Seed Journeys Session 4
Agriculture & Art Seed Journey
CORN: From Ancient Mexican Grass to Food Staple & Cultural Icon
Saturday, July 13, 2024
10:30 am Cornell Cooperative Extension Presentation
12:30-3:30 pm Seed Journeys Creative Experience with Serena Kovalosky (Drop-in-at-will)
Slate Valley Museum, 17 Water Street, Granville, New York
Tel. 518-642-1417
Event is FREE with museum admission:
$5 Adults; $3 Seniors; Free for Quarry Workers & Children under 12
The Slate Valley’s roadside cornfields and the Latin American immigrants working in and around the region’s quarries are the inspiration for the third monthly Seed Journeys session – “Corn: From Ancient Mexican Grass to Food Staple and Cultural Icon.”
On Saturday, July 13, the Slate Valley Museum in Granville, NY will host a presentation by Brian Gilchrist, Executive Director of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Washington County, followed by a studio tour and hands-on creative experience with the museum’s artist-in-residence, Serena Kovalosky.
Drop in anytime, stay as long as you want. BYO lunch to enjoy on the museum grounds if you wish. Tea & coffee will be available throughout the day.
Schedule of Events:
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Washington County
10:30 am PRESENTATION by Brian Gilchrist, Executive Director
“A Kernel of Knowledge” – The history and science of corn, its importance to our food supply and its relevance in our everyday lives.
This talk will trace the origins of corn from a wild ancient grass in South America to a world-wide industralized food staple. A discussion of tassels, cobs, kernels and silk will present the science behind how corn grows. Gilchrist will also share some surprising information about GMOs. A question-and-answer period will follow the presentation.
12:00 pm Time for BYO Lunch for visitors who wish to stay for the afternoon program.
Seed Journeys Creative Experience
12:30-3:30 pm (Drop-in-at-will) Serena Kovalosky, Artist-in-Residence
Serena Kovalosky will provide a Seed Journeys experience as she shares a brief history of the cultural significance of corn in Latin American indigeneous cultures while offering instruction on stringing dried corn seeds and husks on beading wire. The strands will become part of a large-scale community art installation exploring historical links of certain fruits and vegetables with Slate Valley immigrants from the 1840s to the present. Kovalosky’s brief talk as well as a tour of her museum studio and residency project are offered throughout the afternoon as new visitors arrive.
The Slate Valley is renowned for its variety of colored slate quarried in the region. Participants will be invited to string tiny glass seed beads in the colors of Slate Valley slate as an additional component to the installation.
Young children and those who wish to work on a smaller project with larger beads will have the option to create Friendship Bracelets in the Slate Valley slate colors.
The “Seed Journeys” installation is part of Serena Kovalosky’s residency project, “Moving Mountains: The Mustard Seed Project,” a meticulous, six-month journey of placing tiny mustard seeds from around the world, one by one, on the branches of a foraged mustard “tree” as a contemplative exercise that explores the symbolism of the mustard seed for restoring faith in our ability as individuals and communities to achieve humanity’s dream of peaceful coexistence, one small step (seed) at a time.
Kovalosky’s mustard “tree” sculpture and the community-created “Seed Journeys” installation will be exhibited at the museum’s Slate Valley Holiday Festival on December 6 and throughout the month of December. The 2024 theme is “Peace on Earth.”
Serena Kovalosky is a 2024 recipient of a Community Arts, Individual Artist grant for “Moving Mountains: The Mustard Seed Project.” This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, administered by the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council.
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