[PRpond]
El Dorado County residents are no strangers to apple farming. With Apple Hill and apple picking season, cider tasting, doughnut sampling and pies for sale, apple culture is a familiar fall experience. Unknown to some, though, is the actual process of grafting by which an apple is produced.
Intersecting art, agriculture, and science, renowned Los Angeles-based artist Jessica Rath explores that very process in take me to the apple breeder, the new exhibition opening September 1, 2017, presented by El Dorado Arts Council at the Fausel House Gallery.
Public Opening Reception
Friday, Sept 1
6 - 8 pm
Fausel House Gallery
772 Pacific St, Placerville
Featuring Hors d'oeuvres from The Farm Table and Wine from Boeger Winery
Rath visited the Plant Genetics Resource Unit (PGRU) in Geneva, New York, a joint USDA/Cornell University project, in order to better understand the process of grafting, necessary to maintain a vast living collection of edible apples.
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Clone with central leader. 2011. Photography. Archival pigment print on exhibition fiber. Ceramic sculptures of several varieties found at PGRU were made during her first visit. She mimicked the size and shape of each chosen varietal while mixing and matching high fire glazes to allude to the hues representative of each piece. Returning in 2011, she photographed the "sister" trees planted by apple breeder Dr. Susan K. Brown. Dr. Brown utilized thousands of seeds from a crossbreeding of two apple varieties. These trees will mature, unpruned, for seven to eight years before Brown will choose one apple from the entire orchard to call a new variety. Rath shot the trees in the winter against large white muslin backdrops to catch the beautiful, leafless silhouettes and the sensuous detail of their skin.
The sculptures and large-scale photographs make up the exhibition visiting the Fausel House Gallery this fall.
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