Farming in the 21st Century - exhibition brochure March 27 - May 23, 2009

Adult Classes Grow Better Vegetables

Thu, Apr 9, 5:30–7:30pm Sawtooth Botanical Garden $15 members of The Center & Sawtooth Botanical Garden / $20 non-members The Sun Valley Center of the Arts has teamed up with the Sawtooth Botanical Garden to bring you a workshop on vegetable gardening. Learn the tricks of the trade on how to grow a successful garden in our high altitude climate. Participants will learn triedand-true vegetable varieties, how to extend the growing season, and have the opportunity to purchase a variety of seeds to start indoors. To register, contact the Sawtooth Botanical Garden at 726-9358.

Beyond the Garden: Cooking Locally with Rasberry’s Catering

Sat, May 2, 10am–4pm $75 members / $125 non-members Additional cost of food will be added Registration deadline: Apr 17 Wood River High School

wonders of local food cultivation. You will then join the experts of Rasberry’s Catering as they teach you how to prepare delicious but uncomplicated recipes featuring local, seasonal and mostly organic ingredients.

Teen One Night Workshop Digital Photography with Dev Khalsa

Sat, Apr 18, 10am–4pm $10 fee / pre-registration required The Center, Hailey As a part of Farming in the 21st Century, photographer Dev Khalsa will introduce students to the local farms in the Wood River Valley. Students will be able to capture the lives of the valley’s food growers through the lens of their cameras. Students will become comfortable with the digital camera and digital terminology. This workshop is for teens who are new to photography, as well as for those with more experience looking to strengthen their skills.

Visit a local farm and explore the

Family Day

Sat, May 2, 3–5pm The Center, Hailey Families will have an opportunity to tour the show, talk about the artwork and create a portable garden of their own.

Idaho’s Bounty Locavore’s Special Enjoy fresh, sustainably grown and raised food from your Southern Idaho food shed and Idaho’s Bounty producers, prepared uniquely by seven local chefs at participating restaurants. Purchase a $20 pass toward 10% off those menu items for the six week festival.

Proceeds go to the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Idaho’s Bounty Co-op, Inc. Or just stop in and enjoy a new special prepared with local foods at your favorite participating restaurant during the festival weeks.

CK’s Apr 6–12 Glow Apr 13–19 Globus Apr 13–19 310 Main April 20–26 Ketchum Grill Apr 27 – May 3 Ciro’s May 4–10

208.726.9491 www.sunvalleycenter.org in Hailey: W–F noon–5pm 314 Second Ave. S, Hailey, Idaho Center Hours & Locations in Ketchum: M–F 9am–5pm, Sats in Mar 11am–5pm Exhibition Tours: Tue at 2pm 191 Fifth Street East, Ketchum, Idaho

Sun Valley Center for the Arts P O Box 656 Sun Valley, ID 83353

PERMIT NO. 679 BOISE ID

PAID U S POSTAGE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

Farming Century 21 in in the the

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March 27 – May 23, 2009 Sun Valley Center for the Arts

Farming in the 21st Century March 27 – May 23, 2009

Over the last decade many American farmers have changed their major crop production in response to the demand for corn, the basis of ethanol fuel. Simultaneously, there is a worldwide shortage of rice and corn—basic foods that are the centerpiece of much of the world’s diet. In the West, bestselling books have been written about the importance of living and eating sustainably. All over the country organic farmers, farmers markets, small acreage farms and subscription farms are seeing a huge upsurge in participation as families look for ways to eat food grown and shipped locally.

As the world becomes sensitive to the carbon footprint of each citizen, the nature of agriculture is shifting. Operations that were family owned in the 20s and 30s went into foreclosure during the Great Depression. In the 60s and 70s corporations bought up huge portions of the nation’s agricultural lands and family farmers cried foul. Today there is a movement away from corporate food growing to tables laden with seasonal goods planted, produced and harvested by regional purveyors. This multidisciplinary project will focus on the changing nature of farming in the 21st century.

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Visual Arts, Ketchum As the organic food and slow food movements gain currency, the nation resurrects myths about the romantic, independent nature of farming and working the land. A number of contemporary artists exploit this ongoing romance with the heartland by making pictures of farmscapes—some of them complimentary, some nostalgic and some critical.

Julie Moos’s images from her Monsanto Series are quintessential portraits of the state of farming in the late 20th century. Inspired by James Agee’s work in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), Moos photographed pairs of farm owners in Missouri and Illinois. All of the farmers are linked by their allegiance to the Monsanto Corporation, the world’s leading producer of bio-engineered seeds.

Michael Gregory’s pastoral paintings of the heartland are not bucolic pictures of healthy crops and grazing livestock but haunting images of man made structures that hold within them all the contradictions inherent in farming—stability and loneliness, possibility and abandon, reverence and emptiness.

