This article is from the EMU News Archive. The approximate date of publication was in March 2003. Current EMU news is available at www.emu.edu/news
How Do You Like Them Apples at EMU?
Harold Paugh picks Red Delicious apples in his orchard, Quicksburg, Va., September 11, 2002Finally, a Golden (Delicious) opportunity to really compare apples with apples.
Artist-photographer Scott Jost took his medium format camera and portable recorder to apple orchards up and down the Shenandoah Valley and talked with growers about the past, present and future of apple growing in the region.
What he saw and heard is the subject of an art exhibit opening Monday, Mar. 10, in the third floor public art gallery of Hartzler Library at Eastern Mennonite University.
Jost’s display features 25 color photographs — some single prints and some multi-paneled images — and excerpts from interviews with area growers and others involved in the industry.
Jost, an associate professor of art at EMU, will give a gallery talk at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 15, during an opening reception for the artist.
Jost started working in earnest on the project about one year ago. He interviewed about 20 people — growers and others involved in the trade — and took photographs in locations ranging from the Virginia Tech fruit laboratory in Winchester to orchards ranging from 3,000 acres to eight acres and sites in between in Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah and Rockingham counties.
The orchards include one that has been operated by five generations of the same family as well as the remnant of the former Tip-Top Fruit Farm east of Harrisonburg.
"Apple growing is a longstanding tradition and an important aspect of the history of the Shenandoah Valley," Jost said. "It felt like an opportune time to undertake this project, given the effects on apple production of free-trade agreements, consolidation in food industries and the whims of nature.
"A project like this isn’t just something I managed to put together on my own," Jost added. "It involved the cooperation and collaboration of many people, and the openness and hospitality of everyone I worked with was incredible."
The exhibit is open for viewing daily March 10-April 4 during regular library hours free of charge.
Hartzler Library hours:
Mon.-Thur., 7:45 a.m.-11 p.m.
Fri., 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sun., 2-11 p.m.Posted: March 03, 2003
