Shellac(ed) – Art at 78RPM at Folklore
On Thursday, July 10th at 5pm, Folklore is proud to announce the launch of Shellac(ed) – Art at 78RPM.
Shellac(ed) is a group art show that features over 20 local artists using vintage 10 inch Shellac 78 RPM records as their canvas. This exhibition is available to view daily during business hours until July 31st. Our intent is to give local artists visibility and the opportunity to sell art and to reuse old records in a positive way.
FREE EVENT, unless you buy art which is encouraged.
Participating Artists: Jessica Petrie, Catie Rice, Elli Maskiell, Ryan Best, Patti Chandler, Marian Jansen, Robert Collison, Suzane Beaubrun, Christine Clark Monaghan, Susan Birnbaum, Monica Torres-Garcia, Donovan Kinyan, Clark Beach, Maggie Murdock, Rob Struven, Chuy Gonzales, Jaci Ramirez, Russell Ryan, Emily Freiman, Michael Garlington, Patrick Prager, Anne Marie Grgich, Jeanette Fradella and the Baker Sisters (Melissa, Mercedes and Ana).
Folklore is a record store, wine bar, cocktail lounge, restaurant and the home of KCMU 103.3fm, a local non-profit radio station. Folklore is located at 1226 Third Street in Downtown Napa and is open 7 days a week.
Curator
Phone:925-963-4537
Contact: Patti Chandler
Email: pcdesignphoto@gmail.com
Owner
Phone: 707.812.5506
Contact: Faith Ventrello
Email: faith@folklore-napa.com
A brief history of the Shellac 78RPM
Born in the late 1890s, the 78 RPM record was the first widely adopted format for recorded sound. Made from a brittle mix of shellac (a resin secreted by the lac bug), slate dust, and cotton fiber, these discs were noisy, heavy, and easily shattered—but revolutionary.
Standardized at 78 revolutions per minute by the 1920s, these records typically held around 3 minutes of audio per side. They dominated music distribution for over five decades, spinning everything from ragtime and jazz to early rock ‘n’ roll into millions of homes.
Their decline began in the late 1940s with the rise of vinyl 33⅓ RPM LPs and 45s, which offered better fidelity, longer playtime, and greater durability. By the mid-1950s, shellac 78s were largely obsolete—fragile relics of a bold, crackly beginning to the modern music era.