Poças and the Artistic Vein

The taste and interest in art is not something new in the universe of Poças and that has been rising over time through various partnerships.
From the creation of cloth bags with drawings by the artist Mariana, Miserável, to the exhibition “Thirty Three, Poças!” by Luís Mendonça in which he created a series of objects that illustrate metaphors around wine, always in the shape of a “hidden” bottle.
It was now the turn to give wings to the imagination of the students of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, with the exhibition “Impressões da Vinha”.
An exercise made thinking about the old advertising posters for Port Wine, once very common and which, with time and digitization, fell into disuse.
The works on display are the result of work carried out by students of the Image Design and Seminars II class, in partnership with Poças, a producer of Douro and Porto wines. The idea came from Professor Rui Mendonça who challenged these young people to participate in this project.
“Aware that the poster, as an advertising piece, has lost some of its strength, some of its impact over the years, Poças questioned us about how Port Wine could today help recover a tradition lost to other media in an era of accelerated dematerialization. And it was in this context that the exhibition “Impressões na Vinha” emerged. Many embraced the idea that gave rise to this show that everyone can now visit.” – says Professor Rui Mendonça.
The posters presented address in an interdisciplinary and transversal way the themes of wine, the city, the region, tourism, the experiences associated with each of these domains and their economic, commercial, and social articulation.
“A few years ago, while cleaning up one of the Poças warehouses, a set of five posters advertising our wines, dating from the early 1930s, was found. It was an unexpected and surprising discovery, as some of the posters were completely unknown even to the family and employees with more than 60 years of connection to the company.” – says Pedro Poças Pintão, CEO of Poças.
This happy chance recalled the importance, richness and reach of the Port Wine advertising posters. Some, designed in the first decades of the 20th century, can still be found in bookshops, restaurants or even in antique and souvenir shops for tourists, in the most diverse places in the world.
The partnership established between the University of Fine Arts of Porto and Poças brings together two secular arts, and turns out to be a tribute to the cultural heritage of this region of the country, something of which we all feel a part, and which we share here, with the “Impressões na Vinha” exhibition.