Mid-West is about the the confluence of Mother Earth’s fertility, Forest and Plains, Big Sky and changing seasons, Corn and Farming. It looks simple on the surface, like an ear of corn, but Mother Nature isn’t actually so.
She’s full of contradiction. Deep snow and cold through winter, Springs of too much or too little rain, migrations bringing news from far away, Winds and storms of aching drama or gentle sweetness. All of that is Mid-Western. For plain and simple is our fantasy of Mid-Western living.
Reality is another picture altogether.
- Materials: Cotton, cotton-polyester thread, dye.
- Series: NA
- Size: 22 inches x 22.5 inches (56 cm x 57 cm)
- Completed: 2023
- Current location: New Zone Gallery, $128 contact gallery to purchase
My Thoughts on the Work
As I built Mid-West, I kept thinking back to my own experience of the area we Americans call the Mid-west, ranging from my natal home in Michigan West past my childhood home in Minnesota to the Dakotas and south to Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri. Although the land varies far more than most folk like to think, there’s a generally shared mentality about life that I’ve found common to the Midwestern communities I’ve known. Independent, hard-working, dedicated, and practical – Farmers at heart. That’s the core of the Midwestern mindset as I’ve known it.
We like to pretend that farming and farmers in general are simple. Life on a farm is anything but simple. Each day, Mother Nature offers up a new challenge. Farmers are forever adapting and pivoting while always keeping in mind the goal – nourishment and survival. It’s a complicated lifestyle, one that says little and does loads. Mid-West is an exploration of the simplicity that is bourn of nature’s complex dance.
