The Extended Table
Written by: Eric Nixon
Visitors to our winery this glorious summer have been greeted, as soon as they pass the door, by a colourful, busy, vivacious new mural that now commands the wine shop’s Tasting Theatre. By the time you read this it will adorn our website, with wine labels and a myriad of other expressions from Malivoire to follow.
It’s the work of Jamie Bennett, a seasoned and admired Toronto illustrative storyteller, whose work has been commissioned by or reproduced by major newspapers, magazines, arts centres, charities and governmental bodies.
We noted that in these times, A-I has become a fast, cost-efficient, create-to-order mechanism, but to be true to our values in plotting a defining image, we determined it should spring from the mind, heart and hand of a human artist.
Remarkably, in its compact 16 square feet or 1.5 square metres of space, Jamie has invested her work with a host of themes that animate this winery.
The mural’s lynchpin is its top central image, of a bustling, festive table crowded with jubilant people. Messages portrayed include such fundamental Malivoire concepts as a welcoming place for everyone, sharing, celebration of life, humanity and nature, and love of the farm that feeds us.
Perhaps the most complete interpretation is found in this original, accompanying poem:
eternally expansive,
with an infinite embrace of chairs
that whisper, 'Reserved for all souls.'
Stories unfold,
experiences are shared;
we linger, listen,
connect and collaborate.
We are nourished.
We bind the table in perpetuity.
Will you sit with us?
Other messages are found in the mural’s seven adjacent scenes.
Would you like to know what they are? Come to see us and ask the artist. Jamie Bennet will join our table for a summer Picnic Party in the Malivoire Estate Vineyard, on Saturday August 10th.
