Local artists hold art exhibit at the Williamsburg Winery

One day, the head of the Williamsburg Winery decided one thing was missing at the Wessex Hundred farm: local art.

“We showed up to the winery for a meeting, and when they called upstairs to [CEO] Patrick Duffeler, the person on the phone said, ‘Mr. Duffeler, the art people are here,’” said Mary McCormick, part of the group that is organizing artwork at the winery. “So, we’ve really taken to calling ourselves The Art People.”

Mary McCormick, one of three founders of The Art People with her husband Jim McCormick and artist Cary Garnet, make up the local art trio.

Located at 5800 Wessex Hundred, the gallery — Art at Wessex Hundred — is located in the winery’s Susan Constant Hall Tasting Room and has been open since April. On Sept. 1, the gallery is changing its theme from “New Beginnings” to the fall-inspired “Bountiful Harvest.” The new motif will hang in the tasting room until Nov. 30.

This isn’t the first exhibit McCormick has put up in the winery, and she’s happy to spend her time supporting local artists.

“All three of us are retired, and we’re actually very excited to do things out in the community,” she said.

There’s one element that ties all the pieces together — the Williamsburg Winery.

“There is a lot of variety in what we get, but the winery is something that kind of holds it all together. It’s the mortar between the bricks of artwork,” McCormick said. “We’ve gotten a lot of variety back from the artists. I mean, you can imagine bountiful harvest in a winery setting: the gathering of grapes, the new vintages and people enjoying dinner in the vineyard.”

In this upcoming theme change, 27 local artists, including McCormick herself, will sell their work. Between “New Beginnings” and “Bountiful Harvest,” an overall total of 32 artists participated.

Every artist prices their own artwork, but pieces can cost in the $95 to $500 range. About 50% of the pieces in the first exhibit sold.

According to McCormick, the artists’ creations vary greatly in variety and subject matter. Each creator can have up to two pieces in the upcoming exhibit.

“We’ve had a couple of pieces where one of the artists went out and collected materials from the vineyard and made a collage out of what she collected,” she said. “Another artist works in what’s called encaustic wax art, so her paintings look almost like tiles.”

There are also oil, acrylic and pastel paintings available as well as a limited number of photographs and fiber pieces.

“It was really great to have the theme so that the paintings hung together,” McCormick said. “Some of them are still life, some are landscapes and some have people in scenes.”

While the project is a tremendous amount of work, The Art People wouldn’t have it any other way. And they’re thankful to Duffeler for giving artists an opportunity to have their work hanging in the winery, McCormick said.

“We laugh and call this a labor of love. There’s a lot of labor, but there’s even more love,” she said, chuckling. “It’s been rewarding, and the artists have just been phenomenal.”

A “Meet the Artists” after-hours wine and music social is scheduled for the end of September. An official date will be announced soon.

“It’s been fun and different,” McCormick said. “People who would not normally go looking in an art gallery will take a glass of their wine and get up to walk around in the tasting room.”

Want to go?

Weekly tasting hours are Sunday-Thursday from 12 p.m. until 5:30 p.m., Friday from 12 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Depending on membership levels, members of the Williamsburg Winery’s Wine Club get 25% or 50% off of tasting flights at the tasting room. For more information, visit www.williamsburgwinery.com.

Abbey Crank, abbey.crank@virginiamedia.com