Journey to a one-of-a-kind Bay Area institution where the landscape is alive with artworks

It was a near-perfect Friday in the s sunny and breezy at di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art the home of the world s foremost collection of Northern California art The quirky and dynamic collection mostly curated by late owner Rene di Rosa is spread out across picturesque acres in Napa in an remarkable style that features both indoor and outdoor exhibits Sculptures like Mark di Suvero s red geometric wonder For Veronica and Sam Yates -foot-tall filing cabinet recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records stand proudly amid the rolling hills Every part of the land is used artistically with the landscape itself a beautiful work of art buzzing with creative vitality making it one of the region s uniquely designed spaces And yet on this particular Friday hardly a soul could be determined Two employees sat at the front desk to welcome only occasional visitors A friendly tour guide prepared to show a stunning collection of paintings sculptures and other artistic masterpieces to a group not big enough to field a softball crew How is it manageable that so limited people know about this place It s such a good question di Rosa executive Kate Eilertsen mentioned as she pondered the uncertain future on a latest spring day I m trying to figure that out Part of it is that not everybody loved Rene He was a controversial figure Particular of the art he collected is not what you d call beautiful landscapes It s controversial It s sometimes provocative Sometimes it s political Sometimes it s hideous And sometimes it s great Mark di Suvero s For Veronica sculpture sits on the lip of a reservoir at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Napa Calif Friday April Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group Eilertsen has been around the Bay Area art world for more than years but she only took over the di Rosa in all its glory and imperfection in Like anyone who inherits something that doesn t belong to them Eilertsen now finds herself balancing tradition against evolution On the one hand she d love to stick with tradition keep the art collection in Napa and carry out Rene s dream of continuing to endorsement new artists that are local progressive and challenging societal norms But she s also facing the very troubling reality that a multitude of Bay Area art venues are struggling Hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding to local institutions have disappeared And in Napa the almost pieces of art are not being appreciated the way so multiple folks think they should be Eilertsen has a plan William Wiley s interactive Harp sculpture catches the fancy of a visitor to the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Napa Calif Friday April Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group My greatest pleasure To understand where the di Rosa Center goes next one must first understand where it started Boston-born Rene di Rosa moved to Paris after World War II in hopes of writing the next great American novel When that wasn t happening he moved to San Francisco to take a job as a reporter at the Chronicle where he covered the Haight-Ashbury scene When he came into a small inheritance in the s he used it to buy acres of land in wine country and began to investigation viticulture at UC Davis But he identified himself much more interested in befriending the school s artists several who became his lifelong friends And in he was able to sell about half of his property while making enough of a profit to help fund his new passion collecting art After years of collecting with his wife Veronica di Rosa they opened the di Rosa Art Preserve to the masses in I never regarded myself as having financial ability to do anything except buy art he disclosed in the documentary Smitten Without it I can t imagine how to function My greatest pleasure is finding a work of art by an artist who has never sold anything They are pleased that somebody likes what they ve done and I am pleased I discovered an artist that grabs me In particular he was drawn to contemporary artists who were creating in the Bay Area Bay Area artists are unfailingly doing the opposite of what the arena wants to do explained Twyla Ruby the di Rosa Center curator Local painter Chester Arnold remembers what it was like selling a piece to di Rosa It was and Arnold had just painted one of his masterpieces Thy Kingdom Come II in which a giant ball of junk is rolling down a hill with smoke in the background an intended metaphor for capitalist civilization in despair Susan Cummins who ran a popular gallery in Mill Valley and first discovered Arnold was trying to convince di Rosa to buy it He didn t want it until Cummins offered it to him for half-off Sold He was notorious for penny pinching but he had a voracious appetite for art Arnold recalled With his painting in the di Rosa and chosen nice reviews by a local art critic Arnold saw his career take off In the last years more people have seen that painting than any other single painting I ve made Arnold commented This was one of the last pieces Rene bought before he slowed down Rene and Veronica befriended greater part of the artists whose work they purchased and often held dinners at their house which was covered wall-to-wall in art And when Rene liked an artist he was usually a repeat customer he s mentioned to have purchased works by the late William T Wiley whose sculptures can be discovered everywhere on the property He was a deep collector Arnold announced That sponsorship meant so much to a multitude of people It s hard to describe You re an artist working alone Sometimes you have a show that does something and sometimes not But you have a level of intense interest that makes you feel like you re doing it for another cause Rene s interest was a huge boost to the North Bay artists When one Bay Area artist thrived all of them thrived Arnold disclosed They taught each other worked in conversation with one another and used each other for inspiration We all knew each other