Art Revealing Our True Colors

On September 18^th, Founding Farmers Reston Station hosted an “Art Reveal” to give invited guests the opportunity to learn more about the original art across our restaurant. It was an evening dedicated to celebrating our commissioned artists and their extraordinary work.

Guests sipped cocktails, nibbled on light bites, and were given personalized tours of the restaurant’s art by the artists themselves. Founding Farmers Reston Station features artists who have created groundbreaking art to help us tell the story of Thomas Jefferson, his home at Monticello, and our farmer-owned restaurant.

Ronald Jackson was on hand to discuss his portrait of Chef James Hemings, Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved chef who was classically trained in French cuisine and traveled to France to study the culinary arts. Chef Hemings was brother to Sally Hemings and half-sibling to Martha Wayles Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson’s wife. Jackson’s portraits of George Washington’s enslaved chefs hang at our sibling restaurant, Farmers & Distillers.

Jessica Maria Hopkins talked about her portrait of Sally Hemings and using different techniques to tell the story of this enslaved woman whom historians and biological tests have confirmed had a relationship with Thomas Jefferson that led to at least one and probably six children between 1790 and 1808. Hemings is an important part of the history of Jefferson, and her quarters have just been added as an official part of the Monticello tour.

Emily Hoxworth explained her textile chain of fruits, vegetables, and flowers inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello flower gardens and his early ecological observations. The name of the piece, Nature’s Chain, comes directly from a quote by Jefferson on the effects of extinction on the surrounding ecosphere, and how the extinction of one can be felt throughout nature’s entire chain.

Suzanne Heilmann explained the creation of the laundry line that hangs across the ceiling of the restaurant. She intricately layers glue and paint on actual pieces of clothing and other items from members of the North Dakota Farmers Union, our farmer owners, which are then pinned to the line, giving them the effect of blowing in the breeze.

Matthew White is the artist behind our bronze bar fox, already a well-known bar fixture, seated with his Glencairn Whisky Glass full of our Founding Spirits, while scoping out the three hens he also sculpted around the bar.

Noella Cotnam, our Canadian artist whose work can be found in every one of our restaurants, shared her amazing whittled creatures. At Founding Farmers Reston Station, it is hard to miss her giant beaver and colorful mockingbird, an ode to Jefferson’s affinity for this special species, which he had as pets.

Co-Owner Dan Simons and Creative Director Leah Frankl also joined the evening’s lively conversations, revealing the thinking behind our commissioned art. Founding Farmers Reston Station is inspired by our nation’s third president and pivotal figure in U.S. history, and his life as a farmer, avid gardener, architect, conservationist, inventor, innovator, and collector.

Throughout our collection of restaurants, staying true to our scratch-made mission, we strive to step away from current, mass-produced culture and seek out the individual creative spirit as found in original pieces of art. We hope our art reveals the true colors of our company and our farmer owners, as well as the true stories of our country and our founding fathers and farmers.