UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County Wine Studio in Upper Lake is hosting a wine release party and artist show reception with Andy and Shannon Pestoni of Jelly Jar Wines and textile artist Sheila O'Hara on Friday, Dec. 5, and Saturday, Dec. 6.
The wine release party takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday and 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday.
The $12.50 ($10/per person for studio club members) wine sampler and appetizers by Rosey Cooks will showcase Jelly Jar 2013 Hearsay White Blend (Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat) paired with a melon / prosciutto lollipop with bee pollen, toasted pistachio and lavender, 2010 Barbera Albondigas (Mexican meatballs) with a dried cherry mole sauce, 2011 Old Vine Zinfandel with pork carnitas on blue corn tostadas with blackberry salsa, and the 2012 Old Vine Zinfandel with chocolate truffles.
Andy Pestoni is a fourth generation winemaker whose great-grandfather, Albino Pestoni, came from Italy with his family and settled in St. Helena in the late 1890s.
Making wine was part of their heritage. Backyard vineyards were planted and family members were enlisted to harvest and crush grapes. They crafted food-friendly wines to enjoy around the family table – most often out of jelly jars.
Pestoni worked harvests at Beaulieu Vineyard while attending college and then went on to work in the cellar at Ferrari-Carrano in Sonoma County for several years.
When his father and uncle bought a winery in the town of Rutherford they asked Pestoni to join them to launch their new family winery. Pestoni has been the winemaker at Rutherford Grove Winery & Vineyards since 1996.
In 2005, Pestoni and his wife Shannon founded Jelly Jar Wines, a family endeavor marking a return to early California winemaking and their family heritage, and together they handle every aspect of production from start to finish.
Jelly Jar Wines are made with Lake County winegrapes from single vineyard sites Pestoni has personally chosen for their unique character, which he crafts into food-friendly wines to be enjoyed with family and friends.
Artist Sheila O'Hara has pursued a career in textiles since the time of her graduation from the California College of the Arts in Oakland in 1976.
For three academic years from 1996 to 1999, she taught in the textiles department at San Francisco State University. For the 1998-99 year she taught weaving at The College of Marin in Kentfield.
When O'Hara moved to Lake County in 2000, with her husband, Bill Fredriksson, she started a new series of landscape tapestries inspired by the beautiful countryside.
After weaving on various types of looms since 1976, she was thrilled to receive her own jacquard hand loom in 2008.
She now prepares the intricate weave files, turns on the air compressor, the loom driver computer, the control box and sits down at her loom to weave in the comfort of her own studio.
In 2005 O'Hara became more aware of the powerful images in photogravure prints taken by Edward Curtis in the early 1900s while she was working on a project with Ceago Vinegarden in Nice.
In 2009, she started weaving these images as tapestries on her AVL hand jacquard loom to coincide with an Edward Curtis exhibition at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah. With a black warp and a golden weft, she was able to convey the spirit of the American Indians.
Right before she started to weave the first Pomo girl, O'Hara said, “I was compelled to give thanks to those who posed for the pictures in the early 1900s; to Edward Curtis for taking the pictures; to Dusan Peterc in Slovenia for creating the software ArahWeave; to Mim Wynne who gave me the loom; and to the cotton plants that provided the fiber to make the yarn. Then I started to weave with a different sense of purpose than I had felt before.”
She added, “It was like I was bringing these people to life.”
As the tapestries became more and more popular, O'Hara turned to a mill in North Carolina to help with production in 2011. After fours months of sampling, the mill was able to create custom weave structures that capture the subtle shadings in the beautiful sepia toned prints of Edward Curtis.
O'Hara has made available four Edward Curtis images as tapestries: The Pomo Girl, Chief of the Desert-Navaho, A Jicarilla and a Canoe of Tules.
O'Hara's tapestries have been exhibited nationally and internationally including the 13th International Biennial in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a one-person exhibition at the Center for Tapestry Arts, New York, NY. Publications include The New York Times, American Craft, Metropolis and Fiberarts Magazine.
Corporations, museums and private individuals have her artwork in their collections including AT&T, San Francisco; Lloyds Bank International, NY; the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design, NY; the Museum of Arts and Design, NY; The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. Her informative and entertaining lectures and workshops have been given in Canada, Europe, Australia, Egypt, and all over the United States.
O'Hara has continued to weave commissioned tapestries since her move to Lake County. She has been teaching weaving classes to children and adults in her home/studio since 2001 as well as at Mendocino Community College in Ukiah. She traveled to work with hand jacquard looms in Cairo in 2006 and Florence in 2007.
For more information about O'Hara's hand woven tapestries go to: http://www.sheilaohara.com .
Lake County Wine Studio is a gallery for display of arts and a tasting room, wine bar and retail shop for the fine wines of Lake County. Artists' shows are held on a monthly basis with art and wine receptions held the first Friday and subsequent Saturday of each month.
The gallery is located at 9505 Main St. in Upper Lake. It is open Mondays, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 7 p.m.; and Fridays from 1 to 8 p.m.
The O'Hara art show will be on display for the full months of December and January.
Holiday closures will be Dec. 24, 25 and 31, and Jan. 1 through 15.
For more information call Lake County Wine Studio at 707-275-8030 or 707-293-8752.
