Female Painters Take The Stage At New Peju Winery Art Exhibit

PR Log (Press Release) – Nov 04, 2008 – Rutherford, Calif. – Peju Winery announced today that it will introduce a new collection of Bay Area artwork inside its Rutherford tasting room. The Peju fall/winter gallery will feature the paintings of three local female artists through January 29, 2009. Guests are invited to view the range of painting styles from Dyana Foldvary, Trevlyn Williams and Aljona Andrejeff at their leisure during Peju’s daily tasting room hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Each of the women will make a special appearance at Peju throughout the duration of the exhibit to share the inspiration behind their creations and answer questions from Peju winery guests. Foldvary will visit Peju from 1-3:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 9, Williams on Saturday, December 6 and Andrejeff on Sunday, January 4, 2009.

The three featured females utilize diverse mediums of paint, including watercolors, oils, acrylics and gouache. These are applied to background textures such as canvas and clay board to narrate their personal stories of the land using different stylistic techniques to capture mood and meaning.

In 2007, Peju began to showcase top artists from the Bay Area and beyond on a three-month rotating basis. Past artists have showcased sculptures, paintings, photography, illustrations, charcoal drawings and contemporary doll art.  

When Tony and Herta Peju founded Peju more than 25 years ago, the couple incorporated their passion for wine, art, architecture and horticulture into the structure, style and hospitality at Peju’s Rutherford Estate. The family has committed to surrounding guests with an inventive and artistic experience from the wine glass, to the tasting room, to the gardens.  

“We believe that wine can be made by the book, but when it’s made using an artistic approach, it becomes superb,” Tony Peju said about the relationship between wine and art.  “Making wine is an art, and art in an extension of wine. It is natural for us here at Peju to patronize the arts.”

There is no charge to view the Peju art exhibit.  All pieces of artwork are available for purchase.

Editor’s Note:  For full artist bios or images of their artwork, please contact Katie Lewis at klewis@peju.com or 707-302-1162.

About Peju Winery:
Established in 1982, Peju Province Winery is a family-owned boutique winery located in the Rutherford Appellation, one mile north of Robert Mondavi Winery. Peju’s organically farmed Rutherford Estate Vineyard is home to 30 acres planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc and is ideally situated between Highway 29 and the west bank of the Napa River. Peju also produces wines from its sustainably farmed Napa Valley Persephone and Wappo Vineyards. Visitors are welcomed into a magnificent 50-foot tasting room tower to sample Peju’s award-winning wines, including its flagship H.B. Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Provence, a proprietary blend of red and white varietals. Peju visitors can also enjoy pristine gardens, art exhibits, an extensive gift shop, three wine clubs and a full-working kitchen that hosts a variety of events and classes. Peju’s tasting room is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is located at 8466 St. Helena Hwy, Rutherford, Napa Valley. For more information, visit www.peju.com or call 800-446-7358.

About the Artists:

Dyana Foldvary – Painter
Dyana Foldvary was born in Guatemala City, the daughter of immigrant parents from Europe waiting to come to America. She graduated from San Francisco State University in 1973 with an MFA in Fine Arts and is an artist, commercial artist and art teacher. Foldvary also is an avid dancer and dance coach. Currently, she teaches an art class for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) in Santa Rosa. In 1992, she began studying watercolor painting with Leszek Forczek. In her Forestville studio, she continues to paint with watercolor, oils and a variety of other media using both representational as well as abstract concepts. Most recently, Foldvary has applied oils in a layered technique, using a razor blade instead of a brush. She also utilizes digital technology to make mixed media work, merging the ancient world of painting with the modern digital age. Working in a variety of media meets her need for spontaneity and diversity. Foldvary has lived in Sonoma County since 1977.

Trevlyn Williams – Painter
Trevlyn Williams was born and spent the first 33 years of her life on the east coast of South Africa near and in the city of Durban. Her early adult years were spent teaching biology and marine environmental education.  Art, however, has always been a strong interest and she took classes in drawing and painting while working in education. Since moving to live in the U.S. in 1993, Williams has pursued her passion for art. Her earlier work was focused on depicting African cultural artifacts and African wildlife. This interest was fueled by separation from a beloved continent and her exposure to life in Africa. Now a California resident, Williams’ background in biology and environmental education has fueled her deep interest in natural history and the desire to share this with her viewers. Williams paints in watercolor and acrylic, using local landscapes as her subject with an interest beyond its aesthetic appeal. With this environmental passion fueling her source of subject matter, Williams paints views of Edgewood County Preserve in San Mateo.

Aljona Andrejeff – Painter
As a child growing up in San Francisco, Aljona Andrejeff loved to spend every possible moment taking in nature. Over the years, she tried to capture her favorite outdoor areas yet felt her finished works yielded unsuccessful, flat photos. At the Academy of Sciences with Chuck Stasek and Carolyn Griffin, she experimented with various mediums, including clay board, gouache, colored pencils, pen and ink, all with varying degrees of success.  After taking a respite from the world of art, Andrejeff enrolled in a watercolor plein air workshop at Glacier Institute at Glacier National Park with Cristina Eisenberg. The workshop inspired her to translate her love of wildlife into watercolors.  It’s this beauty of wildlife and the primal need of connection with nature that now motivates her artwork. These paintings were on an educational display at the Pacifica Library in 2008. Andrejeff’s artwork also aims to bring awareness to the many global environmental concerns that grow graver each day.