  The Culinary Arts Museum at the Providence Campus Presents PROVIDENCE, R.I. – May 5, 2008 – The latest exhibit at the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University, "Dripping with Color: The Art of the Fruit Crate Label," is a riot of vibrant color and stunning images. The collection was unveiled at a reception on April 9 and will be available for viewing through May 2009. New York sculptor and New York University art professor Marilynn Gelfman Karp, and her husband, art dealer Ivan C. Karp, donated 238 vintage fruit crate labels to the museum, providing the seed for the exhibition. The Karp collection of labels includes outstanding examples of mint-condition, unused labels from the 1870s to the 1950s. This was a time in which this food-marketing device was in its hey-day, when produce growers used fabulous labels to call attention to their products that were distributed in identical crates. More than just an art show, "Dripping with Color" puts the labels into historical context with background information on the growers, the lithographers, crate technology and design and also a look at some of the instruments used to hand-pick the fruit in the fields. For Culinary Arts Museum director and curator Richard J.S. Gutman, this show resonates with personal stories. During the course of his research, he discovered that his grandfather, Leon Gutman, who left Ukraine for the United States just after 1900, worked for the Clover Leaf Box Company in Woodbridge, New Jersey, building fruit crates and shooks. (A shook is a collapsible box, the design of which facilitates return shipping.) Also, one of the text panels relates the part-time work during the 1930s of Rita O’Grady O’Connor, Richard’s mother-in-law. Growing up in California, she was paid ten cents for each four-by-eight-foot tray she filled with apricots she had cut in half to dry. Now 87, she maintains a small yard with her 89-year-old husband in Palo Alto. It is home to 29 fruit trees, so the processing of fruit continues at its seasonally frantic pace. In a section entitled “Apples to Apple,” the transformation of the Santa Clara Valley—known for its orchards—into Silicon Valley is chronicled. When Apple Computer got its start in Steve Jobs’ garage in Cupertino in 1976, the decimation of more than 120,000 acres of fruit trees under cultivation in Santa Clara County was well under way. Today Apple sits at the corner of Infinite Loop and Mariani Ave. in Cupertino. (Paul A. Mariani, Sr. was a legendary fruit grower.) The "apples" that are nurtured there today are products of a landscape that was once covered in prune, apricot and cherry trees. Johnson & Wales University, founded in 1914, is a nonprofit, private institution. A recognized leader in career education, we offer accredited degrees in business, hospitality, culinary arts, technology and education. With a diverse student body of more than 16,000 graduate and undergraduate students, representing all 50 states and 89 countries, JWU prepares students for personal and professional success by integrating rigorous academics and professional skills, community leadership opportunities and our unique career education model. The university is committed to urban revitalization and thoughtful historic renovation. Through active civic participation and by offering unique learning opportunities, JWU improves the quality of life in its campus communities in Providence, R.I., North Miami, Fla., Denver, Colo., and Charlotte, N.C. For more information visit www.jwu.edu. Images are available upon request Johnson & Wales University, founded in 1914, is a nonprofit, private institution. A recognized leader in career education, we offer accredited degrees in business, hospitality, culinary arts, technology and education. With a diverse student body of more than 16,000 graduate and undergraduate students, representing all 50 states and 89 countries, JWU prepares students for personal and professional success by integrating rigorous academics and professional skills, community leadership opportunities and our unique career education model. The university is committed to urban revitalization and thoughtful historic renovation. Through active civic participation and by offering unique learning opportunities, JWU improves the quality of life in its campus communities in Providence, R.I., North Miami, Fla., Denver, Colo., and Charlotte, N.C. For more information visit www.jwu.edu.
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