Featured Artist Michele Oka Donor for the Naples Winter Wine Festival

Michele Oka Donor

One of the most prolific and respected artists working today will be honored as the Featured Artist at the 2016 Naples Winter Wine Festival, to be held from January 29-31, 2016 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida. Represented by the prestigious Marlborough Gallery in New York, Michele Oka Donor is best known for her public art commissions, including Radiant Site at New York’s Herald Square subway, Flight at Washington’s Reagan International Airport and A Walk on the Beach at The Miami International Airport, which features 9,000 bronze and mother-of pearl sculptures lining a 1.25 mile concourse, one of the largest public artworks in the world.

“To have an artist of Michele Oka Doner’s caliber attend the Naples Winter Wine Festival and donate a custom piece of art to our live auction is a dream come true,” said Sandi Moran, co-chair of the 2016 Naples Winter Wine Festival. “Her art is inspired by the natural surroundings of her hometown of Miami Beach, not far from our Festival’s grounds, and it’s a great honor to welcome her back to Florida. Her talents and generous contribution will make a tremendous difference in the lives of so many children in this community.”

Guests to the Naples Winter Wine Festival will have the unique opportunity to hang a piece of her artwork in their own home by bidding on a custom chandelier designed and created by the artist specifically for the Festival. Evocative of The Firefly Chandelier and cast in bronze, the chandelier will be inspired by a walk one dusk evening on a wooden ramp into the Everglades, near Naples.

“As an artist and a citizen of South Florida, born and raised, I am honored to participate in the Naples Winter Wine Festival, an organization that recognizes the challenges facing many children in Collier County,” said Michele Oka Doner. “The chandelier I’ll create for the winning bidder will be both work of art and symbolic gesture, as it is my intention to add more light to a community that ennobles itself with continuous generosity.”

THE FIREFLY CHANDELIER

Her decades of work have garnered extraordinary praise, including numerous awards and grants. Oka Doner’s artwork is featured in major museums and private collections throughout the United States and Europe, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs at the Louvre and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others. Her other public art projects can be found in U.S. courthouses, public libraries, hospitals, museums, universities, as well as in public parks and transportation centers. She is currently designing the costumes and sets for George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Miami City Ballet, which will debut concurrently with her solo exhibition at the Perez Museum of Art Miami in March 2016. She was awarded a 2011 Honorary Doctorate Degree in Fine Arts from The New School of Interior Design, in New York City.

In addition to bidding on Oka Doner’s spectacular chandelier, guests to the Naples Winter Wine Festival will also have the opportunity to bid on one-of-a-kind travel experiences, limited edition cars, and unique wine lots during an electrifying live auction, all of which are dedicated to an important cause. Since its inception, the Festival has raised more than $135 million dollars to support its founding organization, the Naples Children & Education Foundation, whose annual grants have provided more than 200,000 children with the services and resources they need to excel.

Ticket packages to this year’s Naples Winter Wine Festival, limited to 580 guests, start at $10,000 per couple. A $25,000 package that includes reserved seating for a party of four under the tent at a vintner dinner is also available. For more information about the NWWF, please visit http://www.napleswinefestival.com or call 888.837.4919.

NWWF 2016 CHEFS

COLIN BEDFORD OF THE FEARRINGTON HOUSE
RESTAURANT IN PITTSBORO, NC
BRIAN BOITANO HOST OF FOOD NETWORK’S
“WHAT WOULD BRIAN BOITANO MAKE?” IN SAN
FRANCISCO, CA
NASH COGNETTI OF TRA VIGNE IN ST. HELENA, CA
GARY DANKO OF RESTAURANT GARY DANKO IN
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
CURTIS DUFFY OF GRACE IN CHICAGO, IL
JOHN FOLSE OF RESTAURANT R’EVOLUTION IN NEW
ORLEANS, LA
KEN FRANK OF LA TOQUE IN NAPA, CA
SARAH GRUENEBERG OF MONTEVERDE IN
CHICAGO, IL
JEN JASINSKI OF RIOJA IN DENVER, CO
DANIEL JOLY OF MIRABELLE IN BEAVER CREEK, CO
GERRY KLASKALA OF ARIA IN ATLANTA, GA
EMILY LUCHETTI OF MARLOWE, PARK TAVERN, AND
THE CAVALIER IN SAN FRANCISCO, CA
TORY MILLER OF L’ETOILE IN MADISON, WI
NANCY OAKES OF BOULEVARD RESTAURANT IN SAN
FRANCISCO, CA
PATRICK O’CONNELL OF THE INN AT LITTLE
WASHINGTON IN ST. WASHINGTON, VA
RICHARD REDDINGTON OF REDD AND REDD
WOOD IN YOUNTVILLE, CA
BRYCE SHUMAN OF BETONY IN NEW YORK, NY
HOLLY SMITH OF CAFÉ JUANITA IN KIRKLAND, WA
CRAIG STOLL OF DELFINA IN SAN FRANCISCO, CA
ARI TAYMOR OF ALMA RESTAURANT IN
LOS ANGELES, CA
BILL TELEPAN OF TELEPAN IN NEW YORK, NY
RICK TRAMONTO OF RESTAURANT R’EVOLUTION IN
NEW ORLEANS, LA
DUSTIN VALETTE OF VALETTE IN HEALDSBURG, CA