Lodi artists’ legacy lives on
Klinker Brick to dedicate sculpture and painting to late Lodi artists
In June 2015, local artists Rowland Cheney and Mary Doucette were on a dream cruise in Alaska.
Both artists had lost a spouse to cancer, but they managed to find each other and fall deeply in love.
“After my mom died, we never thought he’d find anybody. He grieved for so long,” said Marin Whitaker, Cheney’s eldest daughter. “But he met Mary, and oh my gosh, he was so excited.”
They bonded over their shared interest in art, she said.
In Alaska, Cheney and Doucette were celebrating that relationship. Friends and family even suspected that Cheney might pop the question.
Their trip was cut short when they took a ride on a small plane. The plane crashed into the side of a mountain in bad weather. Cheney, Doucette and seven others were killed.
“Rowland was a great guy, a really nice guy,” said Steve Felten, who coowns Klinker Brick Winery with his wife Lori. Cheney was a friend of the family for years.
So was Doucette, whose children were friends with the Feltens’ daughter in school.
That’s why the Feltens plan to hold a dedication from noon to 1 p.m. May 7 of Cheney’s sculpture “Old Vine Zinfandel” and Doucette’s painting of the winery’s south courtyard, both of which are on display at the winery.
“I helped my dad work on that, and I helped him make sure that all the water was coming out of all the branches,” Whitaker said.
The bronze sculpture is the last piece Cheney ever finished, just before he and Doucette went on the cruise — a Klinker Brick-organized wine cruise that the Feltens were on, as well.
The painting by Doucette was never finished.
For Felten, the dedication is a way to honor the memory of his friends.
When news reached the cruise ship of the plane crash, Felten volunteered to stay behind and act as a liaison between the rescue personnel and the families of the passengers.
“It was not a fun experience,” he said, the somber tone of his voice making it clear this is an understatement.
It was hard enough knowing his friends had been lost and communicating with their families, but he spoke to others who lost loved ones, too.
“Met one lady from New Jersey who lost her husband and her daughter,” he said quietly. “That was her whole family.”
That sad experience make the painting and sculpture all the more precious.
Felten’s decision to stay behind makes him “golden” in Whitaker’s eyes, she said.
“I was in contact with him the whole time,” she said. “It was a very honorable thing to do.”
For Felten, it was the natural thing to do for his friends and their families.
Cheney, who taught art classes at Delta College for years, met Lori Felten and her daughter at a Breyer Horse show. Cheney designed the “Mestaño the Messenger” series of the model horses, along with models based on the animated film “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.”
His work to help save the Kiger mustangs of Oregon was important to him, friends and family said.
In Lodi, Cheney was best known for his public artwork. He sculpted the bronze statue of cranes at the train station, the farming couple holding grapes and a glass of wine aloft near the Chamber of Commerce on School Street, and the statue of the Mickes at Micke Grove Zoo.
He was working on an eightfoot statue of St. Anne Catholic Church’s namesake, but the piece is not yet finished, Whitaker said.
“My dad, he loved his community. He really loved Lodi. He loved the people and the land, the nature,” Whitaker said. “I think it shows in all of his work that he’s done. There’s a piece of him in every statue and every piece of art that he’s done.”
She and her siblings loved him very much and still miss him, she said.
Doucette’s work was also well-known in the area. She painted the Stations of the Cross for St. Joachim Catholic Church in Lockeford — which is how she met Cheney, her brother said in 2015. At that time, local art expert Robin Knowlton said she was a serious artist and very good.
The grapevine sculpture at Klinker Brick was nothing more than an idea for several years, but finally Felten and Cheney decided to go forward with it. Cheney used an actual vine from one of Klinker Brick’s grape suppliers, dug up roots and all and delivered to his studio.
“It took about a year to get it done,” Felten said.
Twisted, rough vines spread out above a fountain in the winery’s new courtyard. Roots and soil form the base, with artful bunches of grapes scattered among them. The bronze is a fountain, and slow streams of water drip from the branches to a still pool below.
“It was one of the last things I did with my dad,” Whitaker said. “It’s sort of a special piece because of that. To me, it means a lot.”
The lovely painting by Doucette shows the winery’s south courtyard. While it was not yet finished and never signed, her skill is apparent. It will hang in Klinker Brick’s tasting room.
At the dedication, Felten will say a few words, and hopes that the artists’ children, who will also be in attendance, will talk about their parents. The art faculty from Delta College has also been invited.
“It’s just a place for people to come and celebrate their lives and mingle a little,” said Stefan Jolley, vice president of winery operations.
And visitors to the winery will be able to enjoy the painting and sculpture for years to come.
“That’s the really neat thing about art. It speaks to people in so many different ways, and a gifted artist is able to speak through their art to people. My dad was gifted that way,” Whitaker said.
She has kept several pieces of his artwork for herself. It’s a way to make sure that he’s always with her, she said.
Doucette’s art is the same, she added.
“She lives on in her art as well,” Whitaker said.
She’s thrilled that their artwork will have a permanent place at Klinker Brick. The Feltens are nice, genuine and down-to-earth people, and she’s grateful that they thought so highly of her father and Doucette.
“What a tribute to my dad,” she said.