SWAN Day Returns to Martinez

Martinez will honor its many talented, creative women Saturday as the Fourth Annual SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now) takes the city by storm at the old Cannery Building, 333 Ferry St. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

On display will be paintings, jewelry, gifts, clothes, dolls and many more works by local women artists. Entertainment will include music by the Hopeless Romantics, belly dancing and the Dancing Color Wheel.

SWAN Day, which also is celebrated internationally, brings together artists from all over the East Bay, and gives the community a chance to support, honor and connect with them through their artistic gifts. 

It was first proclaimed an annual celebration in Martinez by Mayor Rob Schroder in 2008. The proclamation starts by saying, “Women artists inspire the citizens of Martinez with the power of their imaginations and create works that heal, uplift and transform our community…” 

Cathy Riggs, president of the Martinez Arts Association and owner of I’ve Been Framed, is the organizer of the event. Planning began at her store, which is where local artists stop to chat, take classes and exchange ideas.

“SWAN makes us really happy, really proud,” Riggs said.

Also involved in the planning was R.C. Ferris, also known as the "Dumpster Diversion Diva." She started out in the recycling business, and now combines that with art, providing recycled materials to teachers and others for kids to use in art projects.

She gets a lot of material through her job at Allied Waste. 

“You can turn an old telephone handle into a rhythm shaker," Ferris said. "Everything shakes sooner or later.”

She's working on a jelly fish made out of plastic bottles. One of her goals is to have a reuse center in the East Bay.

A former librarian, Ferris has a lot of experience helping kids create art. Recycling makes the art a little more creative and a lot more fun. She will have some kid-friendly art projects using recycled materials at SWAN Day. She’ll be at John Muir Earth Day, and Allied Waste is donating the compost the kids will use to plant native plants at the event. Some of the organizations Ferris is involved with include:

• Generation Green
• RAFT (Resource Area for Teachers)
• East Bay Depo for Creative Reuse

Naomi Adair, a longtime Martinez resident who works for H&R Block, will have a booth at SWAN Day.

“We really want to let artists and individual businesses know how to get all the tax advantages available to them,” she said.