Pyramid of Preserves

 The current exhibit at the Renwick Gallery focuses on the wide variety of crafts that are displayed and celebrated at state fairs all across the country. Most are based on the skills necessary to sustain a farm and a family: sewing, knitting, producing crops and raising animals. A pyramid of preserves highlights the necessity of making sure families have food all year. Rod Zeitler has won hundreds of prizes for his pickles, jams and jellies. Now, colors glowing, they rise almost to the ceiling on a brightly lit ziggurat. It’s magnificently impressive and also a reminder of how much easier it is to obtain food these days.