Exhibitions Archive 2006
Crush, Shoot and Savor: Wine Photography by Sara Matthews
September 15, 2006 – January 29, 2007
Crush, Shoot & Savor: The Wine Photography of Sara Matthews presents a unique vision of an age-old tradition. Using the camera as her brush, Matthews captures the abstract perspective of the process of winemaking using qualities of color, light, shadow and pattern. She creatively isolates unique elements of agriculture and technology to challenge our notion of sweeping vineyards and stately winery architecture, drawing our attention to an intimate interpretation of the beauty and richness of the harvest.
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with the photographer.
CANSTRUCTION: We CAN Build a Solution to Hunger
October 13, 2006– January 1, 2007
Canstruction® is coming! COPIA’s 2nd annual 2006 Canstruction® competition event promises to be bigger and better than 2005. We begin with the build-out of structures by competing teams on October 11th, followed by the Gala Awards and Member’s Opening Reception on Thursday, October 12th, and the gallery exhibition from October 13 – January 1, 2007. This year’s goal is to increase the number of participating teams and thereby exceed the total donation of canned goods to our local food bank.
The participating teams from COPIA’s inaugural Canstruction® experienced the spirit and celebration of a prosperous competition. Seven teams contributed to a combined donation of nearly 42,000 pounds of canned goods to the Napa Valley Food Bank. We are pleased to announce that the winning entry in our inaugural competition, Gordon Huether & Partner’s One Sardine Is Not Enough, recently won the 2006 National competition “Juror’s Favorite” award (judged by slide photography) at the AIA conference in Los Angeles. COPIA is firmly on the map of Canstruction™ competitions at the first attempt, and we look forward to hosting many more winning teams for this year’s COPIA event.
We encourage visitors to Canstruction to bring one item of canned food. Together we can cast an even larger net to raise awareness about hunger.
Canstruction® is an inventive charity committed to ending hunger by marshalling the efforts of the design and construction industry. This national organization challenges architects, engineers, designers, contractors and students mentored by these professionals, to design and build colossal sculptures using canned food as their primary building block. Each year, in 50 locations around the country, the designers compete to create funny and fabulous can-based artworks, using the colorful food labels as their pallet. Their building blocks—tin cans--come in a variety of sizes from the smallest tuna to the industrial-size tomato can.
COPIA is proud to host it’s second competition in the North Bay. The most exciting food drive ever created, Canstruction® puts a visual spotlight on hunger while helping to solve the problem. Our 2006 competition goal is to exceed that amount when, at close of the exhibition, all of the food used in the sculptures will be donated to local food banks.
Participating teams:
Academy of Art University, School of Architecture, San Francisco
Chaudhary & Associates, Napa
Gensler, San Francisco
Gordon Huether & Partners, Inc., Napa
Hornberg + Worstell Architects, San Francisco
Lionakis Beaumont Design Group, Inc., Sacramento
MBH Architects, Alameda
Nova Group, Napa
S2 Associates Inc., Napa
Media Sponsor: Design for Living
Blue Plate Special
May 26 – October 2, 2006
At the age of six, John Miller went regularly with his father to Kitty’s Diner, where the food was simple but really good. Fast Eddie, the grill cook, served up mega burgers. As day’s end, Kitty—a product of the depression—topped off ketchup bottles with water to make them last another day. Since then, Miller’s fascination with the American diner and fast food culture, the personalities of chefs, waitresses and patrons that surround it has endured.
These childhood memories are the inspiration for Miller’s series, Blue Plate Special. Working in large-scale the artist creates a full menu of traditional greasy spoon fare, executed in blown, hot sculpted, or mold blown glass. Care for a Cheeseburger and curly fries? With ketchup or mustard? For the breakfast crowd included are bacon and eggs—over easy/sunny side up. With whimsy and wit he pushes the medium to its heights to explore new textures, color and form. With respect for the medium, Miller playfully draws our attention to the everyday, suggesting we see these objects in a new way.
John Miller is Assistant Professor, School of Art, at Illinois State University.
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with the artist.
Counter Culture: The American Diner
May 26 – October 2, 2006
Everyone goes to diners! They’re easy to spot—gleaming stainless steel and colorful porcelain enamel. Their glowing neon DINER signals a buzz of activity—burgers sizzling, milkshakes mixing, crockery clinking and waitresses dishing out everything from waffles to wisecracks. The food is good, and there’s plenty of it as orders are called out in diner slang: “got a hockey puck with breath, paint it red; Zepplins in a fog; two from the Alps”—translation: a hamburger, well done with onions and ketchup, sausage in mash potatoes, and two grill cheese sandwiches.
