Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Los Gatan Angelo Troquato shows the raw materials for his finished product: a bottle of his vineyards' fine wine.

An Artistic Celebration

Annual tradition attracts craftspeople, vintners and painters

By Shari Kaplan

If one picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many more words the painter has to say about creating the art and about his or her artistic inspiration in general. Gather artists together with other crafters in an array of media--including glass, rock and even grapes--add some food, drinks and a variety of musical styles for entertainment, and the result is a grand celebration of the arts.

Los Gatos calls it Fiesta de Artes, and it's been celebrated for more than 25 years under the auspices of different organizations and venues. Since 1996, the Los Gatos Kiwanis Club has taken responsibility for the fiesta, which has grown to fit in and around the Los Gatos Civic Center, its new home. Proceeds benefit the Kiwanis Club's many community service projects and children's charities. This year's fiesta takes place Aug. 23 and 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

But without the artisans and the winemakers themselves and the stories lying behind their work, there would be nothing to celebrate. The following four locals are among more than 150 individuals from California and elsewhere selling their wares at the fiesta.

Angelo Troquato, vintner

Throughout his childhood in Pennsylvania, Los Gatos resident Angelo Troquato grew up with grapes and wine as a part of daily life. "I can remember as a little, little kid my grandfather making wine. And everybody drank wine in Italian families," Troquato says. Troquato's grandfather used to order grapes from California for his winemaking in Italy.

When Troquato came to California in the mid-1950s, one of his top priorities was finding land so he could grow grapes and eventually make wine of his own. He found that land in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Saratoga, where he currently grows seven acres' worth of wine grapes.

From 1966 through 1986, he sold his grapes to winemakers but did not yet dip into the wine business. Then, when his vines hung heavy because not enough customers were buying grapes, Troquato decided the time was ripe to become a vintner himself.

"Years ago, grapes were very cheap because people here didn't drink [wines] that much. We had a surplus. I finally decided maybe we should start making our own wines so they would hold better," he says. By "hold," Troquato means that grapes made into wine remain in a consumable form and have a value for many years. If left on the vine, they eventually dry up or rot, thus losing all their potential.

Troquato Vineyards' current wine list consists of chardonnay, red zinfandel, merlot and cabernet. The merlot and one of the cabernets are estate-bottled; the rest are bottled elsewhere. Troquato plans to have about four kinds for sale in the fiesta's wine- and beer-tasting area. He sells his wines at art and wine festivals throughout much of the South Bay; the fruits of his efforts also line shelves in some local supermarkets.

As for what the next "fad" wine will be after the current merlot, Troquato predicts pinot noir. "People grab it," he says of whatever the current favorite may be. "They run with it, and then they go for something new. Pinot noir has been quiet lately."

When not busy making potent potables, Troquato tends to the other side of his business, Troquato Herb Gardens in Campbell. Here he grows herbs such as basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage and lemon balm, which he sells and delivers to restaurants and caterers. Tomatoes and squash--sold to the same clients--round out the gardens' fruitfulness.

Kevin Flavia, representative

Although he says he is not particularly inclined toward creating works of art, Kevin Flavia says representing artists gives him an even greater appreciation for and enjoyment of the works of others. In fact, he enjoys art glass so much that he has represented its creators for the past five years and has been collecting it for 10.

Currently he works with 16 different artists and is particular about whom he represents: "I promote lines of glass I feel are unique and of appeal to the public--the kind of stuff you don't always see."

A resident of Boulder Creek who works as chief inspector for Los Gatos' Building and Engineering Services, Flavia says he initially got hooked on collecting art glass in its Christmas-ornament form. Since then, he has become more familiar with the craft, which he says he finds fascinating.

"Glass is a natural type of substance, something that's of the earth. It's incredible to think that an individual is capable of taking natural minerals and things that exist in nature and combining them to create something beautiful that doesn't occur in nature. It fascinates me that someone can do that," he says.

