Contrasting Artistic Depictions of Iowa's Rural Landscapes

As students at Iowa State University, we are so lucky to have the amount of artwork available to us as we do. With the extreme amount of diversity, it was quite difficult to narrow it down to two pieces of artwork that I wanted to compare. I chose the piece called Late Summer Corn by Gary Bowling and 1965, Round Hay Bales by Ellen Wagener. They depicted a similar midwest scene, but in two different mediums and ways. I selected these two works basically because they reminded me of home. Living in Iowa my whole life, being the daughter of a farmer, as well as living on a farm, have made scenes like these give me a sense of home and comfort. Gary Bowling’s piece especially attracted my attention because it seemed as if I had seen that same scene

Both pictures depict what most of the midwest looks like today; fields. Whether it be corn or soybeans, or cover crops, it can be agreed that the land is severely altered. We have changed our landscape so much, getting rid of things that were native to the midwest, in order to be as agriculturally productive as possible. We have great, fertile soil that is wonderful for growing crops, but I think we often forget why we have such great, fertile soil. The prairies took pretty good care of themselves with the dependence on the bison as well as the seasons and the natural burning of the prairie grass. Ignoring what the land was telling them, humans cleared everything out to plant crops. Now, years later, they have figured out that prairie grass, swampland, and other naturally occurring processes are actually a great thing. The process of trying to reintegrate these things back into the environment is seeming much more difficult and costly than anyone would have

We are able to see the 1965 version of a midwest field in Ellen’s picture, and then what we can assume is a pretty current day image in Gary’s. Ellen’s image shows the land when people were still not very concerned with keeping the integrity and as much natural aspects as they could. Gary’s image is showing a much more conscious idea of farming. There are slight rolling hills, where no one has attempted to flatten out to an unnatural state for the area. There is also a lot more grass and wild flowers in the ditches to help naturally catch runoff. It just seems like in Gary’s picture they are less concerned with fighting nature to get that extra few feet of profitable land, and instead letting nature peek through and do what it is naturally good at. Seeing pictures of the new prairies that are being constructed, as well as the difference in the land from 1965 to 2004 shows that our land is still pretty resilient and is able to bounce back with a bit of