This is probably the first year I viewed the crop art during the afternoon, so that may account for the line out the door of the room and back to the next room:
Previously, I've never seen a line longer than about half the length of the crop art room. I had a nice conversation with the women in line behind me, though.
As noted by others on Twitter (the site that insists it's called X), it's possible to enter the viewing area from the opposite direction and see the crop art without disturbing the people who have waited in line. I would point out, though, that doing this requires you to stand behind the people who have waited in line, and pretty much blocks your view of the lower pieces, especially the 3D pieces on the flat surface in front of the wall. But if you're in a hurry... have at it!
The art I've selected includes no regular portraits. They're just not my thing, no matter how well-executed.
As always, enlarge any photo for better viewing.
Self-referential crop art
I like a good, groany pun, and crop art is full of them, plus other references to crop art.
Athena Hollins, majority whip of the Minnesota House DFL, created this play on high-speed rail, complete with the Northern Lights. (One of the bills passed by the legislature will restore train service — called the Northern Lights Express — between the Twin Cities and Duluth.)
Note that Laura Minnihan's rainbow is done in natural colors.
Political crop art
Crop art, as usual, is where politics shines at the State Fair. I saw one piece that was probably conservative, but it wasn't well-executed, so I haven't included it. The fact that I'm not even sure what it meant is part of its problem. (Actually, it was small and boring-looking, so I didn't notice it while I was in the room — I just saw it while reviewing my photos.)
"Farm Not Harm" refers to the struggle in Minneapolis's Philips neighborhood to create an urban farm, rather than a city Public Works site with a lot of heavy truck traffic, on a site called Roof Depot, which includes an iconic water tower.
The reference card for this piece by Teresa Anderson includes photos of the four girls murdered in a Birmingham church bombing in 1963. The stained glass windows and their choir robes are made from fall leaves... which means she started this last year.
One of the two entries from our state auditor, Julie Blaha, commemorates the 2023 legislative session when the DFL got its act together.
This one, by amateur K.T. Townsend-Reed, is a little hard to read. But it's a bit of regional elbowing, with Minnesota singing its own praises over Wisconsin, the Dakotas, and Iowa about politics. The topics highlighted include book bans, extremism, gridlock, discrimination, and worker protections.
Laura Melnick, one of the long-time dominant crop artists, chose the NRA's Wayne LaPierre for her subject, giving him the Maurice Sendak treatment and surrounding the art with the names of many of the best-known mass-shooting sites.
There were a number of entries expressing support for trans people and Minnesota officially becoming a trans refuge. I thought this amateur-class one was a nice, subtle way to get at the topic.
Another piece by Teresa Anderson, this time with millet dyed so bright it looks like the sugar decorations you can buy for birthday cakes. Note the Ron DeSantis photo on the reference card.
In many years past, I wouldn't have thought to group this one under "political," but I guess women being allowed outside the home is now controversial to some people.
Crop art for art's sake
Here are the ones I liked just for their looks, humor, or a combination thereof:
There were so many entries this year that some of the ones from kids 12 and under were placed before the main viewing area, where corn cobs are usually on display (hence the chicken wire). I liked Bernadette's Ms. Pac Man with pizza.
Olivia, also in the 12 and under class, won the grand prize for her age group with this map of Minnesota's biomes.
Auditor Julie Blaha's second entry had a 3D pop with a "brick" phone covered in white quinoa.
I've never heard anyone refer to Canada geese as "cobra chickens," but Gayle Deutsch's design is both funny and beautiful.
Just a really nice fish illustration by Lori Anderson.
This may be the funniest nonverbal piece in the show: a gopher Madonna hugging a corndog. The kidney beans in the background have been spray-painted gold.
Just very nice use of color and materials.
Wow, wow, wow. Ann Peters recreated Milton Glaser's poster for the final season of Mad Men, mostly in dyed brown mustard seeds. Glaser, one of the 20th century's most famous graphic designers and illustrators, was 85 when created this artwork. He died in June 2020 on his 91st birthday.
There wasn't a lot of crop art about seeds as seeds... so this one by amateur Barbara Herzog represented gardeners and seeds.
Oh fer cute!
I'm not that into reproducing stuff the internet has found interesting for a few hours, but I still find this one funny, and the execution is good.
More dyed millet, with dyed amaranth for the black areas. Beautiful execution of an illustration by Shag.
My recent trip to Chicago (then Denver) started at Saint Paul's Union Depot, so this "corny" entry by amateur David Baker caught my eye.
The poster
Each year, the State Fair commissions an artist to create a commemorative poster. This year, for the first time, a crop artist was the one selected. Liz Schreiber's framed original was actually in the Fine Art Building, rather than the crop art show:
If you haven't clicked to enlarge any of the others so far, be sure to enlarge this one. Schreiber peeled mung beans to use as corn kernels — lentils are the corn leaves — and she used lavender flowers to get the medium blue-purple used on the Ferris wheel cars:
I love her accompanying ID card, with its type-written labels, right down to the two patched-in correction lines for lettuce and lentil seeds.
The big news in the crop art world is that yellow mustard seed will be banned from the art as of 2024. All of the seeds and plant parts used are supposed to be ones that are grown in Minnesota, and it turns out yellow mustard isn't grown here (though there are reports it's being grown in North Dakota, so this may change).
The round mustard seeds have been popular because they're hard, naturally yellow, and dye well. But next year, the show will have to go on without them.
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