Tuesday, Sep. 02, 2008

Warehouse at Port of Walla Walla winery gets paint job

By Mary Hopkin, Herald staff writer

WALLA WALLA -- Two months ago, the building was a bland former Army warehouse -- a carbon copy of those surrounding it.

But four artists and 30 gallons of paint later, it has been transformed into a classic French-style chateau, complete with pillars and architectural moldings.

The building at the Port of Walla Walla Regional Airport's Industrial Park will be the home of Le Chateau, a new winery venture by Dick and Diane Hoch and Bob and Crista Whitelatch, of Claar Cellars.

Bruno Corneaux, a French-born winemaker who creates Claar Cellar's wines, also is Le Chateau's winemaker.

Dick Hoch said the 10,000-square-foot building they leased from the port was perfect for the new winery that's to open in October.

There's plenty of room for production, barrel storage and bottling, and it's heavily insulated to stay cool inside during the hot summers.

And it's one of the first buildings visitors see as the drive past the airport entrance and into the industrial park that's home to more than 20 wineries.

But it was surrounded by similar bland warehouses that are, well, to be polite -- aesthetically challenged.

What they needed was something that was attractive and would draw visitors.

Hoch began sketching his idea on a napkin and never had any doubt that his daughter, Christine Barnes, could pull it off.

"I recall my father sketching triangles and pillars onto a cocktail napkin and asking if it was possible to paint the exterior of the warehouse to look like a grand chateau, similar to what you might see in the Bordeaux region of France," Barnes said.

Barnes, 54, who owns Graphics West in Kennewick, jumped at the chance to swap her computer mouse for a paintbrush and work on a canvas that's 25 feet tall by 100 feet wide.

"Had I been 20 years younger I would have said, 'No way! This is going to be too much work,' " she said. "And had I been 20 years older there would have been no way I could have physically performed the day-to-day rigors of climbing up and down 20 feet of scaffolding or endured the grueling heat of an Eastern Washington summer."

Getting the vision on paper was easy, she said. It took only three days to create the design in the computer program Photoshop, but she admits her first estimate of how long the actual project would take was a bit off.

"Initially I thought it was only going to take about three weeks," she said.

But it took more than two months for Barnes, with the help of Adrian Snowden, the owner of T & L Office Supply in Kennewick and two Walla Walla Community College art students, John Leone of Kennewick and Kris Schultz of College Place.

The team used an art technique called trompe l'oeil, using shadows and realistic imagery to create a 3-D optical illusion that tricks the eye into believing an object is real, instead of painted.

From the front of the building, it appears you can walk between the columns and the building and it's hard to tell which are the actual windows and which are painted ones.

Barnes said Snowden's airbrush expertise was invaluable.

"Fifty to 60 percent of it was done with the airbrush," she said. "You don't do a project like this on your own. You need a team with enthusiasm and people who buy in and take ownership. Adrian really did that."

Snowden, who has been using an airbrush for 20 years, said the building was definitely the biggest canvas he has worked on, and he was able to share his expertise with the students, who stepped up to get the job done.

"There was blood, bruises and tears," he said. "The wind would blow so hard the scaffolding would shake and we'd have to all get down."

Completing the mural was a challenge, but all are happy with the result.

"They guys and I have been amused by the number of cars that have slowed or come to a complete stop with drivers wide-eyed, doing the classic double-take," Barnes said. "Everyone in the ... vicinity has been engaged at some level in our progress, and there has been a distinct sense of camaraderie in the effort. The UPS drivers tap their horns in encouragement. The Frito-Lay workers wheel ... past us at sunrise and salute."

Jim Kuntz, the port's executive director, said many of the wineries in the industrial park have done a great job of sprucing up the interiors of the '40s-era warehouses.

"Most people take them over for the utilitarian purposes, but it's difficult to do anything really imaginative on the outside," he said. "They are the first to really take the time to make it look interesting and different."