Sonia Hossom's paintings, including this one of a vineyard and forest, will be on display at Lake County Wine Studio on Friday, April 2, and Saturday, April 3, 2010.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Wine Studio (LCWS) is hosting a wine release party and artist show event with Dusinberré Cellars and artist Sonia Hossom on Friday, April 2, and Saturday, April 3.
The show will take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.
Winemaker Jeff Smith of the Kelseyville Wine Co. and Kelseyville Olive Mill has released his Dusinberré Cellars Red Hills Lake County 100 percent varietals and LCWS is inviting you to come try them at our release party.
At this April reception event they will feature the 100-percent Malbec, 100-percent Petite Verdot and 100-percent Petite Sirah.
Smith’s Sparkling Cuveé Rouge and the multiple award-winning Late Harvest Muscat Canelli “Tesoro Del Sole” will also be enjoyed as part of the $10 tasting sampler of wines paired with tasty appetizers - including a treat from our culinary guest, Chef Nicholas.
The April artist is watercolor artist, Sonia Hossom.
Hossom was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil to an immigrant Italian family. Her first experiences with art were in her childhood helping her father paint walls and around the house.
Her love of art grew through her adolescence as she discovered a love for writing and theater, participating in theater schools in Sao Paulo and was part of a Brazilian society of writers.
Her first experiences with art were limited however, due to the fact that they were under a military dictatorship where freedom of speech and freedom of expression was not an option. She grew tired of the oppressed way of life and decided it was time to travel.
The US appealed to Hossom for its free loving society, and the lure of California with its hippie movement inspired her. Her first trip to the US was in her 20s, coming with the hopes of improving her English and having some freedom, especially in California.
Upon her return to Brazil she attended another school for commercial art, but her need to express herself fully through art didn't mesh with the corporate vibe. She decided her art would always be personal and heartfelt.
After several years back in Brazil she decided she would like to visit the land of her ancestors, Italy. She successfully sought and obtained her Italian citizenship, and planned a trip to Italy with her first stop in the US, and would then continue on to Italy to study art.
Of course, life is what happens while you're making other plans and Hossom fell in love with a Californian viticulturist, whom she stayed with in California, going on to have two children, a boy and a girl – Dan and Denise.
When both children were young the family moved from California to Eastern Washington state, which started a whole new era of art for Hossom. She fell in love with the new media of pottery. She studied pottery at a local college and was quickly recognized for her amazing creativity with clay, exhibiting and selling many of her pieces in the Portland art scene. She also used her love of pottery and art to volunteer creation of a huge school mural project involving the tile work of over 500 children to become part of the school. The murals are still up in Keene Riverview Elementary School in Prosser, Wash.
Returning to the California Bay Area after almost a decade in Washington, Hossom decided to explore a new media once again, and perhaps found her true calling: watercolor. She is self-taught in the various techniques of watercolor and focused on deriving her creative inspirations from nature.
An avid tree-hugger, her portrayal of anthropomorphic trees called the attention of many, as well as her whimsical style of floral and landscape watercolors.
A couple of her exhibitions in California include Leal Winery in Hollister, Calif., and The Arrangement Salon in Napa, Calif., but her breakthrough exhibition has been an international event in her hometown of Sao Paulo in 2009.
Universo da Aquarela (Universe of Watercolor) is a well-respected institution and school to promote the watercolor media. Hossom was accepted to be part of the exhibition out of many applicants, and once accepted, was then offered a permanent place in this annual exhibition. Her art was picked out of the many exhibitors to be used as an example in the school's classes for exemplary use of watercolor techniques.
Although watercolor is her main media, Hossom also works with oil. She is looking to expand her exposure in the US now. Her family is very supportive of her creative endeavors. Her husband, Charlie, is a member of the Lake County wine growing community, working for Snows Lake Vineyard. Dan is now 24 and Denise is 22, and both are in college.
Lake County Wine Studio is located on the corner of First and Main Streets in historic Upper Lake, across from the famous Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon & Café.
To RSVP, or for more information, call Susan Feiler at 707-275-8030 or 707-293-8752.
Another of Hossom's paintings, this one of redwood trees.
