BY KAREN BOSSICK
Famous Idaho Potatoes get framed as art when Rebecca Campbell unveils her new exhibition inspired by her family’s sojourn on potato farms at the Sun Valley Museum of Art.
Campbell will discuss her work at 5:30 p.m. tonight--Thursday, Oct. 28--in a free talk at the Sun Valley Museum of Art. Her works are part of the visual arts exhibition that opens Friday, Oct. 29, at the museum.
The work, “Two-Year Supply,” features artwork Campbell made as part of her larger project “The Potato Eaters.” That project was inspired by her parents’ youth growing up on potato farms in Rupert.
She took the title for “The Potato Eaters” from the Vincent Van Gogh painting of the same name and found sources for the art works in family photographs, stories and travels through southern Idaho where many of her relatives continue to farm.
The paintings and sculptures depict members of her families, landscapes and small towns during the mid-20th century when small family farms dominated the region’s landscapes. Many of these people were drawn to the West based on the promise of cheap, irrigated land following the Carey Act of 1894, which saw the transfer of millions of acres of federal land to Western states on the condition the states would oversea irrigation projects.
The name “Two -Year-Supply” takes its name from the Mormon tradition of canning and jarring food for emergencies.
“I have been deeply impressed with Rebecca Campbell’s work for a number of years, and it was largely the inspiration for the entire exhibition,” said Courtney Gilbert, SVMoA’s Curator of Visual Arts.
While the talk is free, pre-registration is required at https://svmoa.org. Attendees must wear face masks regardless of vaccination status.