Photo: Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Crop art by Amy and Steve Saupe at the Minnesota State Fair, inspired by Magritte’s 1929 work, the “Treachery of Images.”
Crop art uses seeds and other agricultural produce to create “paintings.” In Minnesota, crop artists take the work very seriously and spend many painstaking hours on it.
At the Minnesota Star Tribune, Alicia Eler writes that in September, the Minneapolis Institute of Art opened its first juried exhibition of crop art from the State Fair. The works shown at “Cream of the Crop” were inspired by artists like Hokusai, Magritte, Chagall, and van Gogh.
“MIA director and president Katie Luber, associate curator of European art Galina Olmsted, and associate curator of global and contemporary art Leslie Ureña made the selections in two categories: best interpretation of an artwork at MIA and best interpretation of a Minnesota landmark, story or figure. …
“ ‘Crop art engages with this really rich tradition of mosaic and beadwork and embroidery that exists in all cultures in perpetuity,’ Olmsted said. … ‘But then it’s this hyperlocal Minnesota form.’ …
“Amy and Steve Saupe’s the ‘Treachery of a Pronto Pup’ won best interpretation of an artwork at MIA. The father-daughter team has been making seed art since 2017.
” ‘I loved it because it’s an art history in-joke ― you have to know the Magritte painting to get it ― and then it’s also this specifically Minnesota State Fair in-joke,’ Olmsted said. … ‘The way the artists built up the background … you can tell was this real attention to detail.’ …
“Honorable mentions include ‘Vincent Van Grow Olive Trees’ by Jill Osiecki, ‘All the Eternal Love I Have for the Crop Art’ by Jill Moe (a reference to Yayoi Kusama), ‘Under the Wave off Kanagawa’ by Amanda Cashman … and ‘Crop Art study of Alice Neel’s “Christy White, 1958” ‘ by Ursula Murray Husted.
” ‘Reimagining van Gogh’s Olive Trees through the textures and natural colors of seeds has been such a joy and to see that creation displayed in one of the nation’s finest museums is truly a dream come true,’ artist Osiecki of Eagan said of her entry that earned an honorable mention. …
“Crop artist Jeanne Morales’ ‘My Chagall Dream’ won for best interpretation of an artwork at MIA. The artist referenced the flying woman, a motif in Chagall’s paintings, and in Morales’ artwork, it flies over Minneapolis.
“ ‘It’s my love letter to the Twin Cities,’ said Morales of Longfellow. ‘All the places I chose are places of community gathering points.’
“Marc Chagall is her favorite artist. She first saw his work in Paris, and she appreciated his whimsical paintings and the way figures in his paintings often float above their towns.
“ ‘We just thought that was a really creative take and required a deep dive into art history but was also really carefully and beautifully done and impressive,’ Olmsted said.
“Honorable mentions include ‘Goat’ by Annmarie Geniusz, ‘Broken Pinky, Unbroken Justice’ by Juventino Meza, ‘Star Gazing’ by Nancy Rzeszutek and ‘Old Dutch and Top the Tater’ by Kaela Reinardy.
“Meza, who curated the exhibition ‘Seeds of Justice’ in April, used crop art to honor former Minnesota State Supreme Court justice Alan Page. Meza was a recipient of a Page Education Foundation Scholarship as an undocumented high school student and it helped him pay for college.
“ ‘It feels incredible to be recognized with this honorable mention,’ Meza of Minneapolis said. ‘Crop art has become a way for me to tell stories that connect my personal journey with broader struggles for justice.’
“In 2004, MIA hosted a crop art exhibition of work by Minnesota legend Lillian Colton. The current exhibition marks the first juried crop art exhibition with work from the Minnesota State Fair’s crop art show.”
More at the Strib, here. (You can get a limited free subscription to the paper by providing your email, but if you’re often interested in the Twin Cities, a paid subscription is like a donation to freedom of the press in Minnesota.)
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