October 26 - December 2, 2018

Sam Van Aken
Open Orchard

New York based artist, Sam Van Aken, returns to Roanoke College to elaborate on The Tree of Forty Fruit project currently housed in the courtyard outside of Olin Hall Gallery. Created through the process of grafting, The Tree of Forty Fruit is a single grafted tree with the capacity to grow over 40 different varieties of stone fruit including peach, plum, apricot, nectarine, cherry, and almond. In Smoyer Gallery, a series of botanical drawings of threatened heirloom species will display fruit varieties that are preserved through the project. The prints from Sam van Aken’s Seed Packet Grafts, which are “grafted” together by way of collage, will also be included in the exhibition.