Winterlude

Alchemy artists-in-residence hold show at The Grange

The Alchemy artist-in-residence program has been taking place in the County since 2017, and always in the growing and harvest seasons through summer and autumn. However, this past week, five artists were invited to witness and be inspired by winter in the County, thanks to a collaboration between Alchemy and SHED Chetwyn Farms. The artists stayed at locations along Closson Road, and gathered every day, starting on February 10, at Closson Chase Winery to practise their art in a communal studio. As part of the residency, each artist was required to prepare a shared meal one night during their stay to foster a sense of belonging and community. Last Saturday, the artists held an open studio at The Grange Winery to show their work and speak about their creative process.

Alchemy was founded in 2015 by Claire Tallarico and Tonia Di Risio and is based on the four pillars of food, art, table and community. It began after Ms. Tallarico went on a self-directed residency at the Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts on the Toronto Islands. She was intrigued by the gardens at the Centre, where the artists would grow their food and then prepare meals in a shared kitchen for everyone to eat together. In 2017, Ms. Tallarico and Ms. Di Risio started bringing artists to the County, staying in the area around Hillier, and using the Hillier Town Hall as a studio space. “We would bring in artists from away and pair them with farms or wineries and they would make site-specific work inspired by the people they see and their surroundings,” said Ms. Tallarico. This continued until 2020 when the pandemic put a halt to many things, including artists residencies. However, Alchemy still wanted to do something for the community in line with their mandate of making art and sharing food. Winemaker Keith Tyers invited them to use the kitchen at Closson Chase, and with the help of Linda Downey from the Storehouse Food bank and a grant from The County Foundation, they started the Table Setting project. This was a series of twice-weekly dinners prepared for the seasonal agricultural workers who were cut off from their social networks. “It was a way to honour and respect the hard work of people who were very isolated during Covid,” said Ms. Tallarico. This project continued until 2024 and over that time more than 3,000 dinners were served to 40 workers in the Hillier region during four harvest seasons.

The artist residency program restarted after Covid, and last year one of the artists stayed at SHED Chetwyn Farms. The notion of a winter residency came up during conversations between Ted Pickering and Ms. Tallarico. “We spoke about bringing artists here in the winter, during the quiet of the off-season. Closson Road seemed like a natural place because there’s such a high concentration of makers and doers and growers here. We have a relationship with lots of folks on this road because of pairing our artists with different wineries,” she said. “We invited artists who have been here before to come and see what they could do in the winter, what would be a benefit to their practise, and how we could interact with the community at a time when things are very quiet, and also to explore the idea of bringing a little extra revenue in to the County at a time when that usually doesn’t happen.”

The five artists span a range of disciplines, from painting to photography, from using textiles to making art with found objects. Peggy Taylor Reid initially started experimenting with camera-less image making processes before embracing digital photography, and now she has come full circle, once again creating images using the cyanotype process and using foraged or cultivated plants for toning images. She was one of the first artists to come to Alchemy in the County in 2017, and said that being here in the winter is a completely different experience. “Coming back here in the winter has been fantastic to see the County in its stark and wonderful beauty,” she said. She added that being here with four other artists has been very enjoyable. “Time around the table has been really great. There are conversations about what you’re doing and there’s lots of crosspollination.” Linh Thai was in residence last summer and said the contrast was very noticeable. “In the summer I was able to interact with a lot more people; this time it’s much more introspective. The landscape, too, has totally changed,” said Ms. Thai, who is a textile artist and works on large-scale public art. She added that it has been a good experience to work alongside other artists in the communal studio at Closson Chase, sharing ideas and seeing other creative processes.

Ms. Tallarico was pleased to see the level of community engagement at the show on Saturday at The Grange. There was a steady stream of visitors during the day and a lot of lively conversations, as well as a few sales of artworks. “This residency is about the collaborative spirit of the artists. We’re not just here to paint pretty pictures. We’re here to understand what it is about this place that’s so special. It’s hard to live and work here. People make a choice to do the things that they do. This is not a romantic notion to come and farm here, or grow things, or make things. I think the fact that we’ve been able to be a part of this community and find inspiration is what Alchemy is about,” she said.