Professors selected to create wine labels

Tim McDowell's painting, “Alchemico."

Art professors Pamela Marks and Tim McDowell have found an unusual gallery for their work. They have been commissioned by the Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen, Calif. to design labels for its special collection.

Their works are featured in a new coffee table book titled “Imagery Art for Wine” (Wine Appreciation Guild, 2006) where artist and author Bob Nugent highlights 160 pieces designed by 133 artists from the collection.

“The images are big and lush,” Nugent said, and are accompanied by biographical sketches of the artists’ careers as well as a brief description of their individual ideas and methods.

The winery started commissioning artists for its labels in 1985. Nugent, a friend of McDowell’s and curator of the winery’s collection, invited him to create the labels for the second series. McDowell visited the winery and painted six images, including one of an old Parthenon-like structure similar to one that crowns the hill of the winery.

“During a meeting with the winery partners it was decided that Tim’s choice to include our ‘Parthenon’ was a good idea and should become an integral component of all subsequent labels,” Nugent wrote in the book.

Pamela Mark's painting, “Wild Grapes.”

Each year a select group of artists is chosen to design labels. Artists that have been commissioned by the winery for an original piece of art are given total creative freedom for their design, with the exception of including or referencing the winery’s Parthenon. The winery compensates the artist by purchasing their original art work, which is on display in galleries at its Glen Ellen, Calif. headquarters, and by sending them ten cases of wine.

“Over the years I have done a total of nine labels and have received 90 cases of wine,” McDowell said.

Marks’ painting, “Wild Grapes,” was reproduced on the 2005 White Bordeaux label for the current series.

“I knew right away that I would like to use the grape clusters forms that echo the biological and natural forms found in many of my paintings,” she said. “The strict geometry of the Parthenon facade provided a wonderful contrast to the organic grape pattern.”

In November, Marks and McDowell traveled to a Manhattan bookstore to sign copies of the new book.

“It’s wonderful to be asked to be a part of the collection,” Marks said, “and to have your work featured in a different way.”