Argyle Winery, Pacific Northwest College of Art Collaborate On The 'Art Of Sparkling'

DUNDEE, OR — As Lindsey Walker stared out over the Argyle Winery vineyard in Newberg, she wrote down a few choice words that to her encompassed in some sense what she was seeing: quiet patience, waiting, nurturing.

Tasked with producing an artistic label for one of three bottles in a special box set of vintage brut sparkling wine, Walker — a junior at the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in Portland — also jotted down the words heritage, landscape, and craftspeople, she recalled.

Along with fellow students Ann-Marie Christin Engleberth and Subin Yang, Walker had been selected from a pool of 36 student applicants for the Art of Sparkling project — a five-year collaboration-in-the-making that gave PNCA students an opportunity to help Argyle tell its story through a bottle's label and earn a $5,000 scholarship from the 30-year-old wine company as a reward.

"I wanted to do something that would honor the company and reflect the impression they gave me," said Walker, who specializes in abstract imagery. "I looked for nuance, specifically interpreting things that have allowed the company to flourish."

According to Argyle spokeswoman Cathy Martin, the scholarships and partnership with PNCA were established as tie-ins to the 2012 expansion of the company's tasting house in Dundee — where the winery was previously located. The student-produced art would be displayed not only on the bottles but also in tasting room, she said, giving the student artists a venue to display their work while also beautifying the location with customized art exclusive to Argyle.

"Our partnership with Argyle Winery is very special," said PNCA President Don Tuski. "Not only does Argyle provide generous scholarships for students, students are given an opportunity to use their art and design skills in an applied way. They do extensive research about Argyle — it's history, culture and values — and then apply their art and design practices to create visually striking and deeply meaningful images that tell the Argyle story."

The students were given about one month from their winery tour to the deadline to submit their label designs, Walker said. Because the project was originally conceived as a kind of competition, the three students expected only one design would be chosen. After all the presentations, however, Argyle revealed it would display all three.

"There's a value we place on the creativity of what we do," Martin explained. "(The scholarships) are an investment in that creative element. That's what we're all about."

In April, three more students from the PNCA were selected to develop labels for the next special box set expected to release in Fall 2017.

"As we do more of these things, people see the work and recognize the incredible talent of our students," said Darby Knox, vice president for advancement and external relations at PNCA. "All of the students clearly cared so much about this project — they wanted to honor Argyle."

And Argyle recognizes the PNCA isn't trying to simply churn out "a bunch of starving artists," Martin said, noting the collaboration between the college and the winery does more than just promote Argyle's special sparkling box set; it also gives the student artists a leg up when searching for work after graduation.

Walker agreed.

"Students aren't always treated with the same respect as working professors," she said. "(The scholarship and special box set) helps a lot. It legitimizes my design work, boosts my portfolio, and gave me reassurance that people would want something that I create. This (project) worked on a lot of levels."

And as it should be for any good collaboration, the project worked on many levels for Argyle as well.

"This program makes us stop and think about the decisions that go into (wine bottle) labels," Martin said, noting the typically dizzying array of wine bottle labels found at any given grocery store. "The creativity is there; you just have to stop and see it."

The three-bottle Art of Sparkling set from 2016 is still available and can be purchased for $100 at the Argyle Tasting House, 691 Highway 99W in Dundee, and online at www.argylewinery.com. The new 2017 Art of Sparkling set will be available in September and will be sold at the Argyle Tasting House, online, and at select wine retailers throughout the Portland metro area.