Diners have endured. Whether they’re located in a neighborhood or on the highway, diners are fixtures in our cultural landscape: a place to stop for a bite or a meal, with friends or alone, where you always feel welcome, and where it’s always time to eat.
Counter Culture celebrates the diner as an icon of America’s culture, and examines the hold it continues to have on our psyches and appetites. The exhibition will include the diner experience and the people who go to them through furniture and food-related accessories, photo murals, paintings, sculpture, photography and oral histories, as well as diner imagery and ephemera that place it within a broader cultural sweep.
Organized by COPIA with guest curator Richard Gutman. Richard J.S. Gutman is the leading authority on diners and is the author of three books on the subject. He is the Director and Curator of the Culinary Archives & Museum at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Dishing It Out: Career Waitresses Across the USA
April 28 – September 11, 2006
Can you recall the waitress who served you last week? Was she young, old or timeless? Was she full of humorous small talk or did she just slam down your food and drop the check? Dishing It Out: Career Waitresses Across the USA uncovers a subculture of women who have been thriving in restaurants, dishing out everything from eggs to insults for up to 60 years.
Through interviews and photographs, writer and visual artist, Candacy Taylor, has documented waitresses across the U.S. to reveal their careers and bring awareness to their importance as workers within their communities. It is time we recognize one of America’s most prized icons--women who race to our tables, quarrel with the cooks and bring humor and culture to the roadside dining experience!
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with the artist, Candacy Taylor.
Trashformations
January 20 - May 8, 2006
Have you ever wanted to use a bowl made out of vinyl records? Or wear a dress made out of bicycle tires? Or make music with a bandsaw? Discover how artists are crafting everyday trash into amazing art in COPIA’s exhibition: Trashformations. Trashformations features work by 112 artists who take thrift to a new extreme. These artists find creative uses for other people’s refuse—making lingerie out of soda cans, a roadrunner from recycled kitchen utensils or a teapot made from tea bags. By manipulating “junk” materials the artists challenge our focus—between trash and fine art. The results are compelling, startling and often very amusing as the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
Americans comprise only 5% of the earth’s population, but we produce 50% of its solid waste, so there is plenty to work from. The artists in Trashformations see hidden potential in objects that are no longer desirable for their original purposes. In doing this, they remind us that we all have an important mission in reducing waste. Ordinarily we wouldn’t give trash a second thought, but the exciting possibility of using discarded materials for basic materials changes the notion of beauty and the reuse of materials in unexpected ways!
Trashformations was organized by Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts. This exhibition has been underwritten by donors to the Atkinson Fund and celebrates the life of Former Director Jennifer L. Atkinson, 1958 – 2003.
See the review of our Trashformations Exhibition in the Napa Valley Register.
Out of the Earth: Adventurous Winery Architecture
January 6 – April 24, 2006
In the past decade, winery architecture worldwide has undergone an explosion of creativity, reflecting a radical rethinking of the buildings as a fusion of production and hospitality, craft and technology. Thirty photographs by Erhard Pfeiffer, selected from the new upcoming book by architectural writer Michael Webb, feature exceptional new facilities and establishments from the major winegrowing regions of the world.
Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Steven Holl, Herzog & de Meuron, Santiago Calatrava, Rafael Moneo, Glenn Murcutt, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster are among the distinguished international architects commissioned to build new wineries in California, Canada, Australia and Argentina, as well as the traditional wine-growing areas of France, Italy and Spain. No longer merely functional agricultural buildings, these exciting new wineries are designed to establish brand identity in a fiercely competitive market, merge into the landscape, or abstract the local vernacular, creating uniquely modern dwellings for the ancient god Bacchus.
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with Michael Webb and Erhard Pheiffer, Principal Photographer.
What's Rising? Decorative Breads by Ciril Hitz
January 27, 2006 - May 1, 2006
Ciril Hitz sees no division between making art and food. Whether it's a showpiece for a professional competition or an eye-catching centerpiece for a special home occasion, Hitz's imagination and mastery of transforming bread dough into artful sculpture is without limitation.
Chef Hitz brings a unique expertise to the field of decorative breads, a lost art rich in history and tradition. With a professional background in design as well as baking and pastry, he has earned national and international recognition for his exquisitely crafted designs and sculptures in bread. His work has been featured on theNBC Today Show and The Food Network's documentary "The Best Bread in the World," covering the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris, France, where the USA team took the Silver Medal. Chef Hitz is a Department Chair and Instructor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
What's Rising? features a selection of Chef Hitz's bread sculptures created especially for the exhibition.
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with the artist.
