Westerly Land Trust Farm Dinner Portraits

Portraits of some of the chefs and farmers that supported the 2023 Westerly Land Trust Farm Dinner. 

For years, the Westerly Land Trust has hosted its farm dinner in support of its mission to celebrate small-scale local farmers while connecting the Westerly community to locally produced and sourced food, steward over 1,700 acres of local land managed by The Trust and build their youth environmental program. 

The dinner takes place on different properties managed by the Trust on a large outdoor table. The 2023 dinner included 315 guests! The food is sourced from local farmers and the chefs that prepare it are from local restaurants. Table service is provided by volunteers and supporters of the Land Trust. The Land Trust staff fills in all the gaps in between. It is a monumental undertaking and we were proud to be a part of it. 

I set out to create a series of portraits of some of the chefs and farmers that make the Farm Dinner happen. My favorite portrait from each session was then printed and framed at our framing shop, Cove Creative. In continuing the with support local theme of the dinner, we milled and shaped the frames out of locally felled wood sourced from a Westerly builder. 

The finished prints and frames were displayed at the dinner and now that I think of it, was my first ever “solo show” in my career of making pictures. I definitely wouldn’t have it any other way!