Ira Yeager is a world-famous painter above all things and almost equally-famous bohemian/ raconteur/ entertainer from Northern California (mostly in Calistoga), acting as tho he were living in the 18th century. Ira is my mom’s best friend + is the wildest eccentric I know, with a mad mane of hair covered in flecks of paint + a permanently raised Dali-esque brow– always sharing exotic tales from every corner of the earth.
Truth be told, Ira is one of Napa Valley’s great treasures and talents: his art is always found in the most interesting/ unusual/ eclectic/ photographed homes of Napa. Over the years he has painted everything from magnificent Wappo Indians, Victorian shoes, Marie Antoinette’s peasants, teapots, farm animals to mention a few– and his work is often signed under the moniker “Von Yeager, 1786.” His paintings are highly imaginative + magical + brilliantly colorful. His decadent Peasant Series adorn the walls of both the Salon + Sip Shoppe as if they were the jewels of a queen. Between the two rooms, there hang 25 enormous paintings illuminating all the humor, mischief, ridiculousness of life of 18th c agrarian life, as Ira imagined it.
