. He said that the California Forever team didn’t inform him about their project. “I just saw pretty, pretty pictures and pretty advancements that looks like it's within the near future, and what they're doing to unlock and untie those things,” he said. “I'm definitely for that.”

The upcoming Art Walk at the California Forever office on Friday will feature a Women's Artist Showcase that includes a fashion show by Claudette Inspired Vintage, visual artists JeanCheríe, Ka'Ala and Hannah Malie Keala, and live music by Selena Sobes, Jay Dela Cruz and DJ Flow. V-Town Provísions, Anchor Pantry, Sunshine Smoothies and Everything Cake Company will provide food and refreshments.

JeanCherie said of the California Forever project, “I definitely was not into it, and I still have lots of doubts. To tell you the truth, they're paying me to have work in the show.” 

It is highly unusual for an art space to pay artists simply to show their work. Most of the downtown Vallejo retailers and community art spaces involved with Art Walk allow artists to show work for free and charge little or nothing for sales commissions. Professional art galleries typically charge artists a sales commission of 40 to 60%.

JeanCherie acknowledged the political ramifications of her participation. “That's a real thin line, you’re in the space, so it definitely reads that you are for [their project],” she said. “But just the opportunity to show my work is important to me, where there's going to be a lot of people. That's important. That they really are paying artists is a big deal.”

Editor's note — this story was updated to correct the spelling of Mayhood