Art-and-science exhibit depicts farming and permafrost interactions

Art-and-science exhibit depicts farming and permafrost interactions

An art-and-science exhibit explores the complexities of permafrost and its effects on farmers' lives.

Installed along the path on West Tanana Drive, which parallels the Georgeson Botanical Garden, is the Permafrost Grown Art and Science Walk. This exhibit showcases art made by farmers and University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers who participated in Permafrost Grown, a project studying the interactions between permafrost and agriculture.

The researchers and owners from 10 farms in Alaska worked together to study how permafrost presence and thaw affect cultivation practices and how cultivation affects permafrost. The project incorporated soil, permafrost and crop science, remote sensing, economics and farmers' knowledge of their land.

"Because so little has been done, we were really starting at the most basic fundamental questions of learning how this system works," Melissa Ward Jones said. Ward is a research associate professor at the UAF Institute of Northern Engineering and the project lead.

Much of the research was carried out in the participating farmers' fields, providing researchers with deeper insight into the issue and farmers with opportunities to learn from the research and other farmers.

With the goal of increasing community knowledge about permafrost, many participants contributed to the Permafrost Grown Art and Science Walk, displaying pieces inspired by permafrost concepts, its effects on people's lives and the knowledge gained from participating in this research.

Iris Sutton, an artist and participating farmer, submitted three art pieces for the exhibit, two of which depict trees tilting at haphazard angles due to ground subsiding from permafrost thaw in the woods around her farm.

"I enjoy combining art and science," she said. "I feel this combination can help with broader understanding in the community and for individuals."

Thirteen project members contributed content to the exhibit, which will be on display through the fall and reinstalled next summer. Parking is available at the gardens at 2180 W. Tanana Drive in Fairbanks. It can also be viewed virtually at www.permafrostgrown.org/art-and-science-walk.html.

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