Preservation Napa Valley is a strong supporter of education as a means to build an understanding of the complexities of preservation. Our innovative educational programming is also a way to build awareness for our community's past, present and future. PNV works with many different schools, organizations, professional businesses and other entities to create Community Preservation Projects; an annual preservation project held or focused on a Napa County community. These are close examinations of a particular site, structure or issue, often with innovative solutions to help us move forward, or, presenting us an opportunity to think deeper about the value and scope of preservation.
THE 2011 COMMUNITY PROJECT
Joe Calizo, photo by Mary Swisher
Memory Bank, Preservation Napa Valley's 2011 Community Preservation Project is closed. Nearly 2000 people saw this amazing and unprecedented exhibit. You may see a portion of it if you purchase the book below. Ten Old Timers were photgraphed by local, professional photographers in powerful black and white images, with six more Old Timers filmed for short documentaries. The unique, agrarian landscape or cultural landscape of Napa has also been captured: old tools, orchards, barns and other places.
**Memory Bank produced abeautiful photographic book which includes a DVD of all documentaries. This is for sale thru PNV. We can deliver w/in Napa or you may pick up. See paypal button below to order or email us.**
The photographers on this project were:
Briana
Marie Forgie Clark Sally Seymour Jess Knubis Norma Quintana Bucky Swisher Mary Swisherand Filmmaker Mike Kerson
New Technology High School - Envision Adobe:In 2009 Preservation Napa Valley presented a challenge to 100 students at the New Technology High School in Napa. Students in art, environmental studies, Spanish and digital media were divided into teams and asked" What could Napa County's oldest building,the Old Adobe bar, be if it were not a bar?" This project raised significant, community-wide awareness for this overlooked landmark building. University of San Francisco - Architecture Department: In the Spring of 2009, we partnered with the City of St. Helena and University of San Francisco's Architecture and Community Design program to assist them in developing adaptive reuse designs for two iconic landmarks in St. Helena, California. The students produced three professional caliber designs for a circa 1930 gas station on Main Street and for the 1888 Signorelli barn on Pope Street. These successful and thoughtful designs will be included in a grant proposal to enhance the City of St. Helena community.
Spring 2010- Partnership with USF Architecture and Community Design students and local photographers to document a unique but vanishing Napa parcel: Just outside the City
of Napa, small parcels were commonly used by
families as farmsteads: 2-4 acre holdings that were self-contained with
chicken
coops, tool sheds, cabins, cow and milking sheds, garages, blacksmith
sheds and
other vernacular structures. These small farms were typical to Napa
until 20
years ago when housing pressures began to swallow up these once
prevalent
sites.
One
such east Napa parcel, 1111 Terrace Avenue, was photographed by local photographers and revisioned by architecture students before nearly all the structures were demolished. There was nothing glamorous, decorative, architecturally refined or magnificent
about
this site. It was, old Napa. Through the sale
of an old homestead, we got a window into the transformation of a town to a City. This growth
has never before been documented to such a varied extent, using the
skills of
university students and local photographers. See below for photographic work.
