Sarah Williams, Centralia Carwash, 2010
We have been really busy this summer curating and organizing new exhibitions and projects for the fall. We are very excited about the artists we have for the next installment of Now. Here. This.
For September 2011, we have Sarah Williams documenting small towns in Missouri, Betsy Stirratt responding to the colors of Bloomington, Indiana, and a collaboration of three artists in Lehedzyne, Ukraine: Naomi Uman, Agitsa Bo-Gi, and Bozena Hrycyna. Click here to view the September Exhibition.
Rising Fields is a new art project by Leah Gauthier, dedicated to reviving the nearly extinct Marshall Strawberry, as well as several other of our most endangered foods.
The Marshall Strawberry, once heralded by James Beard, the Father of American Gastronomy, as the most delicious strawberry ever grown, is on Slow Food’s top 10 most endangered foods list.
Leah’s relationship with the Marshall dates back to 2007, when she tracked down what were then the last three remaining plants in existence to the USDA Germplasm Repository in Corvalis, Oregon. Generously and enthusiastically, since her aim is to grow them again for food, scientists there sent her a runner via FedEx from which 3 plants took root. Now Leah has 67 plants and counting. Her aim is to revive the Marshall to the point where it is no longer endangered.
“Right now I’m looking for a permanent home for these plants. A 1-3 acre piece of land with good sun, water supply and public access. I want this to be a destination art piece– aesthetically sort-of a cross between land art and a French potager–but it’s relational art at the core. I can’t do this all by myself so community is really important.” Gauthier has a lot of experience with such temporary relational installations, like her 2009 Sharecropper micro farm in New York City and 2010 Tending a Difficult Hope in Bloomington, Indiana.
Knowing that local food production also helps to revitalize and strengthen local communities, Gauthier is going to take on several other of our most endangered food plants as well–a few vegetables, grains and some fruit trees of the public’s choosing. “My hope is that not only will Rising Fields be a beautiful oasis of endangered food, and contribute to the overall health of everyone’s food supply, it will inspire others. Once significant plantings are established I want to provide plants and seeds to farmers and home growers. We’ll also need chefs and home cooks to re-imagine these foods back into our palettes and onto our plates.
Right now Gauthier is raising capital to purchase land, gathering input about location and votes from the public for which endangered foods will join the Marshall Strawberry on Rising Fields. To participate and find out more about the project, visit http://www.risingfields.org
We hope you are having a great summer! Our project Now. Here. This. is well underway, and each month we will be exhibiting work from different artists or groups that responds to the idea of place. We are happy to announce that the August exhibition, with work by three new artists is now up!
For August 2011, Maya Pindyck is sharing a piece she made in Tel Aviv, Israel earlier this year. Francois Deschamps used photography to synthesize his experience of living in Mali, and Karla Wozniak captures her impressions of road trips through America in paint. Click here to view the work.
While you are visiting the site, please be sure to check out the July exhibition as well, if you have not done so already!
Part of the goal of Now. Here. This. is to collect the voices and experiences of many different artists from all over the world, and we plan to introduce the work of three new artists on the first of each month. We are excited to announce our artists for August 2011:
Maya Pindyck
Francois Deschamps
Karla Wozniak
We will post their projects on the site on August 1, 2011. Please stay tuned!
Our first project Now. Here. This. is set to launch on July 1, 2011.
Now. Here. This. is a curatorial endeavor which collects artists’ responses to their physical locations and seeks to reconcile various experiences of “place.” Artistic practice is an extension of daily life, knowledge and resources–whether an artist’s habitat is a choice, a natural path, forced, or born out of necessity.
The project arises from our desire to mine our local communities for intelligent, provocative, mindful work that best reflects our sensibilities as artists and curators–and to share it with each other and the public to promote visual and collaborative relationships and conversations. The bulk of the exhibition will be online, expanding the idea of location further to allow the work of global artists to reside in one place. Each month a new group of artists will present a dialog with the physical place where they live and work. Eventually the project will also have physical components as we expand into publications and gallery exhibitions.