Adison Jensen picks strawberries with her family at Hoffman Farms Store in Beaverton. (Motoya Nakamura/ Oregonian, 2013)

The Washington County Museum's new interactive exhibit, "AgriCulture: Shaping Land and Lives in the Tualatin Valley, opens Sept. 27, featuring photography, art, historic artifacts and videos that explore the community's heritage and experiences around agriculture.

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Hazelnut harvest on Jossy Farms in Hillsboro. (Oregonian, 2016)

"Since time immemorial, people in the Tualatin Valley have used their labor and technology to maximize the amount of nourishing food and valuable plant products that grow in this fertile area," reads a press release for the exhibit.

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Walter Stucki still used work horses on his Bethany farm in 1962. (Oregonian, 1962)

The exhibit centers around oral histories drawn from the museum’s archive — some contemporary, some historical. The narratives come from eight Washington County residents, each speaking about agriculture through their personal experiences and the experiences of their families and ancestors.

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Pickers take a break next to stacks of ripe strawberries at Heikes Farm. (Oregonian, 1988)

“So many different cultural groups have participated in food and resource cultivation over the history of the Tualatin Valley that we knew we could not create a single narrative for this exhibit that could reflect them all,” says Molly Alloy, community engagement coordinator for the museum and guest curator of this exhibit. “Our hope is that by letting individual voices express different perspectives on agriculture, we can show that the industry as a whole impacts each of us, but in different ways.”

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Esther Stucki (Oregonian, 1986)

Esther Stucki, shown in this 1986 Oregonian archive photo, is included among the exhibit’s narrators. As a child, Stucki played in the barn near intersection of US 26 and Southwest 185th Avenue, shown above, which was built by her father.

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Bertony Faustin of Abbey Creek Vineyard. (Diego G. Diaz/Special to The Oregonian)

Winemaker Bertony Faustin, owner of Abbey Creek Vineyard in North Plains, has shared his story with the museum. You can hear his oral history as well at ArgiCulture.

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Photo by Leslie Peltz (Courtesy of the Washington County Museum)

Photographer Leslie Peltz, who has traveled across Washington County to document silos, has several black and white images in the exhibit.

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Anke Gladnick's mural for AgriCulture. (Courtesy of the Washington County Musem)

The museum also commissioned work from illustrators Allynn Carpenter and Anke Gladnick, as well as video artist Jayson Wynkoop. Gladnick’s illustration is a sweeping digital illustration mural, printed in vinyl across a museum wall, depicting elements from all of the oral histories.

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Winning student artwork by Tyler Jensen. (Courtesy of the Washington County Museum)

A public drawing station invites visitors to share their visions of and experience with agriculture. These visitor-created drawings will be exhibited along with three youth contest winners who submitted artwork last school year answering the question, "What does agriculture mean to you?"

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Reins hang at a farm in Aloha. (Benjamin Brink/Oregonian, 2014)

"Historic objects from the museum’s collection will be featured throughout the exhibit so that visitors can experience first-hand some of the tools that have helped shape the land around them," the press release states.

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Marc Battilega mows at Simantel Fisher Farms on Glencoe Road. (Oregonian, 1983)

The public is invited to see the exhibit during a free opening reception from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27.

Located on the Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus, the museum is currently open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Beginning Thursday, the museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

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Chris Jansen on the family dairy farm. (Benjamin Brink/Oregonian, 2014)

The ArgiCulture exhibit runs through spring 2019. If you miss the reception, general admission is $5 for adults, $3 for youth 13-17, and free for children and museum members.

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John and Sally Thomas at their dairy farm. (Oregonian, 1977)

For more information, visit washingtoncountymuseum.org, email info@washingtoncountymuseum.org, or call 503-645-5353.