Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
Encyclopedia
The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (known colloquially as the SVMA) is an art museum located in Sonoma, California
, United States
. Founded in 1998, the museum exhibits works by regional, national and international modern and contemporary artists.
and local baked goods are sold to guests, with a portion supporting the museum. Fundraising for the cafe
through the "Fun de Latte" campaign; with a $150 contribution to the museum, donors would receive free coffee and tea for a year. Shortly thereafter the Museum opened the Stanley Abercrombie and Paul Vieyra Art Library. The library is based on a promised gift of 20,000 books from board members Stanley Abercrombie and Paul Vieyra. Housed in the Pamela and John Story Gallery, the museum's current collection of 2,500 art, architecture and design books serve as a public reference source.
solar electric system which serves to supply over 90% of the museum's power needs.
by local, national and regional artists and does not maintain its own collection. SVMA utilizes works from private collections, artists, public institutions and related sources for their exhibitions. Every year the museum showcases the work of regional 4th and 5th graders in an exhibition which is curated by high school students. In 2009, approximately 16,500 visitors attended exhibitions and educational programming at the museum. SVMA generally hosts two exhibitions at the same time and hosts the juried Sonoma Biennial
.
, Dario Robleto
, Torolab
and Nao Bustamante, Sandow Birk
, Harry Callahan, Auguste Rodin
, David Best, Mark di Suvero
, and Jack Lenor Larsen
.
for "Green Fashion") fashion by Swedish fashion designers. With a goal to educate and challenge visitors views of fashion, sustainability
, and the green lifestyle
, the exhibit showcases the clothing designs and their production methods. Artists featured in the exhibit include Julian Red and Anja Hynynen. "Eco Chic" was produced by the Swedish Institute
and the Consulate General of Sweden San Francisco. The exhibition was described by art critic Juliane Porter as showing "smart and beautiful" clothing.
Fletcher Benton
. The exhibition, curated by Kate Eilersten, explored Benton's inspirations, creation process and the tools he utilizes to create his sculptures. Large scale works and maquettes
were exhibited along side large-scale photographs, sound elements, and a representation of Benton's work environment.
dinner and auction
is Wet Paint, which raises funds for the SVMA's annual budget and special projects. In 2010 the Museum raised over $45,000, and the theme was Moulin Rouge
and featured French
-inspired art and entertainment.
large Latino
population to host artistic and educational events. Altars
are showcased within the museum, music, dance, and a community altar is featured on the outside of the museum entrance.
Sonoma, California
Sonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. It was the capital of the short-lived California Republic...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Founded in 1998, the museum exhibits works by regional, national and international modern and contemporary artists.
History
The museum was founded 1998. In early 2011, the museum opened a Museum Cafe, with the hopes of providing a conversation and reflection space for visitors to the museum. CoffeeCoffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and local baked goods are sold to guests, with a portion supporting the museum. Fundraising for the cafe
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
through the "Fun de Latte" campaign; with a $150 contribution to the museum, donors would receive free coffee and tea for a year. Shortly thereafter the Museum opened the Stanley Abercrombie and Paul Vieyra Art Library. The library is based on a promised gift of 20,000 books from board members Stanley Abercrombie and Paul Vieyra. Housed in the Pamela and John Story Gallery, the museum's current collection of 2,500 art, architecture and design books serve as a public reference source.
Architecture
SVMA's gallery space consists of 3,000 square feet, along with smaller other gallery spaces. In 2010 the SVMA installed a 25.9 kWKw
kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...
solar electric system which serves to supply over 90% of the museum's power needs.
Exhibitions
The museum exhibits fine artArt
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
by local, national and regional artists and does not maintain its own collection. SVMA utilizes works from private collections, artists, public institutions and related sources for their exhibitions. Every year the museum showcases the work of regional 4th and 5th graders in an exhibition which is curated by high school students. In 2009, approximately 16,500 visitors attended exhibitions and educational programming at the museum. SVMA generally hosts two exhibitions at the same time and hosts the juried Sonoma Biennial
Biennale
Biennale is Italian for "every other year" and can be used to describe any event that happens every two years. It is most commonly used within the art world to describe an international manifestation of contemporary art, stemming for the use of the phrase for the Venice Biennale, which was first...
.
Notable exhibitions
The museum has exhibited the works of the likes of David HockneyDavid Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....
, Dario Robleto
Dario Robleto
Dario Robleto is an American conceptual artist who lives and works in Houston, Texas. Robleto received his BFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1997 and has subsequently served as an artist in residence at several institutions including the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, the California...
