After closing for over a year due to the pandemic, the Napa Valley Museum Yountville opened again to the public at the beginning of summer 2021, and the museum debuted several new exhibitions featuring a wide range of artistic and historical objects in September.
While the museum welcomes the public to its galleries, it knows that many in the North Bay need a little extra time to get out and about as they did in pre-pandemic times. With that in mind, Napa Valley Museum Yountville is extending its run of two exhibits boasting local talent.
The museum will continue to display its spotlight gallery exhibit, “Kitchen Gizmos & Gadgets from the Kathleen Hill Culinary Collection,” through January 2, 2022. The show features several bizarre and noteworthy foodie apparatuses from the North Bay food and wine writer’s massive collection, including the first-ever ice cream scoop and something called the Toast-o-Lator.
“This is truly a people’s collection of utensils and gadgets used in everyday kitchens around the world. Utensils like these reflect what was going on culturally, socially, agriculturally, and economically throughout the ages. Old kitchen tools last a long time and work for decades,” Hill writes in a statement. “The most exciting outcome of my collection is listening to everyone’s kitchen memories about their families and where they lived, which utensils their mothers or grandfathers used to grate cheese over Sunday spaghetti, their first knuckle-grating experiences, and stories that began with, ‘My mother had that one.’ And maybe even giggling and weeping with nostalgia for older kitchens, the people who lived and cooked in them, and all those memories.”
The museum is also extending its run of the Napa Valley Photographic Society group exhibit, “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” through November 28. The show includes 28 photographs from 18 photographers that celebrate local history, and the exhibit also boasts a display of antique cameras and memorabilia, some from past camera stores in Napa.
“I came up with ‘Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow’ for the show that was originally scheduled for last year. Most of our photographic society members are local Napa/Napa Valley residents so Napa Valley images are included. And many of our members like to travel and photograph so there is also some international representation,” Gary Sampson, president of Napa Valley Photographic Society, writes in a statement. “Being a horticulturist and garden designer, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow is also the common name for a shrub ‘Brunfelsia p. Floribunda’ which is found in Napa Valley gardens.”
In addition to these exhibits, Napa Valley Museum Yountville continues to show “Dangerous Games: Treacherous Toys We Loved As Kids,” in the Main Gallery through February 13, 2022 as well as its permanent exhibit, “Land & People of the Napa Valley.” The Museum’s virtual exhibitions, including “Lucy Liu: One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others,” and “Tested By Fire,” featuring images of North Bay wildfires by Tim Carl, are available online.
Napa Valley Museum Yountville is located at 55 Presidents Circle in Yountville, open Thursdays through Sundays, 11am to 4pm, except certain holidays. Get details at napavalleymusuem.org.
