MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — After decades of promoting healthy living to people in Milledgeville, Humble Farm Refuge is planning an event unlike any it has ever undertaken.

For most of the past 20 years, Milledgeville native and urban farming expert Arthur Thomas has educated local residents on the benefits of eating healthy and growing food from their own gardens. From Humble Farm Refuge, the small but densely-packed urban farm he operates in the heart of downtown Milledgeville, Thomas outlined the farm’s newest plan to spread Humble Farm’s name in the community. 

“We chose to host an art show featuring “The Gifted Artist” John Daso because art is historically known for influencing societies,” said Thomas. “Art can change attitudes, instill values, and translate experiences across space and time. It affects the fundamental sense of self, and John Daso’s collections exemplify all of this.”

For the past 20 years, Daso has created visual art with themes of small-town America and life and culture in the South. With more than 800 original works to his name, the Washington D.C.-based artist will bring more than 100 paintings to Milledgeville this week depicting the natural beauty of life on a farm.

“I have a lot of art about farms because as a little boy growing up in Georgia, my summer vacations were spent at my grandmother and grandfather’s farm,” said Daso. “I later found out that it wasn’t a vacation so much as it was free work, but I’ve painted a lot of art on farms because of it. As I got older, I realized I was learning a whole lot about life just by going down there, and now I have a collection called ‘Life on the Farm’ because of it.”

Although farm work is overwhelmingly done in rural areas far removed from America’s cities, Humble Farms, and organizations like it, seeks to change the way people view how their food is grown. At a private showing Thurdsay, Daso will offer his works for sale at the former DFCS building located at 2930 Heritage Place, and a second showing will be open to the public the next day. Given the large number of unhealthy foods that have infiltrated American diets in recent decades, Humble Farm staffers hope Daso’s art will help promote urban farming as a great way to save money and eat more nutritious food. 

“Since people have gotten away from growing their own food, you really don’t control what you’re putting on your family’s table,” said Thomas’s Humble Farm partner Dolores Davis. “Somebody else is deciding that, and their decision is based on profit, not your family’s well-being. If I’m growing the food myself, I know what I’m putting in my babies’ mouths.”

Humble Farm Refuge’s John Daso Art show is slated from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at 2930 Heritage Place in Milledgeville. To purchase one of Daso’s works or for more information about Humble Farm’s mission, call Arthur Thomas at 404-259-5027.