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Community Education

Campus Highlights

The Upper Valley Campus, located in St Helena, is home to a variety of activities

and unique collections.   

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Bronze Sculptures
 

"From across the country and around the world, these culinary legends found inspiration in this Golden State of bounty and diversity, creating California Cuisine, and thereby reinvigorating American cooking, redefining how we think about what we eat and drink, and reimagining our relationship with the Earth that feeds us."

The Upper Valley Campus is site of eleven permanently installed bronze sculptures by artist Fred Parhad portraying chefs, authors, and vintners – many with deep Napa Valley and Bay Area ties.

  

They have influenced the American palate, changed the nation's cuisine, and helped put the Napa Valley at the international forefront of outstanding culinary, wine, and hospitality: James Beard, Cecilia Chiang, Julia Child, Narsai David, MFK Fisher, Robert Mondavi, Jacques Pepin, Paul Prodhomme, Wolfgang Puck, Jeremiah Tower, and Alice Waters.

Commissioned by Bay Area author, radio commentator, and California Cuisine pioneer Narsai David and his wife, Venus David, the sculptures were installed in December, 2014. The public is invited to visit the campus to see these artworks free of charge. No appointment is necessary.

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​Culinary Library

The Culinary Library at the Upper Valley Campus is home to an extensive collection of cookbooks and culinary related books. A large part of the library consists of a life-long collection of cookbooks generously donated by Belle Rhodes. In 2011, the school was able to obtain a nearly 6,000-book collection once housed in Copia's library. The Copia collection picks up the years where the Belle Rhodes' collection ended.  Among this collection are wine books, cookbooks, books on whiskey cookery, on onions, cheese, chocolate, herbs, gardening, and kitchen tools.

   

Also in the collection are books of reminiscences of high-profile chefs and celebrities, culinary tours of the world's noted food regions and even a book on toasters and a collectors guide to Pez. These books are available to students in the Napa Valley Cooking School and to the community at large through SNAP, the Solano Napa and Partners Library Consortium.

Additional Culinary resources are available at on the Culinary Arts Resources page of the Napa Valley College Library.

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​​galleries

The campus galleries, over 55 feet of exhibition space, surround the central exterior courtyard.  They are illuminated by natural light and provide excellent viewing options whether sitting outside enjoying the peaceful setting of our beautiful campus or walking along the halls attending our many course offerings. 

Monthly exhibitions highlight works of local artists and faculty. Students are able to connect with professionals and peers, while learning skills that prepare them for future shows of their own.​​​ If you are an artist interested in exhibiting in the UVC Gallery, please send an inquiry to uvc_sthelena@napavalley.edu along with your artist CV.

For current and upcoming exhibitions, click here.

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​Pottery

The collection of pottery displayed in the Learning Lab and Library at the Upper Valley Campus was donated by Belle Rhodes. She and her husband, Barney, were instrumental in the establishment of the Napa Valley Cooking School and were long time supporters who generously gifted the college with an endowment for the culinary program.  

The collection includes works by California artists Eunice Prieto and Sandra Johnstone.  There are also some wonderful examples of Native American Acoma pottery.

 

The Acoma are known for their beautiful hand coiled white clay pots, some with walls so thin they ring with the clarity of a bell.  The Pueblo of Acoma is the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America, located fifty miles west of Albuquerque, New Mexico.