Knowledge @ Noon
2nd Wednesdays
Noon-12:45pm | Free & Open to the Public
LIVE online
Knowledge @ Noon is a FREE monthly speaker series featuring Artists, Historians, and Agriculture Professionals that explores themes central to YoloArts and Yolo County Historical Collection exhibitions at the Gibson House and Property.
Knowledge @ Noon: David Wilkinson & Rolf Frankenbach
Wednesday, Dec. 9 | 12:00pm
David and Rolf will present an overview of the Woodland Tree Foundation’s 20-year efforts to expand Woodland’s tree canopy and build community. One of the Foundation’s key goals is to re-introduce and preserve native oaks in the Woodland landscape. This is consistent with the City’s goal of increasing its tree cover from 15% to 25% by 2035, one of the pillars of its Climate Action Plan. They will discuss how the Foundation is “re-oaking” the Highway 113 corridor, an area once rich with valley oaks before the advent of farming and advocating for re-oaking Woodland’s new developments. There will also be discussion of the Foundation’s current project to revise Woodland’s tree ordinance, in cooperation with the City, to provide better protection for Woodland’s trees, with a special emphasis on native oak protection. Informed and active citizenry is essential to preserve Woodland’s tree culture. The stakes have never been higher.
David Wilkinson is a Woodland cultural historian and author. He has published books on Woodland’s architectural history, theater history- as part of community activism to save the historic State Theatre, and in 2021 he will publish “Gertrude’s Oaks”, a history of Woodland’s relationship with its trees. He is the co-founding president of the Woodland Tree Foundation. Founded in 2000, the Foundation has planted over 5,000 trees in and around Woodland with the efforts of local volunteers. Professionally David is an economist with a focus on community facilities, historic preservation, and renewable energy.
Rolf Frankenbach has 30 years of experience in environmental management and natural resource protection with various County and State government agencies. He is a long-time board member of the Woodland Tree Foundation and serves on the City’s Sustainability Advisory Committee. Rolf and David completed the first-ever digital mapping of Woodland’s mature native valley oaks. Rolf is part of a local citizen’s group who are assisting the City of Woodland with revisions to its tree ordinance, with a focus on oak protection and reforestation, an interest he is extending to a broader Yolo County.
Recording of a Live Knowledge @ Noon presentation by Ann M. Evans & Geogeanne Brennan
on Wednesday, November 11th, 12:00pm.
Yolo County’s food, wine and agriculture is now well recognized as an important contributor to the farm to table movement, but it wasn’t always the case. Join Ann Evans and Georgeanne Brennan for tales of their early and pioneering years of work with Slow Food Yolo, with Yolo County Department of Agriculture, and with all five Yolo County School Districts, all dedicated to putting the county, its wineries and olive oil producers, ranchers and growers, food processors and school cafeterias on the northern California culinary map.
From creating an award winning cookbook for the Davis Farmers Market, to a weekend of programming featuring Yolo County at the esteemed, Napa-based COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, to a celebration of Yolo County’s processing tomatoes in February, the events, publications and workshops created and presented by Evans & Brennan over a 10 year period from 2004-2014, were seminal.
This hour long, free ranging conversation with Ann and Georgeanne will begin with the publication of the cover story that changed the way Yolo County thought about itself. The SF Sunday Examiner published Evans & Brennan’s spread with photos on Yolo County: The Next Napa? The story surveyed the culinary and agricultural treasures of Yolo County and surmised that Yolo County was the next Napa, a little like Provence without the 3-hour lunches. Then, Evans & Brennan introduced the three hour lunch through the first ever Village Feast, gathering of 300 based on the French tradition of a Grande Aioli event – where everyone brought their own table settings, sat at one long table and service was family style.
Recording of a Live Knowledge @ Noon presentation from October 14, 2020.
In this moment of 'sheltering in place' seven artists explore the theme of embarkation and the hopes, dreams, and fears of setting off into the unknown. This presentation is a discussion between artists Lynn Beldner, Steve Briscoe, Melissa Chandon, Chris Daubert, Glenda Drew, Jesse Drew, and Mel Smothers about their work on view at The Barn Gallery in Woodland, CA.
Recording of a Live Knowledge @ Noon presentation from September 9, 2020.
This presentation covers what the National Register of Historic Places is and how it is used to evaluate historic properties. Riggs also provides background information and architectural descriptions of historic properties in Yolo County that are on the National Register.
Rebecca Riggs grew up in Woodland, CA and has always been passionate about the past. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Monmouth College (IL) and a Master of Arts degree in history and public history from California State University, Sacramento. She has worked as an architectural historian for Stantec Consulting Services for 3 years and currently sits on the Yolo County Historical Collections Committee.
Recording of a Live Knowledge @ Noon on August 12, 2020.
Glenn Cole obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo in Crop Science. Glenn has spent the last 35 years in the seed industry working on agricultural research. His experience has spanned the breeding and development of many crops including Alfalfa, Wheat, Melons, Tomatoes, Peppers and Sunflower. He has a particular interest in the identification and incorporation of valuable traits from wild species into the domesticated crop of interest. Genetic diversity is a critical component to any breeding program and creatively implementing proper strategies to capture the value of that diversity is the challenge he likes to solve the most. He has spent the last 5 years as the Plant Breeder/Research Manager for the UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Program.
This agriculture talk focused on the history of Strawberry Research at UC Davis and current innovations in the industry throughout California and internationally.
Recording of a Live Knowledge @ Noon on July 8, 2020.
Jane Ingram Allen, originally from Alabama, lived in Taiwan from 2004-2012 and moved back to the USA in August 2012, settling in Santa Rosa, CA. She continues her career as an international artist using sustainable materials and collaborative processes to raise public awareness about environmental and social issues.
She discussed hand paper-making for indoor and outdoor art installations including the use of plant materials. She also spoke about works created during residencies in Taiwan, Tanzania, and several in the USA. She currently has work in the WEAD exhibition at The Barn Gallery.
Recording of a Live Knowledge @ Noon on May 13, 2020.
For Judith Selby Lang “making something out of nothing” has been her motto as she crafts her artwork from found objects, discards, trash. While the content of her work has a message about the spoiling of the natural world by the human/industrial world, her intent is to give aesthetic form to what is considered to be garbage.
Her ephemeral public art works have graced the San Francisco Civic Center Plaza, the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, and Stanley Harbor, Hong Kong to name a few.
In light of the current recommendations from Yolo County Health and Human Services regarding large community events we will be postponing the Women Eco Artists Dialog: The Legacy of Jo Hansen and the Fashion Forward exhibition receptions scheduled for tomorrow, March 12, 5:30-8pm. We will be working closely with exhibition partners, Women Eco Artists Dialog and … Continued
In honor of Women’s History Month, YoloArts will be debuting two exhibitions at the Gibson House and Property in Woodland starting on March 12. The Barn Gallery will feature the group exhibition, Women Eco Artists Dialog: The Legacy of Jo Hanson. Inside the Gibson House, women’s clothing from the turn of the twentieth century will … Continued
A monthly speaker series featuring experts and professionals speaking on art, history, and agriculture topics begins August 14 at the Gibson House and Property, 512 Gibson Rd, in Woodland. The series, Knowledge @ Noon, is scheduled for the second Wednesday of each month, noon-12:45 p.m., August through December, at the Gibson House and Property in … Continued