Sam Van Aken, a professor of sculpture in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, will return to Tyler to present the 2025 Jack Wolgin Visiting Artist Lecture.

In this talk, Van Aken will explore usufruct, a medieval legal principle, also present in early U.S. law, that sought to protect natural resources as a common good, granting citizens the right to use them without claiming ownership. This philosophy echoes the Lenape belief that while no one could own a tree, all could share in its fruit.

Interwoven with this history is the story of fruit varieties in Southeast Pennsylvania, particularly Philadelphia, from pre-European contact to the early 20th century. The lecture will trace how these legal, cultural, and ecological perspectives shaped both the diversity of fruit and our evolving relationship with the trees themselves.

Van Aken is a contemporary artist who works beyond traditional modes of artmaking, crossing artistic genres and disciplines to develop new perspectives on such themes as agriculture, botany, climatology, memory, and the ever-increasing impact of technology.

The Jack Wolgin Annual Visiting Artist and Lecturer is an endowed visiting artist program that brings one of the nation's most influential artists and thinkers to campus to work with Tyler students and present a free public lecture each year.