, Torolab
Torolab
Torolab is an artist collective, founded in Tijuana in 1995 by Raúl Cardenas Osuna . The themes they have developed range from research on the identity of the border region, to housing and security to community building and survival...
and Nao Bustamante, Sandow Birk
Sandow Birk
Sandow Birk is an American artist from Southern California. He has an extensive history of exhibitions both national and international, and has received many prestigious grants and awards. Five books have been published on his works and he has made two films. The majority of his work has dealt with...
, Harry Callahan, Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, David Best, Mark di Suvero
Mark di Suvero
Marco Polo "Mark" di Suvero is an American abstract expressionist sculptor born Marco Polo Levi in Shanghai, China in 1933 to Italian expatriates. He immigrated to San Francisco, California in 1942 with his family. From 1953 to 1957, he attended the University of California, Berkeley to study...
, and Jack Lenor Larsen
Jack Lenor Larsen
Jack Lenor Larsen is a textile designer, author and collector and promoter of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship in all its forms.-Early life and education:...
.
Eco Chic: Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion
Early 2011 brought the exhibition "Eco Chic" to SVMA, a show that showcases "Gron Mode" (SwedishSwedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
for "Green Fashion") fashion by Swedish fashion designers. With a goal to educate and challenge visitors views of fashion, sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
, and the green lifestyle
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
, the exhibit showcases the clothing designs and their production methods. Artists featured in the exhibit include Julian Red and Anja Hynynen. "Eco Chic" was produced by the Swedish Institute
Swedish Institute
The Swedish Institute is a Swedish government agency with the responsibility to spread information about Sweden outside of Sweden. It exists to promote Swedish interests, and to organise exchanges with other countries in different areas of public life, in particular in the spheres of culture,...
and the Consulate General of Sweden San Francisco. The exhibition was described by art critic Juliane Porter as showing "smart and beautiful" clothing.
Fletcher Benton: The Artist's Studio
From November 2010 until February 2011 SVMA hosted a solo exhibition conceived by and about San Francisco kinetic artistKinetic art
Kinetic art is art that contains moving parts or depends on motion for its effect. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. Kinetic art encompasses a wide variety of overlapping techniques and styles.-Kinetic sculpture:...
Fletcher Benton
Fletcher Benton
Fletcher Benton is a kinetic artist from San Francisco, California.-Life:He graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1956...
. The exhibition, curated by Kate Eilersten, explored Benton's inspirations, creation process and the tools he utilizes to create his sculptures. Large scale works and maquettes
Maquette
A maquette is a small scale model or rough draft of an unfinished architectural work or a sculpture...
were exhibited along side large-scale photographs, sound elements, and a representation of Benton's work environment.
Administration
The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art is a 501(c)(3) corporation governed by director Kathleen Eilersten and as of 2009 the Museum was staffed by 9 employees and an estimated 100 volunteers. The board consists of 16 voting members and is led by President Jane Milotoch. Members contribute to the institutions and receive complimentary admission, the Museum newsletter, regional discounts at other institutions and other benefits based on their contribution level. Members are also given voting status at the annual meeting to elect the Board of Directors.Mission
Outreach
The Museum offers student educational programming, lectures, workshops, tours, and internship opportunities. Art Rewards the Students (ARTS) places art instructors in 4th and 5th grade classrooms throughout Sonoma Valley. The program is sponsored by the local arts and community organizations. In the early 2010's Sonoma resident Calvin R. Vander Woude donated $100,000 towards expanding public and educational programming. This donation, along with funding from individual donations and the Museum's annual Fund-A-Need campaign, has contributed to the renovation of previous storage spaces into classrooms.Wet Paint
The Museum's annual galaGala
-Events and festivities:*A gala, a festivity *A swimming gala is a British/South African term for an amateur swimming competition, often known as a swimming carnival in Australia....
dinner and auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
is Wet Paint, which raises funds for the SVMA's annual budget and special projects. In 2010 the Museum raised over $45,000, and the theme was Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge is a cabaret built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche.The Moulin Rouge is...
and featured French
Culture of France
The culture of France and of the French people has been shaped by geography, by profound historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture and of decorative arts since the seventeenth...
-inspired art and entertainment.
Dia de los Muertos
Dia de los Muertos is celebrated, with the Museum working with Sonoma Valley'sSonoma Valley
Sonoma Valley is the birthplace of the California wine industry and often called The Valley of the Moon. Sonoma Valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards and wineries in the state, some of which survived the phylloxera epidemic of the 1870s and the impact of Prohibition...
large Latino
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
population to host artistic and educational events. Altars
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
are showcased within the museum, music, dance, and a community altar is featured on the outside of the museum entrance.