Taking a Break in Napa Valley

A friend of mine named Larry stopped by my home and the two of us decided to take a drive up to Napa Valley and celebrate my decision on changing my major at Sacramento State University. Larry knew I had been struggling with trying to make the decision but with that now behind me it was time to relax. I had the luxury of being with a friend that had listened to me without voicing his opinion until I had arrived at decision on my own. Out the door we went with the sun shining gloriously as we began our adventure for the day.

To my surprise when we arrived in Napa Valley Larry headed straight for the Robert Mondavi Winery saying he had a surprise for me. This was a winery I had never been to before and was excited to see what was in store for me.

Larry a long time friend that knows me quite well knew I would not be disappointed and what I was about to see at the winery. As we pulled into the driveway I immediately fell in love with the mission style architecture.  Mission style originated in the late nineteenth century as a popular manifestation of American Art and Craft Movement and is often characterized as simple, casual and comfortable in its design.

Entrance to Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley.

On the left side in front of the archway is a beautifully crafted sculpture as one can see from the picture below.

Artist: Len Urso, 7 feet tall and 3000 pounds, the medium is copper, titled, "Robert Mondavi."

The artist Len Urso was commissioned to make the sculpture in 2014. The sculpture took more than 2500 hours to create and was inspired by Robert Mondavi's lifelong passion and attitude for life. The unveiling occurred in March 2015. It was presented as a gift from chairman Richard Sands of the winery to Margrit Mondavi in honor of her late husband.

Here is a side profile to get a better feel of the size of this sculpture.

Titled, "Robert Mondavi, by Len Urso, copper, 2015.

In touring this winery I discovered Margrit prior to becoming Robert Mondavi’s wife, when she first started working at the winery there were not many people visiting the Napa Valley in 1967. A top priority for Margrit was to establish a fine arts program at the winery and brought in many artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, and Wayne Thiebaud.

16th century wine press.

 This plague as seen in the above picture describes this piece as a 16th century wine press.

I had to take a picture of this old wine press. To me it was like looking at a piece of artwork. Larry and I talked about the age of the press and tried to figure out how in the world the people back then were able to manipulate the screws on this press. The top of the tallest piece was over eight feet tall. It sat beside one of the doors of the hallways on the backside of the complex. I realize this is not contemporary art but it was impressive to see.

There are several sculptures here at the winery created by sculptor Beniamino Bufano. Here are a few pictures that I took of his work.

Title unknown, by artist Beniamino Bufano, marble.

Beniamino Bufano was a California based Italian-American Sculptor. His modernist work often features smoothly rounded animals and relatively simple shapes. Here is another example of his work.

Title unknown, artist Beniamino Bufano.

Pictured below is an artwork made of grape vines which sat on a back patio crying out for me to take a picture, so I did.

A wine bottle made of grape vines, artist unknown.

The picture below is of two paintings by the artist John Bonick. The painting on the left is titled, “Drift 63,” and on the right side the other large painting is titled, “Wildwood.”

The painting on the left is 87 x 29 inches (Triptych) Oil on Panel and on the left the painting is 71 x 44.5 inches, Oil on panel. 

The picture below is a picture that shows the grapevine wine bottle on the back patio as well as two of the many painting hanging on the walls throughout the winery.

John Bonick is a professional artist from Napa Valley that has work at the di Rosa Preserve in Napa. He also has several of his abstract works in the Bloomingdale's Collection in New York, Chicago and San Francisco as well as with the Fairmont Hotel, Visa, Juniper Networks and many private collections.

Although, I had been to other wineries in Napa Valley before, I had not been to one that displayed so much contemporary art throughout its grounds. When I got home I did a bit more research and discovered that Margrit Mondavi is an artist herself. She and her late husband Robert Mondavi are deeply rooted in the art world which surrounds us today in our area. In 2001 they gave a substantial gift to the University of California at Davis to not only establish the Robert Mondavi institute for wine and food science and to launch the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts which opened in 2002.

Below I have included a link to the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts Center.

https://www.mondaviarts.org/about-us/mission

Hopefully, I have inspired some of you to visit Napa Valley and enjoy the art works you too can discover there while taking a break of it all and relaxing. Larry and I had a wonderful time and I look forward to going back to Napa Valley and seeing what I might discover on my next adventure.