The Art of Gathie Falk: Pyramids of Fruit

News this month that the National Gallery of Canada has acquired artist Gathie Falk’s work “168 Apples” (1969) is a perfect time to explore all the “fruit piles” of this revered Canadian artist.

Between 1968 and 1970, Falk created two dozen piles of life-size ceramic fruit: apples, oranges or grapefruit. She threw each individual fruit on a potter’s wheel and reshaped each hollow form by hand to make natural textures and indentations.

“The inspiration for the fruit piles was a pyramid-shaped display of apples Falk had seen in a corner grocery store near her home. As with so many of the forms and images she has spun out of her daily life, the pyramidal stack of apples charged her imagination with its potential for transformation.” – From Heffel Fine Art Auction House, 2024 sale of Falk’s work, 30 Apples (below)

Agatha (Gathie) Falk’s fruit sculptures were a key part, but not in any way the only part, of this visionary and experimental artist’s work. See a profile of Falk here.

(Below) The work 196 Apples, 1969–70, is one of the most admired and recognizable of Falk’s creations. Each ceramic fruit is individually handcrafted and slightly different than the next.

In her early exhibitions, Falk mounted the piles on clear Plexiglas plinths (below) so the fruit appeared to hover in space, adding to their uncanny presence 

But Falk’s early prolific fruit-piles period was by no means the end of Falk’s forays into fruit. As just one recent example, this exquisite, three-part public art installation (below) is from 2020 in Vancouver.

The work 900 Oranges in bronze was created for a residential development at 35th Avenue and Cambie Street. It was installed in conjunction with two additional sculptures by Falk on the site: 18 Pairs of Blue and White Running Shoes and 10 Baseball Caps (below).

“The public artworks at this site continue Falk’s devotion to keen observations of everyday objects, as well as her interest in repetition, both of which have been central to her practice for over six decades,” the City of Vancouver says in its registry of public art.

With 2 Half Apples (above), Falk transformed her fruit into something monumental, says Concord Art Space, which installed this work at the edge of a neighbourhood park at Concord Gardens in Richmond, BC. “The oversized painted bronze apple halves feel both surreal and strangely personal. A reminder that the everyday can be extraordinary—if we’re paying attention.”

Agatha (Gathie) Falk turned 97 in 2025. The Art Canada Institute has a wonderful downloadable book about Falk’s life and work (also readable online) here.