Forest to the Sea Nature Store | Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods

Photo: Forest to the Sea Nature Store - by Tracie Riedel

The Forest to the Sea Nature Store has permanently CLOSED.

We are sorry that we had to close our wonderful Forest to the Sea Nature Store. We were not able to make a profit and as a nonprofit organization we have a responsibility to discontinue activities that impact our programs. The store was located on the corner of First and Main Street in downtown Guerneville.

All of our merchandise is either sold at the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve Visitor Center or the Sonoma Coast Visitor Center in Jenner.

Our online store also has new merchandise being added daily and we ship quickly.

Members of Stewards receive a 20% discount on store items, seminars, tours, and special event tickets. All proceeds go towards stewardship and education programs in YOUR State Parks.

What are you waiting for? Join the cause and become a member today!

Interested in volunteering? Learn how you can get involved.

Featured Artists - You can purchase pottery made by Pond Farm students in our online store

Gills Rock Pottery | www.gillsrockpottery.com

"I first started making pottery when I was a second semester junior at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. I knew early on I was involved with something I would be doing for a very long time. It was during that time I was introduced to the pottery and teachings of Marguerite Wildenhain, a Bauhaus trained potter. I would go on to study with Marguerite at her school, Pond Farm, located in Guerneville, California. Her wisdom and inspiration had a profound effect on the direction my life would take.

I met Judy at Luther, ironically, in a pottery class. We married shortly after graduating and moved to Crystal Lake, IL, where I started my first pottery and Judy began a rewarding career teaching eighth grade language arts. In 1979 we went to Door County,WI. to try our hand at operating a pottery and gallery there. In the beginning, Judy would spend summers in Door County and return to C.L. when school started in the fall, but as our business grew more and more demanding, she gave up her teaching career and we became permanent residents of Door County.

Since the beginning of Gills Rock Pottery many pots have been made, and we are now joined by a talented and skillful staff. As our work has evolved and the business has grown, so has the number of customers we've come to count as friends.

It's our hope that the craftsmanship, hard work, and passion, that we put into our pots, will come through to those who use them and live with them.

As Marguerite said, '... nowhere is beauty more important than in the objects we see and touch every day.' "

- Thor and Judy Thoreson, Pond Farm students

Deneen Pottery | www.deneenpottery.com

"We are a second generation family business established in 1972 by Peter and Mary Deneen in Saint Paul, MN. While our early days were in a two-car garage, today we occupy over 17,000 sq/ft and employ over 50 skilled craftspeople. Our goal has remained unchanged: create functional, beautiful, hand-thrown stoneware for our clients."

- Peter and Mary Deneen, Pond Farm students

Peter Deneen began his lifelong journey with ceramics while studying pottery at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. During this period he also began attending Marguerite Wildenhain’s Pond Farm School (located in northern California) in 1968. Peter went on to earn his M.A. from the University of Iowa in 1971.

During this time, Peter caught the inspirational fire of the Bauhaus movement of Walter Gropius in Post World War I Germany. The main thrust of the Bauhaus “was to create an environment which would nurture the bond between art, industry and trade through education; to insure the cooperation of industry and artists in the field of mass production.”

In 1972, Peter and Mary Deneen established their first studio and showroom at Park Square Court in the Lowertown neighborhood of St. Paul. Here they began producing hand thrown functional and decorative pottery and dinnerware.

“Form follows function,” was embedded within their work through the teachings from Marguerite Wildenhain, recalling the Bauhaus lessons she learned from Gerhard Marcks. It was during this time that Mary started to produce more commemorative items and ceramic figures, while launching a “Bear Essentials” line.