The Gallery at the Yountville Community Center is featuring a new exhibit, Yountville Artists x 3, starting this Thursday, May 6th. The exhibiting artists are Nancy Gates, Yvonne Houbraken Bundy and Jeff Spratt who all live and create their work in Yountville.
Nancy Gates enjoys creating realistic, atmospheric art using acrylics and pastels. The subjects range from still life and animals to landscapes. She has always been interested in art and France, and her influences include Edouard Manet and Childe Hassam. She has studied with well-known artists through Napa Valley College, exhibited at local venues, and won ribbons at the Napa County Fair.
Yvonne Houbraken Bundy, a native of the Netherlands, moved to the United States at age 16. Yvonne’s grandfather lived in the same town as Vincent Van Gogh and watched him paint the family’s watermill. The grandfather would become an artist like his granddaughter. Bundy used an artistic eye and skill as an esthetician when she operated her own skincare salon in Atlanta. Her work has been seen there and at the Napa Valley Museum. Much of Bundy’s art today is acrylic brushed and sprayed on birchwood panels. She builds up texture by adding small 1990’s era computer parts to her work. Her inspiration is, of course, Van Gogh, as well as Salvador Dali and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Jeff Spratt paints from photos taken of people he has met, and places he has visited. These images inspire him. Before retiring, he had a career as a fashion merchandiser and designer of blue jeans and sportswear. This developed his eye for creative expression, form, function, and detail in the competitive fashion marketplace. Spratt began his life-long love of oil paint when he returned from Vietnam in 1970. He was initially self-taught and inspired by the seascapes of Robert Woods, whose gallery he visited in Laguna Beach.
The exhibit “Yountville Artists x 3” is presented by Yountville Arts and runs through June 4. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 8 AM – 5 PM. Weekend and evening by appointment.