Based in Boise, Geoff Krueger grew up in Southern California surrounded by verdant fruit and vegetable fields that have given way to strip malls and tract houses. Krueger’s paintings come from a longing to record his early memories.

Montana-based artist Tracy Linder grew up on a farm near Billings. She received her MFA the same year her family lost their farm, and much of her art is an homage to family farming, a way of life and of producing food that she feels is disappearing. Made from materials linked to farming, sculptures of shovels and work gloves honor the labor farmers put into producing our food.

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All events are free unless otherwise noted.

Exhibition Tours

Closing Celebration

Special Evening Exhibition Tour

Join us for drinks and appetizers from local producers. Tasting and awards for our canning competition will be a part of the evening’s celebration.

Every Tue at 2pm or by arrangement

Thu, Apr 16, 5:30pm

Sat, May 23, 5:30–6:30pm Open for Gallery Walk until 8pm

Visual Arts, Hailey

Everything Forgotten: Paintings by Chris Binion

Films & Lectures King Corn with producer Curt Ellis

Apr 3 – May 29, 2009 Boise-based painter Chris Binion has spent much of his career painting still lifes, but a trip to Fairfield inspired a new body of work. This series of watercolors depict the architecture of farming: barns, grain silos and the other structures that dot the agricultural landscape. Binion places these buildings against white backgrounds, eliminating their surroundings. He writes that, “the familiarity of these totem-like objects carries the memory of the landscape.”

Thu, Mar 26, 7pm Community Library

Opening Celebration

The documentary film King Corn is about two college buddies, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, who move to the heartland to better understand where the food they eat comes from. With help from farmers, genetically modified seeds and fertilizers they grow a bumper crop. But following their harvest into the food system reveals troubling questions about how we farm and how we feed one another.

Filmmaker Curt Ellis will answer questions about the filmmaking process as well as what he learned about farming in the 21st century at a film screening.

Join us for drinks and appetizers. Chris Binion will speak about his paintings at 6pm.

Idaho Farming Today Panel Discussion with Local Growers

Thu, Apr 16, 7pm Community Library

Every time we go to the grocery store or the farmers market, we make choices—not only about what to eat, but also about how we want our food to be produced. These decisions affect the health of our bodies, our communities, the environment as well as contemporary farming practices. Four regional farmers will gather to discuss how they farm, the challenges they face, the hopes they have for sustainable farming in the future and the ways in which eaters affect these issues. Panelists include Mary Rolfing from Morning Owl Farms, Janie Burns from Home Grown Poultry, Mike Heath from M&M Heath Farms, and Jeff and Carol Rast from Prairie Star Farms.

Fri, Apr 3, 5:30–7pm, The Center, Hailey

Idaho’s Bounty Co-op presents Hagerman Valley Greenhouse Tour

Community Rising presents EATING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

In conjunction with Farming in the 21st Century, Idaho’s Bounty Co-op is hosting this unique spring farm tour.

Geothermal energy is in abundance in our Magic Valley food shed and Idaho’s Bounty is fortunate enough to work in concert with greenhouse owners growing fresh local greens, citrus and vegetables. Join us to experience the warmth of four greenhouses and the richness of their harvest in beautiful Hagerman Valley. Ramblin Rose, Springs of Life, Onsen Winter Gardens and Canyon Bloomers will be welcoming hosts.

Never before have we faced so many choices when we shop for food. The US currently imports foods from more than 130 countries. We can get whatever we want, whenever we want it.

We no longer have to wait until spring for asparagus, June for strawberries.

The price we pay for this “luxury” is enormous. How does this supposed abundance affect our relationship to nature, our health and our environment?

Community Rising partners with The Center to lead this discussion on the growing movement towards ­local, sustainable food choices, helping us to locate the wealth of local food available in the Wood River Valley.

Sat, Apr 18, 1–7pm $30 (includes transport & samples) Tickets available from Idaho’s ­Bounty, 208.721.8074 or www.idahosbounty.org

Thu, May 21, 7pm The Center, Ketchum

Inside images top to bottom: Julie Moos, Monsanto Series: C.J. and Craig, 2001, C-print on plexi, courtesy of the artist and Fredericks & Freiser, New York Michael Gregory, Ephrata #1, 2001, oil on wood panel, courtesy of Carrie and Russ Pillar King Corn, photo by Sam Cullman Chris Binion, Red Barn and Others, 2007, watercolor on paper, courtesy of the artist and J Crist Gallery, Boise Outside images: Geoff Krueger, Day Work I, 1996, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist Tracy Linder, Gloves, 2006-07, leather gloves, resin, wax, courtesy of the artist