Help Plant The Tree of Forty Fruit

Join us for the planting of the Tree of 40 Fruit on the Karl Stirner Arts Trail. Shovels will be provided!

Sam Van Aken, artist and professor at Syracuse University, has been making art by manipulating nature for years. Some of those efforts result in the grafting of up to 40 different fruits on one tree. The tree on the trail in Easton will serve as a "base" tree to which the 40 grafts will be added over three years. 

Lafayette students, faculty and staff and Easton community members and families are invited to plant the tree as well as other support trees which will form a small orchard on the Trail. 

As an artwork, the Tree of 40 Fruit creates a moment of rethinking as it blossoms in different tones of pink, white, and crimson in spring and then bears a multitude of fruit throughout the summer. As a form of conservation, it preserves native, heirloom, and antique varieties of fruit once grown in the area.

Van Aken will make return visits to add grafts and prune the tree. Jim Toia, director of community-based teaching, will involve students from the art, engineering and science classes in the ongoing project. 

Also on Nov. 17, 7:00 -9:00 pm in the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, Van Aken will give a talk on his art, research and conservation work.

Born and raised in Reading, Pa., Van Aken serves as associate professor of studio arts in Syracuse University's School of Art. He is represented by the Ronald Feldman Gallery, NYC.

The artist’s plans include creating entire orchards of heirloom trees as a resource for individuals and growers throughout the U.S. to help reintroduce forgotten fruit varieties. His video on the National Geographic YouTube Channel has over 2.4 million views, https://youtu.be/ik3l4U_17bI.