FRESH: Pairing Art and Agriculture

FRESH Longmont is a unique art project that pairs local artists with local farmers to create music, poetry, paintings, photographs and sculptures which reflect the local agricultural community.

It culminates on Saturday August 22^nd with a sold out benefit featuring a live auction, award-winning artwork, chef-and-farm-created tapas and music.

The fundraiser benefits Arts Longmont and Firehouse Art Center, and is taking place at Roosevelt Park in Longmont, with musical performances and features local chefs using product supplied by local farms in a competition between the chefs that will be evaluated by celebrity judges.

Joanne Kirves, Executive Director of Arts Longmont and the Muse Gallery says there were 40 artists that worked with 14 farms “Our plan was to match each farm with a two dimensional artist, a three dimensional artist and a storyteller, and the storyteller could be a writer, a poet, a musician or a chef. So with those three components those artists would tell the story of that farm.”

Musician Greg Marmolejo was paired with the Sol y Sombra farm and was inspired to write a song about the farm cats, the result is The ballad of Thunder, Lightning and Rascal.

Artist Deborah Coccoli was paired with Briar Gate farm which has goats and produces cheese. “The goats were so playful and their long ears flopped when they ran and frisked, and the new born kids curled as tightly as they could to fit into a bowl. And alas, the cheese stands alone.”