Napa Valley Open Studios Celebrates 25th Anniversary

By MJ Schaer, Brenton Beck, and Karen Lynn Ingalls:

Have you ever spent time in a painter’s studio? Watched as the artist
mixes colors and applies paint to canvas, creating a work of art right
before your eyes? Would you like to see how a sculptor creates a bronze
statue or carves marble? Are you curious about how someone weaves a rug,
makes a glass plate or creates a ceramic vase? Ever seen a jeweler or
silversmith at work, or wondered how a photographer captures that
one-of-a-kind photograph?

Whether you’re a collector or an art lover or are just curious about how
various kinds of artwork are created, this is your once-a-year opportunity
to meet Napa Valley’s finest artists and experience their work spaces.
Come and satisfy your artistic curiosity while enjoying all the beauty and
sensual pleasures that a tour through California Wine Country has to
offer.

This is the 25th Anniversary of Napa Valley Open Studios—a free,
self-guided art discovery tour—and it promises to be our best one yet!
During the last two weekends in September, 74 participating artists at 43
different studio locations will welcome you into their creative spaces.

From the City of Napa in the south to Calistoga in the north, all up and
down the Valley, you can visit with artists working in every medium. Some
will give demonstrations, but all will be glad to share how they do what
they do, and show you the results. Studios will be open from 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. both weekends.

This year’s catalog cover artist is Mark Mattioli. Make sure to visit his
Napa studio–in–the–vineyards to view the whimsical paintings that spring
from his wonderfully zany imagination. His latest series of humorous and
unconventional paintings on wooden wine boxes will make you smile, and his
charmingly illustrated “In-Your-Pocket Guides to the Wine Country” will
show you the best of Napa Valley and beyond. And, if you ask nicely, maybe
Mark will give you a glimpse of his “Doodle-a-Day” notebooks, where he
gives his imagination free rein.

Napa Valley is filled with creative, passionate people. In this high-tech
world, it’s important to remember that there are still exceptional people
creating beautiful artwork the old fashioned way—by hand.

The mission of Napa Valley Open Studios is to create awareness and an
appreciation of the painters, sculptors, potters, jewelers, photographers,
and glass and fiber artists working throughout the valley. We hope that
opening our creative spaces and sharing our processes first hand will
educate and inspire the community at large to support our working artists.

So come spend a day (or two or three!) exploring the artistic abundance of
Open Studios throughout beautiful Napa Valley. There is something for
everyone to marvel at and enjoy. Then look across the vineyards of the
valley and take a deep breath. Life is good!

For an overview of Napa Valley Open Studios and its artists, please visit
www.NapaValleyOpenStudios.info.

For information regarding the work of individual artists, please visit the
galleries at www.NapaValleyOpenStudios.org

Like us on Facebook! At www.Facebook.com/NapaValleyOpenStudios.

By MJ Schaer, Brenton Beck, and Karen Lynn Ingalls.

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