(Radio Iowa) – The first floor of the Sioux City Art Center has been transformed with two exhibits that celebrate Iowa’s agricultural history. Curator Christopher Atkins says you will enter and see a colorful display called “Pasture to Present.”
“This massive sculpture that’s in the middle of our atrium space right now. It’s Red Groom’s sculpture called ‘Agriculture Building’ from 1991-1992. Red is originally from Nashville, Tennessee, and this is one of his largest sculptures. It’s on loan to us. We borrowed it from the Des Moines Arts Center,” he says. He says you will think you are at the Iowa State Fair because there’s a butter cow and many other fair related pieces in the sculpture.
“People will be able to walk in. They’ll see the Iowa State Fair that’s made out of the wrought iron railings there. They’ll see the prizes. They’ll see a map of Iowa. It’s really perfect. It’s a great piece for this exhibition,” Atkins. Atkins says their first floor gallery is displaying the restored Grant Wood ‘Corn Mural.’ The mural panels had been commissioned for a Sioux City hotel and had been painted over.
“It came to the Museum, Sioux City Arts Center in 2007. For the past year and a half, these panels have been conserved, meticulously cleaned by the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis, and now they’re back,” he says. Atkins says there has been a great anticipation to see the mural panels restored closer to what they were when Woods created them 100 years ago
“They’ve been through a lot. We know that we’re not going to get it backed exactly as Wood painted them in 1926, but there’s a lot to see there. And these, like I said, are really the heart of this part of the exhibition,” Atkins says.
There are several other related works on display at the art cent to compliment the Corn Mural, which will remain on permanent display. The agricultural art exhibit opens tomorrow (Saturday) and will be there until December 6th.
