"Lingering with Pleasure" selected for What's Cookin' exhibition in Palo Alto

Our lives are structured around eating and are reflected in the diverse food we eat. Food provides not only sustenance, but also a defining sense of culture and identity to us all. While food has always been synonymous with celebration and gathering, it is also inextricably linked to more challenging issues around income inequality, gender norms and biases, human consumption and waste, health, the environment, and labor. With human life and culture centered around eating, it is not wonder that the foods we eat not only provide a strong sense of identity and community, but also intersect with many of the important issues facing the world today. We look forward to sharing a plate with you, as we engage the community around art and food this summer!

Artists' Trellis Pop-up Exhibition: April 7th and 8th

What happens when  Napa Valley artists, policymakers and community leaders come together to make art?

Sunday, April 7th: 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Monday, April 8th: 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Willis Art Studio
1830 Soscol # D, Napa CA 94559

Liz Alessio : Maira Ayala-Calderon : Sue Bradford : Chandra Cerrito : Arminée Chahbazian : Anne Cottrell : Susan Dix-Lyons : Dawnine Dyer : Kimberly Howard : Jeni Olsen : Jennifer Owen : Torence Powell : Ruby Rose Lyons : Annette Shafer

With early support from an ACNV grant in 2023, I began The Artists’ Trellis, an awareness project for Napa arts. As a thirty five year resident of Napa, I have advocated for more inclusion and support for local artists. Affordable studio space, dedicated exhibition venues and a seat at the table around planning and civic policy are critical to keeping artists living and working in Napa Valley. When I didn’t feel like I was being heard, I created my own table and asked local policymakers and leaders to join me in my studio to make art.

What began as an advocacy plan developed into meaningful, intimate  printmaking sessions where both the artists and non-artists created a bond through art making. Most of the guests had little art experience but was supported  by one of a core group of local artists, each with over 20  years’ experience living and working in Napa Valley.   Shedding light on the challenges that artists face on a daily basis with community and civic leaders can help shape policy and affect change.  

"I asked each participant to choose from two motifs: Napa Valley botanicals & foliage or native wildlife. The exhibition is a curated selection of monotypes from each of the six sessions. It creates a collective portrait of the Napa Valley that memorizes something we all value about living here.  In this fractured world, I want to remind others that art can be a bridge to connect us.

MonoVariations / California Society of Printmakers Exhibition

Juror, Michelle Edelman, TINT Gallery, San FranciscoThe Monoprint technique offers print artists one of the most basic ways to make an impression with a repeating template, stencil, or stamp, that can be loaded with infinite variation. We have probably all seen images of handprints on a rock. A hand print is a fascinating example because the same stamp will produce a different image every time. A monoprint series pressed from a static matrix has a repeating, and yet always morphing theme. Over multiple prints using the same matrix with different applications patterns arise, and variations may divulge a story.