Labors of Love and Transformation
By Emily Strelow, CRUSH, Visit McMinnville, March 2023
When swirling
a carefully balanced Pinot in a glass, there are more than red currant
or sage notes. In each turn of the wine along the smooth glass exists the
legacy of all the hard, physically demanding work done by the
legion of artisans who created it.
Adrian Chitty
recognized this and was drawn to tell the story of that important work. In
2019, Chitty approached Deb Hatcher at A to Z Wineworks about working
with and photographing the winemaking artisans during the harvest season.
Chitty hoped to be part of the process and capture the nuances of labor-a
photographic ode to the unsung workers of the craft.
"I wanted
people to see the army of winery and vineyard workers who operate tirelessly
behind the scenes every day of the year to get the wine into your glass,"
says Chitty.
After working
and photographing that initial 2019 harvest season, working alongside the
winemakers, and participating physically and emotionally in the process, Chitty
was invited to stay on. He ended up photographing for another year and worked
through a second smoky 2020 pandemic harvest season for a total of fifteen
months. The process of working and creating art had also translated into an
official Artist in Residence program. As a body of work, Chitty's photographs
in his collection "Transformations" reflect the beauty and toil
involved in the creation of wine in an intimate way that reveals, admires, and
champions the hard work that goes on in the winemaking process.
A to Z has
seen two other artists working in Chitty's stead- painter Hadley Hatcher in
2021 and mixed media artist Nieko McDaniel in 2022. A to Z is currently
recruiting for their next Artist in Residence for 2023.
Chitty noticed
his seventeen-year that software engineer background
began to be reflected in his creative work. He found joy in in the geometry and
symmetry that emerged in his photographs. To look at this work is to truly see
through the lens of someone who appreciates balance.
Chitty's background and natural ability to organize
information, and his passion for sustainability, then led him to a role
calculating carbon
emissions for the winery's entire value chain. A to Z plans to cut carbon
emissions by 50% by 2030 and to zero by 2050.
"In order
to meet our carbon accounting goals in 2030, it's going to be about
implementing solar, looking at how and where we package wine, electrifying
trucks for transport, and lining up our concrete deliverables."
After his
experience photographing winemakers, tracking carbon output, and helping to
formalize the Artist in Residence program at A to Z, Chitty found himself
looking for a new project to dive into. In the summer of 2021, he began working
and documenting the process of home construction for Habitat for Humanity. He
has been part of the work crew and photographed a house from beginning to end
here in McMinnville. Of his work there, he says, "I got to know the people
and processes in an immersive sense on the Habitat project. I was able to photograph
that entire construction from when the bulldozer broke ground to when the key
was handed over to the new owners. I produced this body of work that shows the
procedural aspects of building a house but also celebrates the people who built
it. It is all interconnected."
Emily Strelow is a McMinnville
resident and author of the novel The Wild Birds.
