Beechworth-based Rocco Esposito and his wife Lisa Pidutti’s venture Project Forty Nine will team up with Wangaratta Art Gallery on Home Grown Project 49 - Artists Dinner on March 2.

Esposito and Pidutti opened the Collingwood wine bar, delicatessen and restaurant in 2016-2017 to showcase North East produce in the city.  

The couple also run Beechworth cafe Project Forty Nine and bottle wine under the same name.

Esposito said the philosophy behind Project Forty Nine was to honour nature in all of their ventures.

“We embrace seasonality, balance, diversity and humanity,” he said. 

“These values are a natural line drawn from our home through all our endeavours, however far the branches of Project Forty Nine may reach."

Collingwood-based Project Forty Nine head chef Tim Newitt will create a three-course North East produce-inspired menu for the intimate dinner at Wangaratta Art Gallery next month.

Having worked as a trainee with Esposito and Pidutti at their popular Beechworth restaurant Wardens more than a decade ago, Newitt reconnected with the couple on their Melbourne venture.

Newitt creates Italian food with a modern influence in Collingwood's historic Foy & Gibson precinct.

As part of the dinner artists Mathew Fairbridge, Anthea Kemp and Gabriel Curtin will talk about their work on show at Wangaratta Art Gallery’s exhibition Fine Young Things.

While exhibiting in Melbourne and Sydney, the artists’ work is dynamic and diverse.

Each artist presents a variety of ideas and reflections of the past in the exhibition.

Fairbridge creates stone and wood sculptures as personal reflections of archaeological sites.

Kemp’s paintings reflect her childhood, growing up in the bush near Wangaratta.

Her work is ambiguous in form and shape but still manages to resemble a familiar North East landscape that is deep in her subconscious.

Curtin’s art presents an array of composite images that reflect how people gain knowledge and narrative through incidences, encounters and misunderstandings.

The artists will also speak about their work at the gallery on March 3 from 10am to noon. 

Home Grown Project 49 - Artists Dinner runs on March 2 from 7pm to 10pm.

Tickets are limited.

Bookings are essential, phone (03) 5722 0865 or visit wangarattaartgallery.com.au/home-grown-dinner/