September 15, 2006 – January 29, 2007
Crush, Shoot & Savor: The Wine Photography of Sara Matthews presents a unique vision of an age-old tradition. Using the camera as her brush, Matthews captures the abstract perspective of the process of winemaking using qualities of color, light, shadow and pattern. She creatively isolates unique elements of agriculture and technology to challenge our notion of sweeping vineyards and stately winery architecture, drawing our attention to an intimate interpretation of the beauty and richness of the harvest.
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with the photographer.
CANSTRUCTION: We CAN Build a Solution to Hunger
October 13, 2006– January 1, 2007
Canstruction® is coming! COPIA’s 2nd annual 2006 Canstruction® competition event promises to be bigger and better than 2005. We begin with the build-out of structures by competing teams on October 11th, followed by the Gala Awards and Member’s Opening Reception on Thursday, October 12th, and the gallery exhibition from October 13 – January 1, 2007. This year’s goal is to increase the number of participating teams and thereby exceed the total donation of canned goods to our local food bank.
The participating teams from COPIA’s inaugural Canstruction® experienced the spirit and celebration of a prosperous competition. Seven teams contributed to a combined donation of nearly 42,000 pounds of canned goods to the Napa Valley Food Bank. We are pleased to announce that the winning entry in our inaugural competition, Gordon Huether & Partner’s One Sardine Is Not Enough, recently won the 2006 National competition “Juror’s Favorite” award (judged by slide photography) at the AIA conference in Los Angeles. COPIA is firmly on the map of Canstruction™ competitions at the first attempt, and we look forward to hosting many more winning teams for this year’s COPIA event.
We encourage visitors to Canstruction to bring one item of canned food. Together we can cast an even larger net to raise awareness about hunger.
Canstruction® is an inventive charity committed to ending hunger by marshalling the efforts of the design and construction industry. This national organization challenges architects, engineers, designers, contractors and students mentored by these professionals, to design and build colossal sculptures using canned food as their primary building block. Each year, in 50 locations around the country, the designers compete to create funny and fabulous can-based artworks, using the colorful food labels as their pallet. Their building blocks—tin cans--come in a variety of sizes from the smallest tuna to the industrial-size tomato can.
COPIA is proud to host it’s second competition in the North Bay. The most exciting food drive ever created, Canstruction® puts a visual spotlight on hunger while helping to solve the problem. Our 2006 competition goal is to exceed that amount when, at close of the exhibition, all of the food used in the sculptures will be donated to local food banks.
Participating teams:
Academy of Art University, School of Architecture, San Francisco
Chaudhary & Associates, Napa
Gensler, San Francisco
Gordon Huether & Partners, Inc., Napa
Hornberg + Worstell Architects, San Francisco
Lionakis Beaumont Design Group, Inc., Sacramento
MBH Architects, Alameda
Nova Group, Napa
S2 Associates Inc., Napa
Media Sponsor: Design for Living
Blue Plate Special
“Mega w/Cheese and Curly’s,” - blown and hot sculpted glass
May 26 – October 2, 2006
At the age of six, John Miller went regularly with his father to Kitty’s Diner, where the food was simple but really good. Fast Eddie, the grill cook, served up mega burgers. As day’s end, Kitty—a product of the depression—topped off ketchup bottles with water to make them last another day. Since then, Miller’s fascination with the American diner and fast food culture, the personalities of chefs, waitresses and patrons that surround it has endured.
These childhood memories are the inspiration for Miller’s series, Blue Plate Special. Working in large-scale the artist creates a full menu of traditional greasy spoon fare, executed in blown, hot sculpted, or mold blown glass. Care for a Cheeseburger and curly fries? With ketchup or mustard? For the breakfast crowd included are bacon and eggs—over easy/sunny side up. With whimsy and wit he pushes the medium to its heights to explore new textures, color and form. With respect for the medium, Miller playfully draws our attention to the everyday, suggesting we see these objects in a new way.
John Miller is Assistant Professor, School of Art, at Illinois State University.
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with the artist.
Counter Culture: The American Diner
May 26 – October 2, 2006
The Silver Diner, Rockville, MD. Photo by Richard J.S. Gutman.
Everyone goes to diners! They’re easy to spot—gleaming stainless steel and colorful porcelain enamel. Their glowing neon DINER signals a buzz of activity—burgers sizzling, milkshakes mixing, crockery clinking and waitresses dishing out everything from waffles to wisecracks. The food is good, and there’s plenty of it as orders are called out in diner slang: “got a hockey puck with breath, paint it red; Zepplins in a fog; two from the Alps”—translation: a hamburger, well done with onions and ketchup, sausage in mash potatoes, and two grill cheese sandwiches.
