Farmland Preservation Artists associate member Holly Fritchman paints at Tait Farm during the summer solstice celebration. Photo by Shelly Mato

by Shelly Mato

Through the ages, art has often celebrated food, but in a unique turnabout here in Centre County, artists are painting food in order to preserve our local food sources.

The Farmland Preservation Artists celebrated the summer solstice with a gallery showing and working artists on display at Tait Farm June 19. At the Solstice Celebration: Art Show and Artists in Action, visitors could view and purchase members’ art, watch local artists painting in various locations around the farm, talk to artists about their work and the work of the group and enjoy some light refreshment.

The Farmland Preservation Artists of Central Pennsylvania, formed in 2005, is a joint enterprise of the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania and the Centre County Farmland Trust. The stated mission of the group is “to promote the preservation and appreciation of farmland through the visual arts.” The FPA has several shows each year, as well as an ongoing presence at the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture conference held each year at Penn State. The goal of these shows is to promote the aesthetic qualities and the food-production potential of the rural areas and farmlands in the area. A percentage of member artists’ sales goes to the AACP and the CCFT.

Founding member Karl Eric Leitzel notes that not all members are full-time professional painters or photographers, but that all share a vision of using their farm-related art to increase public awareness of the issues involved in protecting our rural landscape from erratic, unwise development.

“It’s real easy to use the best farmland first,” he said. “By featuring the land in our art, we show that it is a really beautiful area with a great deal of food production capability.”

Member artist Susan Nicholas Gephart says she has been painting in the Centre Region since 1979, and became aware that she had to do something to preserve the land featured in her art.

“Artists have a quiet voice of reminding people that there is something you can do,” she said.