Tag: Potato Collection

  • Unpacking My Potato Collection

    Potato Project Room:  Unpacking My Potato Collection

    artifacts, ephemera and recent acquisitions

    An Exhibition by Jeffrey Allen Price

    The Islip Art Museum is proud to present a Historical Room exhibition of potato-themed artifacts acquired by artist and curator Jeffrey Allen Price over the last twenty years. His potato collection comprises over 5,000 objects from around the world in a mesmerizingly wide range of objects.  This is an installation in flux as the artist unpacks, catalogs, displays and reorganizes different objects from the collection throughout the duration of the exhibition.

    Installation view “Unpacking My Potato Collection,” 2012.

    The exhibition itself is a work of art–placing antique prints, photos, tools and toys alongside works of art inspired by Price’s own collection.  In a room too small to fully exhibit each and every artifact, much of the Potato Collection remains still safely packed away, displayed in labeled boxes and notebooks. The artist will be present during scheduled office hours and by appointment during the exhibition to guide visitors through the collection and highlight objects not currently on view.

    Installation view “Unpacking My Potato Collection,” 2012.

    Potato Tomes Obelisk (2001–2012), books containing the word “potato” in the title, installation view.

    Price’s Potato Library includes over 500 books, magazines, catalogs and brochures in many languages from around the globe.   Some of these are featured in “Potato Tomes Obelisk” (2001-2012), a tower of books with the ‘potato’ in the title stacked by size and standing like a monument to the full spectrum of potato knowledge–from history to humor and nearly every genre in between.

    Installation view with “I Never Get Tired of Saying Potato”

    A video installation called “I Never Get Tired of Saying Potato,” shows the artist repeating the word ‘potato’ on a screen embedded in a pile of potatoes.  In this humorous work, Price demonstrates his commitment to his subject of study, turning the potato into a mantra, as his own head seems to take on the characteristics of one.

    “Antique Potato Mashers,” from the collection of Jeffrey Allen Price

    Installation view “Unpacking My Potato Collection,” 2012.

    “Potato TV Station,” VHS collection of Potatoes on TV and in movies.

    “Unpacking My Potato Collection” on view during the “Occupying Potato” exhibition in the Islip Art Museum’s main galleries from September 19 – November 18, 2012.

  • Spuds Unwrapped

    The Food Network, Television Appearance, April 21, 2002

    Tonight I appeared on Food Network’s Unwrapped as part of a special potato-themed episode called Spuds Unwrapped. Seeing myself on national television talking about potatoes and performing was surreal. Host Marc Summers introduced me as a “Potato Artist” and called me “the potato’s number one fan.”

    The segment featured an installation of my potato collection, potato-themed artworks, and documentation from EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE, a performance organized with fellow graduate students at Stony Brook University. The event had originally been scheduled around a planned Food Network visit in September 2001. Following the events of September 11, it was unclear whether the production would continue at all. The title EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE reflected both that uncertainty and my belief that gathering people together through food, humor, and art felt especially important during that difficult moment.

    During the interview I talked about some of the reasons why I originally became interested in the potato, explaining:

    “I started finding all sorts of connections, anthropological connections, all around the world, folklore dealing with the potato. The global significance of the potato became something for me that I could attach to.”

    I also explained one of my favorite concepts:

    “The potato seems to be this unifying symbol of egalitarianism. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t eat potatoes.”

    The segment ended with Marc Summers holding one of the THINK POTATO t-shirts I had given him and saying:

    “Here’s one of Jeffrey’s works of art. Looks pretty cool.”

    Which made me laugh. Hopefully it might even lead to a few more sales of my potato t-shirt designs online.

    The potato continues to drive me and delight audiences. It has introduced me to people I never would have met, conversations I never would have had, and opportunities I never could have predicted. Tonight’s television appearance feels like the latest chapter in an ongoing project that keeps growing in unexpected directions. What began as a curiosity has somehow become a nationwide conversation

    .Related Timeline Entry:
    • Featured on Food Network’s Spuds Unwrapped (2002)

    Related Documentation:
    • POTATOLAB (2002)
    • EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE (2001)