Art in transition at Napa’s di Rosa
What happened to the sheep?
That’s what drivers on the bucolic stretch of Highway 12/121 in the Carneros region have been wondering, ever since the iconic white metal ruminants marking the entrance to the di Rosa property disappeared a few months ago.
The sheep – 20 white sheep, and one black, made of metal and painted with automobile enamel – were the whimsical creations of Veronica di Rosa who, with her husband Rene di Rosa, in 1997 opened up 217 acres of private property in the Carneros region to create their “art preserve.”
It was incorporated as a public trust in 2000, and since then has served as a nonprofit contemporary art center with an emphasis on assemblage, conceptual, and what some call “funk art,” based on the private collection of the di Rosas.
But the disappearance of the sheep is only one sign, if the most visible by its absence, of changes coming to di Rosa – changes that have some old-timers grumbling, but which may be necessary in the highly competitive world of art exhibition.
“This is almost a textbook case study of what I might call completing the transition from a private entity to being in the public domain,” said Bob Sain, executive director of di Rosa. “What can, what should a contemporary art center be for the 21st century – and in this community?”
Sain was hired by the di Rosa board of directors in January of 2016 after what he termed “an extensive strategic planning process to try to figure out the future.”
The challenge was to develop a sustainable and viable arts organization, one with its roots in the idiosyncratic collection of the di Rosas but with perhaps more public engagement – “how to bring museums to life,” as Sain said.
For 20 years, the core of the collection had been based on the Northern California artworks that Rene di Rosa – a former San Francisco journalist who purchased more than 400 acres of Carneros land to develop into vineyards, later selling half of it to Seagram – had collected for over 40 years. Key artists included conceptual artists Paul Kos and Dennis Oppenheim, multiple media artist William T. Wiley, sculptor David Best and others, to say nothing of the whimsical herd of steel sheep among other works created by Veronica, who died in 1991.
But along the path of that mission to re-engage a new public, some changes have caused quite a stir among di Rosa’s friends and family, not least the disappearance of the sheep.
“There are actually a number of her works that are no longer part of the property – I’m not sure where they are,” said photographer Jock McDonald of Napa, one of two children that Veronica had from an earlier marriage. Though he keeps himself at arm’s length from di Rosa, he is clearly unhappy that the sheep are no longer part of the public appeal of the property – he called them “the flag of the preserve.”
The photographer has met with Sain to ask about the fate of his mother’s work, and remains skeptical about the response. “He also said they needed some conservancy done. I said well, I think you’ve taken down one of the greatest assets of the property. I asked point blank, Are they coming back? And he flatly stated, ‘No.’”
The reasons Sain gives are several, pointing out accurately that they were sheet metal works exposed to the elements for decades. He also cites the safety concerns, which rankled McDonald. “People run up there and do selfies – you know what? You want people to do that! They’re not attack sheep!”
There was also the suggestion that the installation on the flanks of the dam di Rosa built to create a small lake on the property might be in violation of a Napa County code regulation; but the assistant planning director, Christine Secheli, told the Index-Tribune that di Rosa “has a use permit for an art/bird preserve, and the art is allowed,” adding that there was no code violation action or direction from the county to remove them.
But it wasn’t the removal of the sheep that caused the latest uproar at di Rosa. On June 22, with very little notice, Miki Hsu Leavey was terminated, after 10 years at the reserve and five as Education and Volunteer manager.
Her dismissal sparked an almost immediate exodus of up to 15 docents who had trained under and served with her at di Rosa. (Leavey did not make herself available for comment.)
“Unceremoniously forcing one of the key members of the di Rosa administration out to pasture is beyond the pale,” wrote Sonoma’s Veronica Napoles, one of those docents, in her resignation letter. “I cannot effectively continue to volunteer (or support) an organization that behaves in this fashion.”
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