This past summer, Maine Farmland Trust’s Fiore Art Center offered four virtual residencies. Instead of working at the beautiful Rolling Acres Farm at the Fiore Art Center in Jefferson, the residents worked from their homes, farms, gardens and studios. The Maine Farmland Trust Gallery website will host an online exhibit of the work through Friday, April 9, and virtual artist talks for the exhibit, open to the public, will be held at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19. The artists share their work through Zoom and describe their processes, challenges and achievements during their residencies.
Performance artist Katie Addada Shlon, from Maryland, used natural sounds and instruments assembled from pottery shards and other discarded materials to depart from traditional forms and structures. Her goal is to reframe our experience of music, connecting ideas of regenerative agriculture and performance in nature.
Photographer and videographer James R. (Rob) Southard, from Kentucky, shared images from his ongoing photography series, The Kentucky Farmer, which documents farmers of all kinds in his home state. His photographs record rural landscapes and studies of everyday agricultural life.
Non-fiction literary artist Margot Anne Kelley, from Maine, shared writings from her essay about seeds and seed-saving, with added exploration of some of the odd connections between seeds and viruses in Germ Lines. Her work ranges from habits of ancient hunter-gatherers and plantings in Roman herb gardens to writings from Henry David Thoreau.
Literary artist Sophie Kelmenson, presents video excerpts from her dissertation Challenges To and Challenges from Scale in Alternative Food Systems, exploring the promise of using alternative food systems as a mechanism for sustainable economic development.
To register for the virtual artist talks, visit mainefarmlandtrust.org/event/artist-talks-fiore-residents-exhibit/
Maine Farmland Trust is a statewide, member-powered nonprofit working to protect farmland, support farmers, and advance the future of farming. Maine Farmland Trust created its gallery to celebrate agriculture through art, and to inspire and inform the public about farming in Maine. Maine Farmland Trust Gallery is located at 97 Main St., Belfast. The gallery is not currently open to the public due to COVID-19 precautions but exhibits can be found online. For more information, mainefarmlandtrust.org/gallery.
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