Drawing on travels abroad and locally, artist Margaret Eldred explores farming in all of its phases with paintings, photographs, drawings, and photographs in THE GOOD EARTH: Farms and Fields from California to Cape Town. The new exhibition is on view at YoloArts Gallery 625 in Woodland.
Eldred is a Davis resident and a retired lecturer from UC Davis, where she earned a PhD in English. She studied art at Sacramento City College in the classes of Chris Daubert, Frank Zamora, and Gioia Fonda.
Described by YoloArts creative director, Janice Purnell, as “kind of like a visual travelogue” THE GOOD EARTH: Farms and Fields from California to Cape Town has six thematic sections: Date Orchards, Nut Orchards, Olive Orchards, Row Crops, Rice, and Field Crops, accompanied by paintings and pen and ink drawings for each theme.
“I aim to do two things in my paintings – I strive to celebrate modern agriculture in all its nuances from planting and irrigating to harvesting and preparing for market and I enjoy playing around with color. You can see how my palette has changed from a focus on primary colors–red, blue, and yellow — in my earlier work, to more realistic colors in the middle ones, to greater freedom in my more recent paintings,” Eldred shares in her artist statement.
Eldred’s artwork uses a vibrant color palette to represent farming – from planting, irrigating, harvesting, processing – in many cultures. Accompanying Eldred’s paintings, photographs, and drawings are recollections of her experiences with the men and women who work in the fields around the globe, producing the world’s food.
“Margaret’s personal accounts and observations on farming add layers of meaning to her art,” said Purnell. “She also helps us understand farming practices in Yolo County by comparing them to those in other lands.”
THE GOOD EARTH: Farms and Fields from California to Cape Town runs through March 30 at Gallery 625, located at 625 Court Street in Woodland, in Yolo County’s Erwin Meier Administration building. The gallery is open Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Public health guidelines for physical distancing and the use of face coverings are required.
Exhibition artwork is also available for online viewing, at https://yoloarts.org/online-galleries/#current.
For more information contact YoloArts at ya@yoloarts.org.