Fostering an appreciation of the arts

Only on the job since August, Petaluma Arts Center director Vicky Kumpfer brings years of experience, a solid art education and a fountain of enthusiasm to her new role.

She credits “growing up in a creative family” for informing her appreciation of the arts. “My father was an engineer and my mother always made sure that we were involved in the arts. We got to experience plays and museums and the ballet.”

Kumpfer adds, “It took me 20 years to get my college degree. I did so much traveling. I spent four years in Japan.”

Kumpfer says people might be surprised to know that she “lived at 12,000 feet, in the mountains of Utah for six years without electricity or water.” Kumpfer was learning her art and supporting herself by weaving ski hats, and says, “You know how some people take a year off after college to find themselves? It took me six years.”

Her secret talent? “

I am a telemark skier, which pretty much means you downhill ski using cross-country skis (no heel binding),” she says.

Kumpfer met her husband, Shoji Uemura, while working at the Salt Lake City Arts Center. “We were doing a documentary on him and I was asked to show him around. All I knew is that he was this crazy artist doing an installation, but it took off from there,” she says.

Fast-forward to a couple of years ago, and we find Kumpfer working in the arts with the city of Santa Rosa and coordinating Santa Rosa’s Public Arts Program.

“I coordinated exhibits in public spaces, like downtown, Railroad Square, and the like,” she says. “We helped develop the general plan, which mandated that 1 percent of any new development be earmarked for public art. That included public art displays, using abandoned storefronts as temporary exhibit spaces and other things.”

One of Kumpfer’s favorite projects during her time with Santa Rosa Arts was launching the Handcar Regatta two years ago.

“When they (the people who ran the Regatta) came to us and proposed this event, we gave them the money.” Kumpfer adds, “I was very proud of my work in Santa Rosa and now that I’d gotten the infrastructure in place, it was time for younger, fresher minds to step forward and continue Santa Rosa’s arts traditions.”

Kumpfer is delighted to be in Petaluma, where she finds “a lively downtown and a thriving art scene.”

She notes, “I am so impressed with how well Petaluma works with the arts community. The downtown merchants support the visual artists and art is thriving in the schools. Art is on the streets here. My whole motto with regards to arts has always been ‘to take it to the streets.’ ”

She organized a public arts forum to discuss how art contributes to the community, garnering participants from business, education, real estate and art.

“My goal,” says Kumpfer, “is to help the city give the arts a place in the new economy, and to show how it can also provide answers to economic issues.”

What is the importance of art in one’s daily life? “Art gives you the ability to be the authority of your own expression,” says Kumpfer. “I feel very proud that I was selected to take this jewel of an institution (the Petaluma Arts Center) to the next level and that I get to make up a part of the fabric of this community.”

(Contact Lynn Schnitzer at argus@arguscourier.com)