Veggie Sales: One Student's Experience

Washington, D.C.-based photographer Cynthia Connolly journeyed south to Hale County as a Rural Studio Outreach student in 2002.After meeting locals Willie Nell and James Avery, who were starting an organic farm in Newbern, Ala., Connolly proposed building a roadside vegetable stand near their house. After securing state and national grants, she recruited sculptor Butch Anthony and basket maker Estelle Jackson for the project. Connolly built the vegetable stand in collaboration with Anthony over a three-month period, finishing it in early summer, 2003.

Located southeast of Greensboro on County Road 42, the open-air structure sits on a concrete plot, Anthony’s handmade hog-wire fencing suspended between donated cedar posts. When Nell and Avery’s vegetable stand is open for business, they can easily slide the front fence panel out to reveal their tables of produce; at night, it’s just as easy to lock up.

To learn more about the Rural Studio, go to www.Ruralstudio.com. Connolly has more images of the project at her own website, www.CynthiaConnolly.com, where you can purchase copies of her Rural Studio Bonus Album and deckled Alabama postcard series.

To read Paste's feature about the Rural Studio, click here.