The technique of creating art glass, which can be as small as marbles and eggs or as large as vases, involves mixing and heating the different minerals to achieve different color combinations of glass. The molten glass is then either blown into shapes using glass-blowing equipment--as when making a goblet or vase--or molded into other items such as paperweights.

"It's every bit as hard as it looks!" Flavia says with a laugh, recalling the times he tried art glass-making himself. His first attempt was a vase but he says it turned into "more of an ashtray thing." His second piece was a narrow-necked vase that resembles a bottle.

At the fiesta, Flavia will show items including paperweights, eggs, glass geodes, perfume bottles, bowls, Christmas ornaments and vases. Although he most often carries contemporary art glass, Flavia also deals with vintage glass as well.

Robert Sugita, watercolorist

A professional painter for more than three decades and an elementary school art teacher, Saratogan Robert Sugita calls himself "basically self-taught."

Sugita recalls his fifth-grade teacher exclaiming over how closely a picture he drew for a report resembled the original image from the book. If creativeness runs in families, Sugita has no shortage--his father is a sculptor, and his sister is a fashion designer.

It wasn't until the 1960s, however, when Sugita viewed an art show featuring American illustrators (such as Norman Rockwell), that he decided to try it himself.

"I thought, 'Gee, how amazing. I sure wish I could paint like that,' " he recalls. "Whenever I had free time, I'd try painting. I guess you could say I was experimenting until I found something I liked."

Although he has dabbled with acrylics, his favorite medium and the one he uses almost exclusively is watercolors. "With watercolor, once you put an impression of something down on paper, if you make a mistake, it's unforgiving. With oil paints, if you make a mistake you can cover it up with more paint," he explains. He says he also likes the colorful hues and fluid look watercolors allow.

"I never know the results of what my paintings will look like until I'm finished. I know what direction I'm going toward [but] I won't know the mood until I'm finished," he adds of his painting technique.

Sugita's favorite topics are landscapes and scenery. He also paints still lifes, flowers and "just about everything besides people." Interestingly, the same comment Sugita's fifth-grade teacher made about his abilities is echoed in comments he hears today.

"A lot of people, when they see my work, think it's photography. I think it's the detail and the strokes I put in. I'm meticulous in what I do," he says.

Carlene Pyle and the Stiger family, slate accessories

The Scotts Valley studio in which Jim and Judy Stiger and associates hammer slate into works of art is simply called The Studio. There is nothing simple about their work, however.

According to Santa Cruz resident Carlene Pyle, an employee and family friend, slate must be hammered with the right tools and in the right places to bring out the different shapes, patterns and colors found in their decorative and functional vases, oil lamps and bubbling fountains.

Sledgehammers break up the big chunks of slate, while smaller hammers and diamond-bit drill presses do the finer work. Pyle must calculate exactly where to hit a piece of slate to make it do what she wants, while avoiding too much rock breaking off or shattering.

"Sometimes it's rather challenging. If you're just breaking the pieces up, you don't think much. But if you're trying to get a specific shape or color, it can get pretty frustrating," she explains.

Pyle and the Stigers work with Mariposa slate, quarried from Mariposa County near Yosemite. It's not as hard as some other types of slate found in California, and it also forms in more attractive color variations, ranging from white to dark chocolate brown.

"This was Judy's idea," Pyle says of The Studio, which is now in its sixth year and sells work at arts and crafts festivals throughout California. "She knew someone with a similar concept. Judy did a couple of pieces and people said, 'Wow, that's great!' It eventually got so busy that both Jim and Judy had to quit their jobs and do this full time."

The 1997 Fiesta de Artes takes place Aug. 23 and 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Los Gatos Civic Center, at 110 E. Main St. Parking is available on side streets, on the Los Gatos High School campus or in town parking lots. For more information, call Signature Productions at 415/327-1575 or Kiwanian Rich Lang at 354-3540.

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