Kyoko Hirota

Kyoko Hirota was born in Chiba, Japan and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She moved to Fort Bragg in June 2016. Her art practice began early in her childhood. She followed her friend to an oil painting class at a small artist studio and instantly fell in love with the life of an artist. She continued to draw and paint through her school years and studied at University of California, Berkeley, where she finished with a BFA in Practice of Art in 2008. Kyoko’s current work draws inspiration from the Japanese concept of Yaoyorozunokami, where it’s believed that there is a spirit in all things. Whether it be a fruit, animal, cup, or mountain, she portrays them as having feelings and personality. She currently works in sumi-ink, but has previously worked in oils, acrylics, and other mixed media. Check out her beautiful website, and follow her two Instagram accounts. Illustration, and Drawing.

Biggest Creative Dream

I’ve always dreamed of having a small art studio on a big farm.
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"The Hope Tree" Ōtsuchi-cho, Iwate, Japan. Fort Bragg's official sister city.

Art helped Ōtsuchi-cho, Iwate recover from tragedy

In March 2011, a devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck the coast of Japan. Ōtsuchi, Japan,  Fort Bragg's official sister city, suffered almost unfathomable destruction and catastrophic loss of life. Today, the city is slowly, bravely, rebuilding.

In the midst of tragedy, recovery, clean-up, and construction, local residents welcomed a collaboration with "Formosa Wall Painting Group," a Taiwanese group of artists that wanted to bring beauty and color back to  Ōtsuchi. "The Hope Tree" shows us that public art can be a powerful tool in a town's collective recovery. The Taiwanese artists understood that power, having survived the 7.6 magnitude Jiji earthquake in 1999. 

Glorious public art from around the world

Art has an amazing ability to make a space feel alive. It's like a love letter to a wall, a corner, an alley, an otherwise dreary facade just waiting for some creativity and color to delight locals and visitors alike. 
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Bright colors transformed this entire neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro
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A delightfully strange installation in Šventoji, Lithuania.
Flockworks builds community through creativity...
We believe people of all ages and experience can share, explore and participate in the arts and creativity. We mobilize space, talents, time, and other resources in supporting community art and creative initiatives and provide a ‘platform' for leadership by community artists. We add visibility, vibrancy and access to local arts through exhibits, events, murals and installation projects.  All these creative threads tie us together as a community, and positively shape our culture. We see art and creativity as an endeavor for all and actively reach out to those with little access to creative opportunities.  
Flockworks is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a ten-year track record of successfully supporting community creativity and local arts initiatives.  

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​Support Flockworks! 

This could be you! 

Are you a visual artist living in the Fort Bragg area? Consider participating in this vibrant community project to bring life, color and joy to unexpected spaces in our beloved town. You do not have to be an artist by profession, but we are looking for artists with a professional attitude and a low-maintenance working style. Bonus points if you have a robust social media presence. 
The application process is simple. You will  answer some questions about yourself, your creative history and your current interests, and tell us how you came to be on the North Coast. You'll also submit 5 quality images of your work. If you are accepted you will be featured on the "Our Artists" page. It's no guarantee, but if you are selected by a property owner, we will get in touch and begin the process of planning your installation! 

Josef Mayfield

Josef recently moved to Fort Bragg "to get out of the big city and back to small town life." He grew up in the beautiful little town of Ouray, Colorado, which sits about 8,000 ft above sea level. If you have ever seen John Wayne's "True Grit" you've seen most of the landscape that he grew up in.

Most of Josef's family are artists, so it's no surprise he started creating from a very early age. His grandfather, was his first art mentor and encouraged him to grow as an artist. His serious "starting line" came from a high school trip to Paris when he visited the Museum of Rodin, whose work and that of other artists such as, John Singer Sargent, Mucha, and Caravaggio have strongly influenced on his art to this day.
He is drawn to portraiture and the relationship of humans and nature, finding endless fascination with the human face and the challenge of capturing it in a drawing, "because emotions and attitudes are so difficult to express without feeling it yourself." Building on the base of portraiture, he layers floral and architectural imagery to create surreal, almost dream-like, pieces. 

Biggest Creative Dream

I've always wanted to create a large piece and see it come to life. One of my dreams is to make a public piece."
​-Josef Mayfield

Bones Abell

Benny "Bones" Abell was born in Fort Bragg but grew up in Nelson B.C. Canada.  He's been drawing since he was 5. He moved back to the North Coast in 2001. He's always been inspired by movies, comics, and skateboard/ graffiti culture- but Frank Frazzetta, Da Vinci, Vaughn Bode, Frank Miller and McFarlain were also big influences on his style.  lately, he has found himself drawn toward space and animals, as well as the abstract, and the ways that  all three could work together. He prefers to work in latex and aerosol, and as he puts it "The higher visibility the better!" He frequently works with other artists and is enthusiastically open to more future collaborations. 

Biggest Creative Dream

​ My biggest dream would be to be wealthy enough that i could paint murals for free, then i could beautify every ugly wall in every small town in America at no cost to the citizens!
 - Bones
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