San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
MURALS FIND HOME IN RAIL YARD.
Giant murals exploding with color. Thought-provoking images of local luminaries. Original artwork from world-renowned public artists. Big and beautiful things are happening along an industrial corridor that flanks busy railroad tracks on the far east side of Napa.
The area, dubbed the Rail Arts District, or RAD, is a 2-mile-long stretch of the Napa Valley Vine Trail bike path and a five-minute walk from the Third Street bridge that spans the Napa River downtown. In the last two years, the neighborhood has come to life as artists have painted back sides of warehouse-style buildings with nine giant murals. Creatives also have left their marks on signal boxes, fences and more.
Put simply, the area has become one giant public art project. Eventually, organizers see the stretch being home to more than 100 free works of art.
This stretch of Napa wasn’t always so pretty; for years — decades, really — it was one of the grittiest parts of the city. It was not a part of downtown tourists saw unless they were looking out the windows when they motored through on the Napa Valley Wine Train.
Everything changed in 2016 when Scott Goldie, co-owner of the Wine Train, teamed up with local artists to give the drab and depressing corridor new life.
Goldie’s inspiration to decorate “the district” came from Wynwood Walls in Miami and the SODO Track in Seattle — both destinations that revolve around modern public art.
Just three years ago, “this stretch of tracks was known as the ‘crosscity commuter corridor’ and it had
no art and no personality,” Goldie said. “After thinking about these other destinations and how successful they’ve been, it hit me: Why not activate the area with murals?”
To do this, Goldie formed a nonprofit and commissioned local, regional and international painters to paint the rear exteriors of industrial buildings lining the railroad tracks. With two $25,000 donations from the Wine Train and the Napa Valley Vine Trail, RAD signed up for three murals. Last year, RAD used additional donations to add six more murals and expand the project to the signal boxes that line the tracks. Four more murals are coming this spring.
Many of the existing murals evoke realist paintings like the kinds you’d see at the Museum of Modern Art. One, “Knocking on Heaven’s Door,” by Polish artists Bezt and Natalia Rak, features a young woman walking past an old farmhouse at dusk. Another mural, titled “Jack and Jill,” is by an artist who goes by Bumblebee loves you, and depicts a young boy reading a story to a young girl.
A third mural, by celebrated Argentine-Spanish artist Felipe Pantone, features a geometric wave pattern that appears to move when you go by in the train or on a bike.
The newest mural, “The Garden,” attracted serious attention earlier this fall when East Bay artist Hue- man painted it on the Culinary Institute of America Copia building. The colorful mural depicts red lettuces from the Copia garden; you can see it from just about anywhere in downtown Napa.
Artists who designed pieces for the signal boxes are worth celebrating, too. One of the boxes bears the work of Norma Quintana, a Napa photographer whose “Forage From Fire” series is composed of images of artifacts from her home, which burned in the Atlas Fire of October 2017.
Visitors can experience RAD from aboard the Wine Train, on their own (from the bike trail) or as part of a walking tour from a nascent outfitter named Paper Napan Walkabouts.
The RAD tour is the only one Paper Napan does currently. Tours meet on the northern end of the RAD and, over the course of three hours, meander back toward downtown. Owner Kim McGinness, a self-taught expert on public art, offers history and background on all nine major murals, pointing out details of artwork on some of the signal boxes as well. She breaks up the day with tastings at three local spots: St. Clair Brown Winery & Brewery for beer, wine and snacks; Robert Craig Winery for wine; and Cru @ the Annex for wine and snacks.
The tour starts just north of downtown and covers about a mile of walking. It ends at the Oxbow Public Market. The price: $95 per person.
McGinness says she loves exposing guests to a part of Napa they likely wouldn’t see otherwise.
“My tour isn’t designed to give people a workout or anything — it’s built around the art, the wine, the food and the neighborhood,” she said. “Most people come to Napa and spend the bulk of their time in tasting rooms. We have the tasting experience, but we’re also focused on something much bigger.”