Our mission: To combine an experience of art and hospitality with a trip by car. Our trip: Vancouver to Sonoma.
It's 22 degrees over the hill from Ashland into California, into a valley surrounded by hills. On the horizon a huge, snow-capped Mt. Shasta, looking much cooler than we feel.
Everything seems to have recently sprouted green, and there is a vast open feeling, as we tool past open meadows in the squinty, bright sunshine. We’re practically alone out here on the curving highway, the flat valley, the empty hills dotted with scrubby brush. We’ll be on the road six hours, past small towns, rudimentary cafes, necessary gas stations. But this wide, flatland stretching to sky, with both of us cozy inside the cab of our vehicle, is why we drive instead of fly. We listen to Beethoven and Mendelssohn on NPR in a show called “Played in Oregon”. Purple bushes on the road side in glorious bloom near Redding.
Finally, Napa, then Sonoma emerge, hills and vineyards on both sides of the car.
Sonoma
At Cornerstone, Sonoma, Brigette Mickmacker, owner of the The New Leaf gallery and
curator of the outdoor collection at Sculpturesite, put our experience
seeing her curated collection of artwork into words: “Here in the wine country,
it’s so unexpected. I literally see jaws drop when people see the work here, I
hear them say, ‘I travel a lot, this is a world-class place, what is it doing
here?’ At Sculpturesite, we present seventy five sculptors from North and South
America and Europe, emerging and well-established artists.”
And the artwork is truly world-class. Every piece has a
sophistication and link to an idea – on par with its talent and craftsmanship. No gimmicky conceptual pieces here.
Mickmacker and her partner, John Denham an accomplished Bay
Area figurative artist known for abstracted watercolors (http://www.johndenningstudio.com),
both began their careers in the arts as landscape designers; Sculpturesite
reflects the best of both worlds.
What stands out is the sculpture garden, meandering paths of
exhibits by accomplished and award-winning artists who each have created an
exhibit designed for the garden. Each presentation of work incorporates an idea
that is realized in the artwork and the design of the land around it. It’s a
great place to let the kids experience art in an outdoor setting, as many of
the pieces are interactive.
Sculpturesite exhibits four to five shows a year. “It’s my
passion,” Brigitte says, “meeting the artists, going to artist’s studios,
discovering their work, curating, being a matchmaker in that way. Their website (www.sculpturesite.com)
has over 1,500 pages.
Our accommodation, MacArthur Place, is a heritage estate
completely refurbished from a 6-bedroom manor house built in the 1850s, to a
64-room historic inn, designed by developer Suzanne Brangham. What attracted us was the collection of
art and sculpture in the hotel and on the grounds. The inn partners with Maisonry
of Napa Valley, a gallery cum wine purveyor. Maisonry sources all the sculpture
and some of the artwork displayed at MacArthur Place. Much of the artwork is
for sale and every now and then, a piece sells. When we arrived, we witnessed
the installation of a huge new iron sculpture on the lawn.
With this model, art is again in the public domain,
accessible for the price of a room. But this is not a place for your average
traveler. It’s a luxury resort with a pool, spa and graceful gardens in a
region that can only be considered paradise – perfect weather, beautiful
flowers and trees, state-of-the-art luxury for the leisure traveler. Rooms
begin at $349 in shoulder season and for their best suite top out at $725.
What is interesting about the artwork is that it is
displayed to an upscale viewer/hotel guest in a rustic/luxury setting, and that
it is curated by the developer, Suzanne Brangham. Brangham’s interest in art
first manifested itself professionally when she taught art in elementary
school, but she made her personal fortune buying fixer-uppers, renovating and
flipping them.
She brings her skills with interior design to her role as
hotelier, and the result is a graceful experience of her artistic capabilities
combined with the latest trends in hotel design. It’s a pleasure to see so many
large scale paintings, many of which were commissioned by Suzanne with such
simple directives as “I need a chicken”, or “how about a ranch painting?”
Brangham had her cache of favorite artists and, as the hotel was being made, put them to
work. The works are skillfully painted, reflecting the history, the
countryside, the animals of the region in a romantic, decorative way. The
walls of one room in the restaurant, Saddles, is painted with life size horses
as if the viewer were standing in the middle of a barn. Left is a statue of a favorite dog that hung around the hotel as it was being refurbished. Now, it's sculpture with story contributing to the lore of this comfortable, peaceful hotel.
Ten to twelve suites are updated every year, and the result is that no two are alike. The grounds are graceful and idyllic, with large sculptures here and there.
Ten to twelve suites are updated every year, and the result is that no two are alike. The grounds are graceful and idyllic, with large sculptures here and there.
Driving Highway 121, surrounded by rolling green hills, vineyards, old barns and spacious green fields blooming in yellow - we could be in Southern France in July. But we're at Di Rosa Gallery, across the highway from an estate winery whose graceful outdoor patio overflows into the afternoon with wine tasting guests.
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