For Jessel Miller fans, the vibrant yellow mustard blooms blanketing Napa Valley vineyards this time of year are as synonymous with Wine Country as they are with the artist herself.
Through her whimsical watercolor paintings and books, Miller arguably has done as much as anyone to promote “mustard season” as a can't-miss time of year to visit the valley.
Her work was featured prominently in the promotional campaigns of a long-running mustard festival that started in 1994 and brought an economic boon to the region during the normally subdued “shoulder season” from January to March.
Then in 2011, the festival suddenly folded. And for years, “Madame Mustard” lay dormant.
“My business just plummeted during that time. We just didn't have the visitors. We didn't have the energy,” Miller, 74, said recently at her Atlas Peak Road gallery. “It was kind of heartbreaking. People would come every year and ask, ‘Where is it?’”
Not one to let things go, Miller took it upon herself to bring back an event promoting the season. Now in its third year, the Napa Valley Mustard Celebration continues to grow and blossom on her watch.
The three-month series features mustard-themed events up and down Napa Valley from American Canyon to Calistoga, tasty offerings from well-known food and wine purveyors, and original art. The series concludes March 31 with the popular photo finale at Yountville’s Jessup Cellars Gallery.
“It’s excellent. The need is every bit as there as it was then,” said Craig Smith, the former executive director of the Napa Downtown Association. “And the mustard’s beautiful.”
Whitney Diver McEvoy, president and CEO of the Yountville Chamber of Commerce, said the organization is “thrilled” at the rebirth of an event celebrating the mustard season.
The town’s mustard-themed food and wine tasting event on Feb. 28 features bites from Hurley Farms, charcuterie from Graze Provisions and Miller with her art and books.
“Frankly, it’s all down to Jessel and her initiative to get this off the ground,” McEvoy said. “She’s been an incredible leader and brought everyone around the valley to the table.”
Longest-tenured gallery owner in Napa Valley
Miller’s sprawling gallery, is just down the road from Silverado Country Club.
The Canadian-born artist graduated from the University of Florida and moved to Oakland in 1971. Her one-person show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1980 featured watercolor portraits of Bay Area luminaries Maya Angelou, Herb Caen, Dianne Feinstein and others.
Miller opened a Napa gallery in 1984 in three rooms of what had been a whiskey distillery. She now occupies the entire 6,500-square-foot space, and also lives upstairs in the loft.
On a recent Tuesday morning, Miller wore a black embroidered jacket from Johnny Was, black pants and black tennis shoes stained with paint. She recently had cataract surgery to improve her eyesight.
During a tour of her studio, she showed off her recent paintings of famous figures, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Dolly Parton, and said she is in discussions with producers at the CBS News Sunday Morning Show about featuring the work.
Elsewhere in the gallery, students taking a watercolor class worked on their canvases.
Celebrating 40 years in business this year, Miller seemingly has nothing to prove. She’s the longest-tenured gallery owner in Napa Valley, a painter and writer of renown, a teacher and prominent advocate for the arts.
History of mustard in the area
But she acknowledged feeling restless, especially over the need to make sure this iteration of the mustard celebration continues to bloom.
Miller compared her feelings over the event’s growing success to those she felt when her gallery was new and starting to expand.
“It was three rooms in the front, but each year an artist would leave and I would take over,” she recalled. “It’s kind of the same thing. It’s really growing organically.”
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