On Friday, July 1, I attended the opening preview gala of the first Napa Valley Art & Music Festival, which was sponsored by the St. Helena Rotary Foundation and hosted outdoors by Trinchero Family Estates at their winery.
It was a unique opportunity to see the vendors and artists early before the event opened to the public for the July 4th holiday weekend, as well as sample of the local wines. Music played all weekend and you can see the line up here.
D’Lilah Monroe & The Tom Cats was Saturday’s headliner from San Francisco, a band who has been rocking and swinging the scene for the last 12 years. David T. Carter is an Aussie who has brought a fresh perspective to the scene. His exhilarating music coalesces bluegrass, rockabilly, jazz, country-and-western, blues and rock and roll. Another band known on the west coast — Crazy Famous — has honed their chops in the beer soaked bars and venues up and down the California coast for the past couple of years.
Old Californio fuses it’s own native blend of rock, country-folk, and proto-psychedelic leanings into its own eclectic musical spark. Bus to Neptune is an American roots rock band with eclectic influences as wide as their collective imagination which includes folk, blues, psychedelic rock, and bluegrass. Sunday’s headliner was D’Giin, which is a French-Gypsy-Funk with a twist, or Flamenco-Django-esque.
As for the Artists?
We took in the jewelry of Deborah Armstrong, who has award-winning textured silver with 18k gold and gemstone accents. Her work uses repousse, etching, piercing and fabrication. Adirondack Designs’ designer Rick has been a leather artisan since 1973 and a pro since 1979, exhibiting at a number of national shows over the last 32 years. He is an award winning winemaker for Calstar Cellars and Londer Vineyards.
Juan Balandran is a self taught bronze sculptor whose style borrows from German expressionism, Vorticism, and film-noir to promote the beauty that could come of thinking in more sculptural terms. Shawna Scarpitti’s vibrant mixed media collages capture her true love for materials, nature, and abstraction. Hailing from South FL, she brings to this show bi-coastal influences that inform her vivacious, energetic artwork. Kerry Smith does transparent watercolors using Japanese brushes, Fritche’s scrubbers and Arches 140 lb. cold press paper.
Below is Mernie (over at mernie.com) standing next to her work, where she does interpretations of watercolors from old art masters. (in addition to her originals, she finds old frames and paints them as well, which is part of the overall finished result of her pieces)…
It was a great introduction to a holiday weekend – kudos to the artists and musicians for a great show. And, thanks to the staff and organizers for the warm Napa Valley hospitality.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