Arnold explained It was special and there s never been anything else quite like it Robert Hudson Rene di Rosa Robert Arneson and William T Wiley left to right in front of Robert Arneson s Big Grape of Winery Lake in photo courtesy of di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art Emotional goodbye In local filmmaker Nancy Kelly was inquired to make a short film about the di Rosa for PBS He was so present she reported And you could feel that in the film It was so great to be looking at that incredible art with him When she submitted the film to PBS she was shocked to learn how much they liked it it was picked up on every PBS station in the country And they extended the license three times she reported I think because Rene was such a character I think when you see the film his love of that art was easy to feel The film has a bittersweet ending while filming Rene during a pivotal moment in A national museum in Washington D C needed to display particular of his pieces He reluctantly explained yes And for the first time in his life he was current up part of his collection Tears were in his eyes as he watched them get packed into a moving truck The cameras went with him to D C to see the opening of the exhibit He noted he couldn t sleep the night before he was too nervous When he walked in and saw his pieces on display in another gallery he was again emotional as he thanked the curators for doing such a wonderful job This is a real treat he reported Kelly stated she ll reliably remember how much he cared about his pieces I ve gotten fascinated with contemporary art now and I consistently look for the museum of modern art or contemporary art she mentioned So a large number of of the artists he collected became so well known You see their work everywhere He had an eye for it Rene di Rosa with Viola Frey s Reclining Nude in Photo by Stefan Kirkeby courtesy of di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art Saving the collection Rene s wife Veronica died in in a freak hiking accident and he devoted his life to his collection until his strength dwindled in He died in at the age of The bulk of his collection was left to the Rene and Veronica di Rosa Foundation It s long been open to the populace often connecting new artists with old to keep the young Bay Area neighborhood in conversation with work of the past I truly went to visit the di Rosa when I was a candidate getting my MFA at the SFAI in revealed local artist Ana Teresa Fern ndez I remember going through the doors and coming out the other side and you see the glass and the lake Absolutely gorgeous I was getting my bearings on conceptual art and I was like what is this jewel and why have I not heard more about it The di Rosa Center has continued to endorsement contemporary artists like Fernandez by providing them educational opportunities society connection and in Fernandez s matter the opportunity to host an exhibit It s no wonder that so a multitude of artists rebelled against a decision by former executive director Robert Sain who reported the di Rosa was going to sell off majority of of its collection due to funding problems The art world put its collective foot down insisting that Sain was making a huge mistake and even drafting a petition We all came to the same conclusion You can t sell this commented Arnold one of the last artists to sell a piece to Rene The collection has been characterized as being a picture of the Bay Area art of the post-war years - That -year period is like a time capsule of Bay Area art There s nothing quite like it When Eilertsen replaced Sain in she released that she d stop the sale of any more works after just pieces were sold Mark di Suvero s For Veronica sculpture sits on the distant horizon in a view through the porch of the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art gallery in Napa Calif Friday April Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group New direction To keep the di Rosa alive amid modern challenges Eilertsen had to get creative That s when she got in touch with the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco Co-founders Deborah and Andy Rappaport started the project nine years ago to offer financially efficient spaces for art galleries artists and related nonprofits It just so happened that square feet of space was opening up in August They offered it to the di Rosa at below-market value The Rappaports very similar to Rene di Rosa are not in it for the fame or the glory noted Minnesota Street Project executive director Aimee Le Duc They re kindred spirits in the sense that they re doing it for the love of the work And their deep interest in seeing young artists continue and grow their practices Starting Aug a three-month exhibit will showcase di Rosa s best pieces from the permanent collection Later exhibits expect to feature contemporary artists Up in Napa Eilertsen and Ruby are a bit nervous to send so much of their collection to a new space in San Francisco fearful of how it could make specific locals feel and surely aware of the discomfort it once placed on Rene to break up his collection But the new arrangement will also allow the di Rosa Center a chance to host weddings and other big events in the space providing a large and necessary stream of income Reconnecting the di Rosa art to a younger population is also an objective All the new exhibits will be free to the population in another attempt to keep young artists involved It could be the next step in continuing di Rosa s legacy and ensuring the Bay Area art scene is alive and weird It s a major change in the trajectory of the institution Ruby stated But I think our move into SF will be part of the answer We re representing weirdo art And hopefully bringing that to a new generation of artists Details Tickets are general admission by reservation only at Sonoma Hwy in Napa or starting Aug free at th St in San Francisco https www dirosaart org Viola Frey s Reclining Nude fronts the main lawn at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Napa Calif Friday April Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group