By CAROLYN BROWN
Staff Writer
Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton will host its eighth biennial Art in the Orchard exhibition, a half-mile sculpture trail on the orchard’s grounds, until Sunday, Nov. 30. The orchard itself is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, but the artwork is available during daylight hours.
“Beetle in a Haystack,” by Dave Rothstein, at Park Hill Orchard, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Easthampton. Staff Photo/Daniel Jacobi II
The show features 34 works of varying sizes and mediums, including “Joy,” a popular piece depicting dancing starfish-like forms; “The Arches of Hampshire County,” a group of trellises decorated by local fiber arts group The Fiberistas; “Salutation,” a Brancusi-esque cast iron sculpture depicting a figure in a welcoming gesture; and “Erebus,” a sleeping dragon made of steel, iron, and recycled tools.
One of the most eye-catching pieces is “Beetle in the Haystack,” a life-size replica of a 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle made of chicken wire, steel, aluminum, hay, and straw, which sits above and in the center a walkable hay labyrinth. In his audio tour segment, artist Dave Rothstein said, “Although it’s not high art, it is high up there, looking like it’s going to take flight. Hope you enjoy it, and it brings you a smile.”
“Four Elements Personified,” by John Collins, at Park Hill Orchard, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Easthampton. Staff Photo/Daniel Jacobi II
For Park Hill Orchard co-owners Russell Braen and Alane Hartley, art and fruit farming have a symbiotic relationship: “The sculpture show wouldn’t work if it wasn’t a serious commercial farm, and I don’t know if the commercial farm would sustain itself without having all the people come over, so it’s a two-way street,” Braen said.
It also made more sense to Braen and Hartley to exhibit sculptures than, say, paintings or photos because a sculpture has a physical presence.
“You’re on a farm, you’re picking apples, everything is three-dimensional. There’s texture, there’s smell, there’s taste, there’s movement, and I think the sculpture really lends itself to that same experience,” Hartley said.
Artist Eileen Travis, one of the Fiberistas, said Art in the Orchard is “such a wonderful space to create things for, and I think that because there’s intimate spaces and very large open spaces, it lends itself to such a large variety of sculpture that can be imagined for those spaces.”
“Joy,” by Michael Perusse, at Park Hill Orchard, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Easthampton. Staff Photo/Daniel Jacobi II
Park Hill Orchard also hosts other events, including Bread & Puppet Theater shows, yoga, poetry readings, and dance performances, but a sculpture trail is a benefit because it leads guests to have longer, more involved visits.
“A family with two children, it only takes 20 minutes to pick a bag of apples,” Braen said, “and they often spend a lot more time getting here than that. The art trail, as you can tell by walking around, takes two to four hours, so it ends up being a whole afternoon outing for people.”
“That’s the method to the madness,” Braen said. “Under the hood, it’s our marketing plan.”
Braen and Hartley have a background in migrant agricultural work, including apple picking and blueberry raking. The two are from the Washington, D.C. area, but Hartley’s family is from New England: her father and grandmother are from Massachusetts, and her mom is from upstate New York.
Long Tall Sally the giraffe, a part of the grapevine statue trio “Pegasus, Long Tall Sally, and Atlas,” by Malcolm White, at Park Hill Orchard, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Easthampton. Staff Photo/Daniel Jacobi II
“Even though I never lived here, it was just a matter of, ‘I belong in New England,’” Hartley said.
The couple moved to the area in 2007, at which point the orchard had been unattended for years: “You couldn’t see this building from the road,” Hartley said, pointing at the farmstand. “It was so, so overgrown.”
It took years for Braen and Hartley to clear the land and turn it back into a working orchard, where they now grow nearly 100 kinds of fruit.
When this reporter visited Art in the Orchard last week, it was a clear, sunny day, and there were a handful of guests, including a family with two young children and a local woman who’d brought her sister, who was visiting from Virginia, to see a piece her neighbor had created. Bees were buzzing around the fruit trees. Hartley called the orchard “a real destination place for people to show off our area.”
“Erebus,” by Trisha Moody, at Park Hill Orchard, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Easthampton. Staff Photo/Daniel Jacobi II
Since Art in the Orchard began in 2011, it’s hosted more than 400 sculptures and thousands of visitors. In that time, Braen and Hartley have given thousands of dollars in honoraria to artists, many of whom return to exhibit work in multiple shows.
“We get to meet a lot, both from the people who come to visit and from the people who show,” Hartley said. “Our world is just so much bigger than it would be if we were just doing pick-your-own.”
Admission to Art in the Orchard is free, though donations are welcome at the trailhead. For more information about Art in the Orchard, including how to reserve the wheelchair-accessible “Art Cart,” visit artintheorchard.org.
Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.
