April 18 - July 9, 2008
Muse Among the Vines: Art from the North Bay Wine Country
Oakland International Airport
located in the entranceway of Terminal One.

Airport Exhibition Archive

Acknowledgement Panel

Lewis de Soto Appellation: St. Helena, CA., #6, 6.12.07, 2007.

Art and wine have been intertwined for centuries. In Greek mythology, the festivals of Dionysus—and later, his Roman counterpart Bacchus—combined the drinking of wine with music, dance, and poetry and inspired artists throughout history, from Caravaggio to Picasso. More recently, contemporary painters, sculptors, photographers, and even conceptual artists have focused on wine, or the environment in which it is made, as a motif in their work.

It is widely known that the region north of the San Francisco Bay Area, in particular the rolling hills and fertile fields of Napa and Sonoma counties, is home to numerous vineyards and wineries that produce some of the world’s most respected wines. What is perhaps less well known—although that is beginning to change—is that the North Bay is also home to a growing number of nationally recognized artists, fine art galleries, and art museums.

Hung Liu Untitled, 2004

Muse Among the Vines presents but a small sample of artists whose work is either directly related to their experiences in the wine country or closely associated with the region’s art institutions. Notable wineries, including Artesa, Benziger and Imagery Estate Wineries, Clos Pegase, The Hess Collection, roshambo, and Stags’ Leap, have world-class art collections or have supported contemporary art through artist residencies or other programs. The work of these artists is also regularly exhibited at regional museums such as Copia, the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature in Napa, the Napa Valley Museum, the Sonoma County Museum, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, and the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa.

Anne Hamersky Harvest Athletes (multi-image), 2007.

It is hoped the work featured in Muse Among the Vines will foster even greater appreciation for both the art and wine of the North Bay. Cheers!

Michael Schwager
Curator, di Rosa Preserve