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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – On the evening of Friday, Nov. 15, lights at the Middletown Art Center beckoned warmly on an otherwise dark street.
Inside, bottles from the Shannon Ridge Family of Wines lined a tasting table and the work of local artists graced the exhibit space.
Visitors sipped wine, mingled and wandered reflectively among the pieces.
The exhibit, “All That Is Now: The Fourth Anniversary Fire Show,” featured work created in response to the Valley fire of September 2015, as well as more recent fires. The event was also the closing reception of the show.
The artwork, done in various media and often using objects changed by fire, showcased the varied ways artistic creativity can express reaction to traumatic experience.
The pieces, from sculptures to photographs to fiber art to paintings, reflected both the poignancy of surviving fire and the resilience needed to be present now, four years after the event.
A “documentation room” featured photographs of area fires since 2015. This was in a space separate from the main exhibit to respect those who might be triggered by scenes of fire.
As artist and Middletown Art Center Director Lisa Kaplan welcomed visitors and presented information on many of the exhibited pieces, a multi-faceted story unfolded, one of individual experiences forming a communal whole.
Two of the participating artists, Alana Clearlake, fiber artist, and Terry Church, sculptor, spoke in more detail about their work.
During her presentation on wines, Joy Merrilees, Shannon Ridge director of winemaking and production, compared winemaking to art with yeast as the medium. With a background in landscape design, her prior focus on plant science and art has easily translated to winemaking.
Merrilees, a Lake County native, fell in love with the wine industry while traveling in New Zealand. It was there she embraced a career in wine, beginning as a migrant worker in the vineyards and eventually becoming a winemaker. Her experience was literally from the ground up.
Shannon Ridge vineyards lie in three of Lake County’s seven wine appellations: Red Hills, Big Valley and High Valley. Each growing area creates unique flavor qualities, whether from red volcanic soil or the heavy black earth of an old lakebed.
This is the winemaking palette from which Merrilees and her associate winemaker, also a woman, craft the wide variety of wines offered by Shannon Ridge.
Events such as Palette to Palate help support the programs of Middletown Art Center. To find out more about events, exhibits, classes, volunteer opportunities and membership, please visit their website at www.middletownartcenter.org.
As Kaplan said in her closing comments, “MAC is weaving the arts into the fabric of our community. We hope you’ll be part of our threading.”
To learn more about the Shannon Ridge Family of Wines, visit https://www.shannonridge.com.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She lives in Middletown, Calif.
