Culture + Agriculture 2014

My piece, 29 Feet Per Square Meter is on display at New Visions Gallery, Inc. in Marshfield, Wisconsin for the Culture + Agriculture exhibit.  The work will be up till August 29th!

New Visions Gallery!

It would be an understatement to say this year has been a difficult one for me.  But I am happy to say that I have pulled myself up and I am stronger than ever! 

29 Feet Per Square Meter will be on display at the New Visions Gallery for the 28th Annual Culture & Agriculture exhibit!

The show will be up from June 29 - August 29, 2014.

1000 North Oak Avenue

Marshfield, WI 54449

29 Feet Per Square Meter

A new piece, 29 Feet Per Square Meter, 39 x 39 inches, twigs, wire, red tape. 14 chickens per square meter inside a ventilated shed is considered free range in Australia.  The USDA only requires that the animal has access to the outdoors for an undetermined amount of time each day.  That means a coop could contain 10 to thousands of chickens inside with a door to the outside the size of a doggy door that is only open for 5 minutes a day with most of the animals unaware the door is even there or open.  Free range is not always so free.

You can call the egg company you purchase your animal products from to find out the conditions of the animals.  You can get to know a farmer at a farmers market and ask her/him what the conditions are.  Maybe even visit the farm.

Transplanting in the Green House

Today I did more transplanting in the green house since it was raining outside.

These are little pepper plants.  Jay started them from seeds back in early March.  He kept them under lights because they enjoy 70 degree weather. 

I took each individual pepper plant and placed them in another tray. This makes it quick, clean and easy to transplant them in the ground.  When they are ready and the weather is right for peppers we can transplant them outside.

Little pepper plant.  We trim the roots a bit to encourage them to grow more.

And eggplant!

This is the mix in the trays.  Worm castings, coconut coir, and vermiculite.

I finished my 29 chicken feet made of twigs and branches.  Now I need some red yarn and I will be able to show the finished product!

More Transplaning, Kitties and Chicken Feet

Today I transplanted different types of lettuces into the ground.  3 rows, a foot apart.  Above are the lettuces before I put their roots in the soil.  Another benefit to transplanting verses putting seeds directly in the ground is that the rows will be neater and properly spaced.  It's often a bit of a mess when the seeds go directly in the ground.

But today we planted rutabaga seeds (above) directly into the ground and parsnip seeds (below).  For the rutabagas I sprinkled 2-5 seeds every 6 to 8 inches.

For the parsnips we just scattered them along the rows.  Jay said that usually the rule to covering seeds with soil is to double the length of the seed.  So for the parsnips we covered them about 1/2 an inch.

Trouser likes to sit and watch us work.  It's nice to have his company, but sometimes I wish he would grab a shovel and do something.

The kitties continued to hide today.

I started putting together the chicken feet with twigs and wire.

Then to my surprise, Jem decided to join me!

Mrs. Chicken's Feet!

I thought I'd briefly share how Mrs. Chicken's feet were created.

I nailed two nails into this board and placed her clay feet onto them, feet up. Then we cut the bottoms out of the paper cup and hot glued the paper cup around the feet to create the mold....the clay around the bottom is to keep the plastic from leaking out. We poured the blue stuff (can't remember proper names!) around the clay feet and it dried very quickly, like extra extra firm tofu. :0 )

We sliced the mold so we could pour the plastic in and get out air bubbles and took out the clay feet. (This is the same process used to make plastic toys.) The plastic dries super quickly.

Open up the flap of the molds and out come the plastic feet.

They are a bit messy, with some air bubbles and missing toes.

But I fix that with another type of plastic (orange stuff) and a soldering iron and paint them yellow.

That's how you make chicken feet!

Tomorrow! 7-10 pm at the B1E Gallery, 6902 N. Glenwood Ave, Mrs. Chicken on Her Hill and Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplant on display! And if you can't make that you can come this Saturday, Jan 21st, 7-10pm! Thank you!

My first art show!

I was part of the intern show at the Packer Schopf Gallery last Friday. It was the first time I saw how people reacted to my work without knowing me. It has motivated me to keep chugging along. I saw that people really did like to look at my work AND learn what it was about! People reacted to my explanations with interest and stories of their own. It was beautiful. I want my work to educate people about food and how it got to our tables. It felt so wonderful to do that Friday. I know that one day I will find the perfect way to make my artwork and my interest in farming come together.

61 Feet Per Square Meter, I hung it from the ceiling and thought it actually looked much better than on the the wall.

Close up of 61 Feet Per Square Meter, and Ezra's Gourd (shape study) in the background.

Manufacturing the Sunflower, it was wonderful to see it hung for the first time!

Close up of Manufacturing the Sunflower with Gourd (color study), and Beet in the background.

Last minute cards for people to grab. My thumb is still numb from cutting 250 of these out!

Arqui, Adrian, and Kristen!

I missed the beautiful moment when Claire and Will first saw each other that night...but they recreated it for the camera.

And last but not least, my greatest piece of all! Randy and Jacob loved it so much. They stood against it all night admiring it's crisp edges and it's ability to hold a ceiling up.

Thanks again to all my friends that came out! This was so important to me and you guys made it great.