I chose the McColl Center for Art + Innovation for my first adventure. Why? Because it was open for a Gallery Crawl one night recently and it was close by, only 2 blocks from my house and "familiar territory." I went to see The Open Orchard. It is there through the end of August.
WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO...
Parking is usually available on Tryon or 10th St. Tryon St. has parking meters. Or the Hal Marshall is across the street, usually with plenty of parking. If you come in on the Blue Line, get off at 9th St. and turn right on Tryon. I rode my segway there. They say admission is free, but a sign behind the desk says "Suggested donation $5". Sometimes I do... sometimes I don't!!
WHAT I SAW...
The Open Orchard by Sam Van Aken is a work in progress at the McColl Center. I was able to talk to Sam and this greatly helped in my appreciation of his work. He is using his time at the McColl Center to concentrate on the visual art of a more than four year project in orchard agriculture he is working on an island in New York. He will graft more than 300 heirloom fruit specimens onto hardy stock and hopefully save them as a streuobstwiese, a community fruit meadow in the 16th Century German tradition. In doing so, he is drying and pressing flowers and leaves from the specimens, making botanical drawings, displaying some of the stumps with grafts, and most interesting to me, collecting magic wands! An old Chinese (I think) tradition says that branches of peach trees gathered during an eclipse will have magical powers and make excellent magic wands. Sam had gathered several peach branches during last year's eclipse and was researching how to preserve them. Sam's passion for grafting methods and his meticulous preserving of the botanical specimens in drawings and copper etchings is amazing.
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| Sam working on specimens before he presses them |
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| His botanical drawings |
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| An old German press he has acquired |
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| Stumps and graphs |
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| Peach wands drying in a salt water solution Photo from the Observer article |
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| Copper etchings |
WHAT I LIKED... OR DIDN'T...
While the botanical drawings were not my favorite type of art, talking to Sam helped me appreciate their historical value. The copper etchings were more visually interesting to me. The stumps with graphs were interesting but I couldn't quite grasp their "art", though sculptural pieces usually appeal to me.
WHAT I LEARNED...
Art need not be confined to a gallery. So often artists use nature as inspiration. Sam is literally growing an orchard which will be a living art piece and will preserve the heirloom species for future generations. It will no doubt be an inspiration to other artists as they visit the streuobstwiese.
IF MONEY WERE NO OBJECT, WOULD I PUT IT IN MY HOUSE...
Probably not... But I would LOVE to have one of the magic wands!! It would be a great accompaniment to the book I wrote for my granddaughters that put them in a Hogwart-type school here in America! And I would love to visit the orchard when it is in bloom!
OTHER OBSERVATIONS....
The Charlotte Observer did a piece on the Open Orchard on July 15, 2018. It has more details about the exhibit. You can see it at http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/CharlotteObserver/TranslateArticle.aspx?doc=CHO%2F2018%2F07%2F15&entity=ar03900&ts=20180718222957&uq=20180723094110
I would love to see the tree of 40 fruits that is mentioned in this article. There is an artist's rendering of the tree in bloom. Sam grafted a whole orchard onto one tree!!
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| From The Observer article... |
WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE BOUGHT IT!
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| The Odell Building (525 N. Tryon) as seen through the window of the McColl Center by Lisa Escherick |
Visiting the McColl Center reminded me of our first visit there and the charcoal we purchased from Lisa Escherick, a member of the first class of artists-in-residence. The McColl Center opened in 1999, the year we moved to Fourth Ward. When the first group of artists "moved in" and set up their studios we went to an "open studio" night. David had worked on the Odell Building and was working for Odell at the time. They also had just recently moved into offices there. Ms. Escherick had painted a HUGE triptych of scenes through the windows of her studio on the third floor. After admiring her work, she told us it had been purchased by Mr. McColl. We looked on her workbench and three charcoal sketches were there as "concept drawings" for the larger piece. We asked her if they were for sale. It was obvious that she had not considered that possibility, and after thinking for a moment she said that we could have the one of the Odell Building if we would make a contribution to the McColl Center. It was the first piece of art we bought for our condo! We have laughed and said Mr. McColl may have the larger piece, but it is just a copy. We have the original!
