Arts Center delivers tasty ‘Agri-CULTURED’

At the Aug. 11 opening night reception for “Agri-CULTURED: Reflections on Our Local Food Community by Land and by Hand,” at the Petaluma Arts Center, the playful comment, “That looks good enough to eat,” was uttered more than once, and not by the same person.

It’s an accurate enough description of the exhibition, which includes a tree laden with deliciously realistic fabric fruit, photos of field workers gathering produce, and a pile of appetizing almond shells supporting a tower of artificial milk bottles.

“In another lifetime, I taught graduate seminars in both Museum Studies and Food Studies in Berkeley,” said Carin Jacobs, the curator of the show and also the executive director of the Arts Center, addressing the opening night guests with some introductory remarks. “In my head I thought, ‘Some day I am going to bring these two things together.’ And this seemed like the appropriate time, and this is definitely the appropriate place to do that.”

The exhibit, which runs weekends through Sept. 24, features a vivid array of styles and media from sculpture, painting, photography, film and fabric art. Accompanied by a smaller show in the adjoining gallery, featuring small-scale industrial-sculpture works by David Duskin and Sean Paul Lorentz, the “Agri-CULTURED” show will take place over a weeks-long backdrop of related events and activities. Beginning with “Food & Memory” (Aug. 18, 6 p.m.), a presentation of poetry commissioned by the Arts Center and selected by Sonoma County Poet Laureate Elizabeth Herron, the series will continue with Lexicon of Sustainability (Aug. 25, 6 p.m.) a discussion by Douglas Gayeton and Laura Howard-Gayeton of three short films from their Lexicon of Sustainability web series, designed to activate consumers to give deeper attention to the ways they eat and shop. On Thursday, Sept. 8 at 6 p.m. there will be a panel discussion featuring Suzanne Grady of Petaluma Bounty, Aaron Gilliam of Sweetgrass Grazing and Sarah Keiser of Wild Oat Hollow, conversing about the North Bay’s deep agricultural roots, its present identity and the region’s future in regards to the local agricultural economy, environment and culture.

In addition, there will be some off-site weekend events, including a walking tour of Petaluma’s historical downtown agricultural sites, led by historian Katherine J. Rinehart (Sept. 17, 11 a.m.) and a community tasting (Sept. 24, 5-7 p.m.) showcasing a number of locally grown food items and the artisans who lovingly create them, to be held at the Foundry Wharf.

“It’s a pretty robust and ambitious calendar of events,” said Jacobs.

Taken together, the events and the Agri-Cultured exhibit are designed to plants seeds in attendees’ imagination, encouraging a fertile examination of our relation to food and how our choices can affect and change our community and the world. At the entrance to the show, a large statement on the wall — beginning with the Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin quote, “Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you what you are” — invites visitors to set aside their notions about the things we consume and how they get onto our plate.

“Agri-CULTURED explores cross-cultural intersections of food and farming in our region,” states the text on the wall. “The project brings together food producers, purveyors, and artists who work locally and align with global concerns of sustainable practice and cultural memory. It not only bridges art, science and agriculture but also engages the spheres of hospitality, tourism and the economy of Sonoma County.”

Among the more striking installations in the exhibit is Emma Logan’s “Nuts About Milk,” a ceramic and mixed media creation appearing to be a pile of milk bottles atop a small mountain of almond shells on the floor in one corner of the gallery. In an explanatory placard on the wall nearby, the artist illuminates her intentions for the eye-catching display.

“’Nuts About Milk’ is a question to the viewer about how we assign rights to water resources in California, how popular culture impacts those choices, and how our purchases influence agricultural practices. I hope to start conversations about the interconnectedness of personal decisions and environmental impact related to land use.”

“Land Grab,” another work by Logan, consists of columns of mesmerizingly colorful ceramic discs, 99 of them, arranged in a grid on the wall just beyond “Nuts About Milk.”

“Mom,” another striking and delightful piece a few steps away, is a papier mache sculpture by artist Vivien Straus, the writer-performer of an upcoming one-woman theatrical show titled “After I’m Dead, You’ll Have to Feed Everyone,” about the life of environmental pioneer Ellen Straus, co-founder of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, who is lovingly depicted in the sculpture. In the accompanying placard, the sculpture is described by its maker as “A fun pandemic project.”

And that’s just a few samples in a large and diverse show, taking the themes to unexpected places while giving a clear sense of place.

“When the call for art went out for this show,” Jacobs explained, “we asked artists to consider three themes — food and culture, food and the environment, and food and the economy, and the resulting show, I think, touches on all three of these areas while keeping us rooted in a very strong place here in Sonoma County.”