Napa artist Jessel Miller launches ‘Peace Alliance’ to unite community through art
Jessel Miller was up at night.
Like many, she was worried about the precarious state of the world, the wars, the unrest, the lack of peace.
The Napa artist and entrepreneur, who opened the Jessel Gallery 40 years ago and revived the Napa Valley Mustard Celebration, remembered a painting that she had made 20 years ago that had the word “peace” along the side of the face.
At 4 a.m., Miller found the painting and decided that it would be the logo for a new idea, the Napa Artistry Peace Alliance.
Miller also got inspiration for the Peace Alliance from sculptor Mario Chiodo, who created a sculpture called “Seeds of Peace.” Visiting his Napa studio, Miller was inspired.
Chiodo also visited Miller’s Jessel Gallery. “When he was here, it was just like a lightning bolt for me,” said Miller. “I had the sense that I need to do a show focused strictly on what brings you peace.
“People don’t realize this is a little planet and that we all have to stay connected in some way.” Jessel Miller
“I think peace has always been a part of my life and my existence on a daily basis,” Miller said. “That’s what the gallery is about. That’s what I try to bring to the community by the art that we have in the gallery, the overall essence of peace when you come in here.”
If you are reading this story and wondering whether the current political divide in America helped inspire Miller’s desire to create the Peace Alliance so that people could find a space to move past their political disagreements and mutually connect over what brings them peace in their lives, you would be spot on.
“For me, being from Canada, I think when you’re from another country, you look at the country that you’re living in in a very different way,” Miller said. “I was not raised in a competitive environment. I was raised in a very simpatico, comfortable, small-town community. I came to the United States and was amazed by, first of all, the brilliance of this country but the fact that it was called United States was really important to me.
“I felt like that was the message that we’re trying to get out and that was the importance to me was that we have to look at those words because they are truly what this country was based on and what’s happened now is that there’s been such a division and such a separation from the commonality,” Miller continued. “People don’t realize this is a little planet and that we all have to stay connected in some way.”
On the Peace Alliance website, there’s a Partners in Peace page where people can submit a photograph or painting along with a written response describing what brings them peace.
“The words what brings you peace can be what brings you joy, what brings you love, what brings you comfort, what brings you something positive in your life,” said Miller. “All I’m trying to do is have that thread weave this beautiful tapestry of peoples’ emotions and feelings.”
Miller says that everyone who learns about the Peace Alliance tells her that they’re going to become a “Partner in Peace.”
“At that very moment, they get the opportunity to be in a very peaceful place to think about that concept,” said Miller. “What brings you peace or what brings you joy or what brings you love; it doesn’t have to be specifically that but it’s just if you were in the most positive place in your mind, where would it be.”
A Peace Alliance show
When Miller got out the word about the Peace Alliance, she said “the response was unbelievable. Everybody put their hand up.” The artists who wanted to participate even included ones who aren’t a part of the Jessel Gallery.
“The more hands that are held around this, the more this becomes part of everybody’s life,” said Miller.
The show opens on the weekend of June 13 and 14 and continues through July.
On Saturday, June 13, Canadian artist Olaf Schneider will lead an acrylic painting workshop at the Jessel Gallery.
“He does brilliant images of the Napa Valley and around,” Miller said. “He has a very loving, supportive, kind way and gentle way of teaching.”
According to Miller, billboards used to be painted by hand instead of printed. Schneider was one of the original artists who painted these billboards and learned his craft through doing these large pieces.
On Sunday, June 14, the gallery will host the opening reception with artist demonstrations.
Miller says demonstration days are among the most positive shows the gallery has ever had. On June 14, 10 to 15 artists will all be in different rooms throughout the gallery showcasing their work. A back room in the gallery will be dedicated to the question of what brings people peace.
Miller has dreams to expand the Peace Alliance across the Napa Valley in 2027.
Through being the founder of the Mustard Celebration, Miller has built up strong connections with each Chamber of Commerce in the valley.
“With that connection, I’m hoping to spread the word about this idea of bringing Napa peace to your community,” Miller said.
Miller’s vision for bringing the Peace Alliance across the whole Napa Valley includes ideas like an art show focused on what brings children peace.
Miller also hopes to take her alliance worldwide.
“Napa Peace could be everywhere,” said Miller. “It’s a state of mind…to me, it’s an endless possibility.”
“I just have a good feeling about [the Peace Alliance] and that’s how I’ve done everything in my gallery,” continued Miller. “I follow my instincts…I truly believe with all my heart that this thing is going to blossom into something really powerful and beautiful.”