Diners have endured. Whether they’re located in a neighborhood or on the highway, diners are fixtures in our cultural landscape: a place to stop for a bite or a meal, with friends or alone, where you always feel welcome, and where it’s always time to eat.
Counter Culture celebrates the diner as an icon of America’s culture, and examines the hold it continues to have on our psyches and appetites. The exhibition will include the diner experience and the people who go to them through furniture and food-related accessories, photo murals, paintings, sculpture, photography and oral histories, as well as diner imagery and ephemera that place it within a broader cultural sweep.
Organized by COPIA with guest curator Richard Gutman. Richard J.S. Gutman is the leading authority on diners and is the author of three books on the subject. He is the Director and Curator of the Culinary Archives & Museum at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Dishing It Out: Career Waitresses Across the USA
Ronnie Bello, The Boulevard Diner, Worcester, MA 2004
April 28 – September 11, 2006
Can you recall the waitress who served you last week? Was she young, old or timeless? Was she full of humorous small talk or did she just slam down your food and drop the check? Dishing It Out: Career Waitresses Across the USA uncovers a subculture of women who have been thriving in restaurants, dishing out everything from eggs to insults for up to 60 years.
Through interviews and photographs, writer and visual artist, Candacy Taylor, has documented waitresses across the U.S. to reveal their careers and bring awareness to their importance as workers within their communities. It is time we recognize one of America’s most prized icons--women who race to our tables, quarrel with the cooks and bring humor and culture to the roadside dining experience!
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with the artist, Candacy Taylor.
Trashformations
January 20 - May 8, 2006
Have you ever wanted to use a bowl made out of vinyl records? Or wear a dress made out of bicycle tires? Or make music with a bandsaw? Discover how artists are crafting everyday trash into amazing art in COPIA’s exhibition: Trashformations. Trashformations features work by 112 artists who take thrift to a new extreme. These artists find creative uses for other people’s refuse—making lingerie out of soda cans, a roadrunner from recycled kitchen utensils or a teapot made from tea bags. By manipulating “junk” materials the artists challenge our focus—between trash and fine art. The results are compelling, startling and often very amusing as the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
Americans comprise only 5% of the earth’s population, but we produce 50% of its solid waste, so there is plenty to work from. The artists in Trashformations see hidden potential in objects that are no longer desirable for their original purposes. In doing this, they remind us that we all have an important mission in reducing waste. Ordinarily we wouldn’t give trash a second thought, but the exciting possibility of using discarded materials for basic materials changes the notion of beauty and the reuse of materials in unexpected ways!
Trashformations was organized by Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts. This exhibition has been underwritten by donors to the Atkinson Fund and celebrates the life of Former Director Jennifer L. Atkinson, 1958 – 2003.
See the review of our Trashformations Exhibition in the Napa Valley Register.
Out of the Earth: Adventurous Winery Architecture
January 6 – April 24, 2006
In the past decade, winery architecture worldwide has undergone an explosion of creativity, reflecting a radical rethinking of the buildings as a fusion of production and hospitality, craft and technology. Thirty photographs by Erhard Pfeiffer, selected from the new upcoming book by architectural writer Michael Webb, feature exceptional new facilities and establishments from the major winegrowing regions of the world.
Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Steven Holl, Herzog & de Meuron, Santiago Calatrava, Rafael Moneo, Glenn Murcutt, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster are among the distinguished international architects commissioned to build new wineries in California, Canada, Australia and Argentina, as well as the traditional wine-growing areas of France, Italy and Spain. No longer merely functional agricultural buildings, these exciting new wineries are designed to establish brand identity in a fiercely competitive market, merge into the landscape, or abstract the local vernacular, creating uniquely modern dwellings for the ancient god Bacchus.
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with Michael Webb and Erhard Pheiffer, Principal Photographer.
What's Rising? Decorative Breads by Ciril Hitz
January 27, 2006 - May 1, 2006
Ciril Hitz sees no division between making art and food. Whether it's a showpiece for a professional competition or an eye-catching centerpiece for a special home occasion, Hitz's imagination and mastery of transforming bread dough into artful sculpture is without limitation.
Chef Hitz brings a unique expertise to the field of decorative breads, a lost art rich in history and tradition. With a professional background in design as well as baking and pastry, he has earned national and international recognition for his exquisitely crafted designs and sculptures in bread. His work has been featured on theNBC Today Show and The Food Network's documentary "The Best Bread in the World," covering the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris, France, where the USA team took the Silver Medal. Chef Hitz is a Department Chair and Instructor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
What's Rising? features a selection of Chef Hitz's bread sculptures created especially for the exhibition.
Organized by COPIA in cooperation with the artist.
Special thanks to San Francisco Baking Institute for use of their facilities.
