a conversation and happy hour for the avid and curious collector in all of us.
JOIN US FOR A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE JOYS AND DANGERS OF COLLECTING ART, FOLLOWED BY A COLLECTOR HAPPY HOUR
This conversation is sure to be fun and informative, whether you have paintings hung from the ceiling and bowling balls in your bathtub, or you have been wandering MFA shows and musing over monographs.
Taking place amidst di Rosa’s renowned collection, come get the inside scoop from di Rosa’s Executive Director and Chief Curator Kate Eilertsen, (also a collector), art advisor Chandra Cerrito, and gallerist David Keaton. The program will be moderated by Andrea Saenz, di Rosa’s Deputy Director and Director of Education.
Do you want to know where to start? How to care for your collection? Tips on care and display? Bring your questions and join the conversation!
Collector Happy Hour
3:30 – 4:30 PM | Gallery 2 Patio
A collectors’ happy hour will be held on the back patio of Gallery 2 following the conversation. Mingle among the art with a drink, a snack, and new friends.
“Every hour is a happy hour, when you collect art.”
-David Keaton
Young collectors Display
November 12 | Gallery 2 Patio
Artworks created by children during a recent family program will be displayed during the happy hour. These artworks explore the concept of collecting and assembling natural objects found at di Rosa, highlighting the variety of collecting possibilities available to all ages.
Above: “Residence Re-hang” artworks hung salon-style in homage to their presentation in the di Rosa residence. Photo: Grace Hendricks
About the panelists
Chandra Cerrito has over 20 years of experience as an interior art advisor and public art consultant, Chandra Cerrito has a depth of art consulting expertise. After earning a BA in art history and Certificate of Visual Art from Princeton University and an MFA in sculpture from California College of the Arts, she worked in Bay Area galleries and art consulting firms as manager, assistant to the director, and art consultant. Starting in 2003, Cerrito refined her curatorial skills as an independent curator of numerous museum exhibitions and director of the Oakland-based gallery Chandra Cerrito Contemporary for over a decade. In 2004, she founded Chandra Cerrito / Art Advisors, in Napa, CA, which helps create collections for corporate, hospitality and health care clients. As a public art advisor, she has worked with developers, property owners, and cities to manage over 45 public art projects and develop public art policy.
Kate Eilertsen has worked in the art world for many years as an arts advocate, museum director, curator, and educator. She began her museum work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, moved to Boston where she opened a new museum for the Harvard University Art Museums, and then to California where she was the Director of Intersection for the Arts, Museum of Craft and Folk Art, Acting Director of Visual Arts for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Executive Director for the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. She has taught at the California College of Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, and recently at Sonoma State University. She has been a guest curator and art consultant in Sonoma County. She is currently the Executive Director and Chief Curator at di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art.
Eilertsen earned a BFA from Macalester College, MA from Hunter College, and completed the Executive Program for Non-Profit leaders in arts from Stanford University. She was on the Editorial Advisory Committee for the Sonoma Index-Tribune, Art Advisory Committee for the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University, and Chair of the San Francisco Art Institute’s Community Advisory Board. She has been a member of the Board of Directors for Kala Art Institute, Joe Goode Performance Group, Intersection for the Arts, and currently for the Imaginists.
Kathleen Thompson Hill has collected antique kitchen utensils for more than 40 years, calling it her “quirky obsession.” With degrees in French and Italian from U.C. Berkeley and the Sorbonne, she cut classes in Paris to talk her way into auditing at the Cordon Bleu and the Louvre. Following another interest, she earned an MA in Political Psychology at Sonoma State University where she and her late husband co-taught various courses.
Kathleen has taught American Politics & Government at the University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, Sonoma State, and U.C. Berkeley where she was also a Visiting Scholar and staff member.
Currently, she serves on the boards of Sonoma Overnight Support (SOS), KSVY-SVTV, Sonoma Valley Historical Society, the Agricultural Advisory Board at Sonoma Valley High School, and Canadian Studies at U.C. Berkeley. Recently she served nearly 14 years as Food & Wine Editor and columnist for the Sonoma Index-Tribune and has hosted the Kathleen Hill Show on KSVY 91.3 FM for 15 years. She has also written 42 books, most with her late husband Gerald Hill.
Her 3,500-piece Kathleen Thompson Hill Kitchen Memories Collection is now in residence at Elizabeth Spencer Winery in Rutherford as a “permanent rotating exhibit.”
David Keaton is a published author who has consulted with museums, artist estates, collectors, and galleries on numerous post-war art exhibitions over the past 15 years. He is currently the director of Modern Art West Gallery in Sonoma, CA.
Keaton has curated and consulted on museum exhibitions on the topics of the Women of Abstract Expressionism, the Berkeley School of Abstract Expressionism, the Pattern and Decoration movement, and the artists Karl Kasten, Joan Brown, Emiko Nakano, Nathan Oliveira, and Sonya Rapoport, among others.
Thank you to our wine sponsor
