Kaplan responds to material for its inherent visual qualities but also as metaphors for the aspects of life that engage her; these are natural forces, cycles of life, entropy, and a playfulness of nature in space. In Plum Harvest Kaplan captures in a series of photographs her creative manipulations of a multitude of purple forms that literally dropped at her feet.

“One spring day the thirty-year-old plum tree in our back yard stirred itself to life. The deluge of falling plums began. I fetched my camera and ladder, and began to fashion plum figures...all sorts of figures: pies, dishes, jewelry boxes, and finally, a life size figure. It took until the next spring to bring the figure from vigorous life to its inevitable end.” Nomi Kaplan