What brings her peace
For those wondering what brings Miller peace in her life, she has an answer for you.
“What brings me the most peace in my life is the creative process,” Miller said. “It’s what I do every day. It’s the way you think. It’s when you live your life in a creative manner no matter what you’re faced with.”
“What brings me peace is trying to find the calm in every single day,” Miller added.
Miller is also a past songwriter. One night, she woke up in the middle of the night and decided that there had to be a song about the Peace Alliance. She’s come up with the first verse so far and will be working with an artist named Don Schiff on the music and concept of the song. She’s hoping that herself and Schieff will have the opportunity to sing it at the opening reception.
She shared the lyrics to the first verse:
“As I wake and take my first breath in the day,
As I rise I realize there is only one way.
There’s no time to look back at the day before,
There is only this moment and dawn’s new door.
So I walk to the light, holding my candle bright,
And I know in my heart what is true:
Napa Peace is my path,
Where Love dissolves wrath,
And the skies in my soul shine bright BLUE”
Miller has spent plenty of time thinking about what peace means.
“It’s all about where do you want to live your life each day,” said Miller. “Do you want to live it in trauma? Do you want to live it in war? Do you want to live it in anger?
“Honesty and truth have always been my road. If I have an issue in a situation, I want to be able to talk it out with the person that I have an issue with. That’s the way to clear your chakras; to clear whatever’s going on in your life.
“I think there’s been so much bottled up energy that it’s exploding in all sorts of directions right now,” Miller added. “I think just take a breath, slow down, and just be still a little bit more…We all have our days where we work really hard, but I think there has to be a certain stillness.”
One Alliance member
Lisa Anderson is the owner of Bougie Napa, a candle store.
Two years ago, Miller went to Bougie Napa and introduced herself to Anderson. She talked about how she was retooling the Mustard Celebration and shared how she thought candles with artwork on them would be an ideal addition to what she was building. Anderson loved what she heard from Miller and made the decision to join in on her efforts.
“When she walked out of my store, I was like, ‘Gosh, I wish she was my mother’,” Anderson said. “She was just so energetic and passionate. She reached out to me and was open and accepting with my product and what I made,”
Miller also reached out to Anderson at the early stages of the Peace Alliance.
“She just felt very strongly that just the tradition of lighting a candle and burning it, whether it’s through meditation or just pleasure in the morning or in the evening or whatever fit very well along the Peace Alliance,” said Anderson.
Anderson made two candles with two different scents and two different colored vessels that featured colors that complemented Miller’s artwork. She printed them as labels so that they could be on the candles.
Anderson is also looking into ways that she can promote the Peace Alliance through social media, emailing, and sharing it with clients both local and non-local. She’s hoping to have a type of display created in her candle store.
“I want [the Peace Alliance] to become something viral, quite frankly,” Anderson said.
Anderso said Miller and her website designer have created a QR code for restaurants and stores. When people scan it, they will automatically be taken to the Partners in Peace page on the website.
Anderson points out how often Miller acknowledges how fortunate she feels she is.
“She is someone who is so passionate about the area in which we live and how she believes in the beauty, the nature, the art, the people, the wine, the food; just as a whole how lucky we are,” said Anderson.
“Every time we have a meeting, Jessel says, ‘Do you realize how lucky we are to live here?’ It means more than anything at this particular time when bombs are dropping on people or people are being prosecuted for the way they are or their religion or whatever and [Miller] just really is passionate about that.
“She’s wonderful at drawing people together,” Anderson added. “She’s a gatherer. She brings people together. She welcomes them with open arms.”
Anderson also took the time to share what stands out to her most about Miller.
“Even though Jessel is a famous painter, she has created something that encompasses all forms of art whether it’s poetry, sculpture, food, candles, wine making and then, of course, painting, and it’s all for the common need or the common want which is for peace,” Anderson said.
“When I kind of thought about it as a whole and everybody she’s brought together and how this is growing, I found that fascinating that she has the ability to transcend over art no matter what your niche is and still make it just as important as everyone else’s piece of art,” Anderson continued.
Anderson believes that different people have different definitions of what peace means to them.
“For some, it may literally mean not having having bombs go off over their heads and, to others, it might mean being able to pay their bills or have some food left over on the table but, all in all, I feel that peace is being able to live your authentic light without threat or persecution and [Miller] just epitomizes that,” said Anderson. “She loves everything and she loves everyone.”
To learn more about the Peace Alliance, visit napapeace.com. To learn more about Miller, visit jesselmiller.com. To learn more about the Jessel Gallery, visit jesselgallery.com. To learn more about Bougie Napa, visit bougienapa.com.
