Ian Boyden winery gallery show: Washington wine country terroir made visible

I am so pleased to have Ian Boyden’s current show in the winery open this month.  This is a stunning extension of his previous terroir-based, large format paintings based on earth and vine components.  These paintings leap beyond his past works, incorporating animal bone, gold, and cinnabar pigments. They are striking, unique, and powerful visual pieces that the viewer does not soon forget.

These paintings evoke our regional geology, plant and animal life — in effect, terroir made visible .   Ian proposes a radical synesthesia (synesthetic?) to his viewers:  a strong sense of place, a place using all senses, ultimately and deliberately placing our awareness itself — our conscious thought joining our other sensory organs in the experience.

They provoke reminiscence about the original trip we took together through some of our great Bordeaux varietal ( Cabernet, Merlot, et al.) vineyards.  Seven Hills Winery has worked with these rich places for decades: Klipsun, Seven Hills, Ciel du Cheval.  Our journey led us through Walla Walla Valley, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain, and Wahluke appellations, as we gathered rock and earth for use in the Echoes of the Earth series.  Kevin Pogue, noted geologist, Ian and myself had an immensely enjoyable time together synthesizing our knowledge of earth, vine, wine and art.

I really hope that as many of you as possible can make it to the winery to bask in the visual message these paintings have to share.  You can read more about this stunning series on Ian’s site.