Mary In Minnesota (haiku for yb), ribbon winning Crop Art by Elisabeth Smeltzer, Minnesota State Fair Horticulture Building, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Mary of the Earth
holds the world and the wide sky
humbly plants her seeds
Yellow Ribbon Crop Art, Spare Us From The Norm, ribbon winning Crop Art by Elisabeth Smeltzer and Kim Cope, Minnesota State Fair Horticulture Building, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Post Script: I immediately thought of ybonesy when I saw this Crop Art at the Minnesota State Fair yesterday. She has done many posts of Mary on red Ravine, an icon that spans many cultures, beliefs, and landscapes (including a VW bug). Hey, I miss you ybonesy. Safe travels, my friend.
-posted on red Ravine, Friday, August 29th, 2008
-related to posts: haiku (one-a-day), MN State Fair On-A-Stick (Happy B’Day MN!), MN State Fair On-A-Stick, Blogger In Vietnam — Is Speaking Your Mind So Dangerous?
Bless your heart, QM! She is amazing. I remember making scenes with beans and grains in school, but this Mary is quite amazing by comparison. She is awesome.
I’m logging on after doing a bit of shopping in the markets with a Vietnamese work colleague. So grateful for her guidance around the city. Now I have ten minutes before going downstairs to catch a ride to another work friend’s home. He has invited me to dinner with his family.
I presented to a group of young college graduates today. I told them that I am falling in love with their country. I got a few giggles (falling in love with a country??) but that’s what happens.
LikeLike
p.s., it’s fun to look at the detail of the grain. I love the little stars in her robe.
LikeLike
ybonesy, so great to hear from you! Sounds like things are going well in Vietnam. Your falling in love with that country reminds me of all the sense of place posts we do, how we are drawn and comfortable in certain landscapes on this planet; yet others we feel ill at ease. I can’t wait to hear more about your travels. They are changing you. 8)
The Crop Art is amazing. I have always been drawn to it. I think I mentioned that we were talking to Linda Paulsen, daughter of the famous Crop artist, Lillian Colton, and I, of course, asked her a lot of questions (because that’s what I do). Linda was there doing her art.
Anyway, she said the original Crop Art is over 100 years old. But the more modern Crop Art at the Minnesota State Fair began in the 1960’s. And the original Crop Art used only seeds from the farmers’ crops so that people would remember the different seed types (the Fair Art follows suit). Most have legends which tell you which seeds are in their pieces. There’s a lot more but I might save it for a post.
Hey, you have a big weekend coming up. Have fun on your trip down the river. Liz and I still haven’t decided if we are going back to the MN State Fair tonight. At the moment, I am leaning toward yes. But we were tired campers this morning, so we’ll see! I’m not a big crowd person. But the day is so beautiful!
LikeLike
Anyone ever been to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota? It’s kind of a convention center in the middle of nowhere, though it is right off of an interstate, I think i-90, and the outsides are all done in “corn kernel murals” – hundreds of different colors!
Wait, I had to go look up a link. This loads a bit slow, but it is all photos, and they are amazing. (I don’t know how to do links on a comment – if this doesn’t work , will you fix it, QM? Or if it does work, you can delete this crazy question. :-0 Thanks.)
http://www.roadsidephotos.com/sd/sd3.htm
LikeLike
When I went to check the link on comment 4, I discovered another page, all with POSTCARDS from the Corn Palace, and I just had to link there, too, considering the recent post on postcards. These are old, too. I think they are way cool.
http://www.roadsidephotos.com/sd/sd4.htm
LikeLike
Wait, I’m confused! When I saw Mary on today’s post, I *knew* it was ybonesy’s post. But then I saw Minnesota. And QuoinMonkey. And the dedication to yb. Nice find at the Fair for ybonesy, QM!
Bo, I have been to the Corn Palace in South Dakota many times! I’m glad to hear you mention it. I always appreciate how they make constant effort for the corn art to reflect the two people groups there–the Dakota and the white.
LikeLike
Bo, these are fantastic links! I have never been to the Corn Palace in South Dakota. And, honestly, I have driven through South Dakota once but have not spent much time there. It’s one state I’d like to explore more (and it’s so close to us here).
Wow, I had no idea. And from the link (#4), the first was designed in 1892 by one Col. Rohe of Lawrence, Kansas. And the present structure was built in 1921 but is the third in Mitchell’s series of Corn Palaces. Lots more at the link. I hope people check it out. It takes Crop Art to a whole new level — 3-D.
Liz was checking out Lillian Colton last night and she had started to do some smaller 3-D work before she died. She made a lifetime of it.
I love the postcard links, too. They look a lot like the one I posted of the Atlanta airport in 1952 (LINK) don’t they? That same kind of 4-color illustration. That’s really great.
LikeLike
Teri, thanks. I loved the Mary Crop Art and it reminded me of ybonesy right away. They’ve got some nice pieces this year. The day we saw it, Wednesday, the crowds were much more sparse due to the cloudy day and rain, so we really got to take our time.
I remember one year when I viewed the Crop Art it was completely packed in there. I also love the rows and and rows of different types of corn lining the walls. (Remember that one camping trip where Liz and I didn’t know the difference between Field corn and regular corn?)
We might see you tonight as Liz and I are seriously thinking about going back to the Fair tonight. We’ll see what happens. The weather is perfect though. And I’d like to take some night shots of the Midway. 8) Hope you have a good time with niece R.
LikeLike
Dear Mary,
Heading back to the MN State Fair for Round Two. Maybe we will see you there?
Love,
QM & Liz
LikeLike
Wow, the links in the comments section and the Crop Art are amazing! I’ve never seen crop art in real life before, but that’d be cool if I get a chance to!
I love the details with Mary’s robes!!
LikeLike
[…] until you hear about the Pickle Pop on-a-stick!). We visited the Education, Creative Activity, Horticulture, and HealthCare buildings and picked up a few freebies at the Merchandise […]
LikeLike
[…] swear to God, there were times when I really did think of Mary of the Grains and thank QuoinMonkey of the Fair for the haiku she sent out to me before I left for the Mekong […]
LikeLike
a~lotus, the Crop Art seems to be alive and well in Minnesota and has a long history here. I hope you get to see if some day. It’s so fascinating to go back to the beginning of art and craft, to see where it started. Then how it evolves through the technology of our time. I’m sure people are able to draw more intricate patterns now with the help of the Internet. But adding the seeds and creating the piece — it still has do be done one seed at a time. Another way of slowing down. I bet it’s meditative.
LikeLike
Crop Mary! Yay!
I don’t know why, but the name Elizabeth Smeltzer sounds so familiar.
LikeLike
amuirin, hmmmm, I wonder if you know her. Have you ever been to Minnesota? Or maybe she’s been out to the West Coast selling her wares. I have a certain fondness for Mary of the Grains now. I think she’ll always remind me of ybonesy’s trip to Vietnam. 8)
LikeLike
I saw this last week when it was first posted, and I was bowled over by it. Just fabulous. I saw the Corn Palace in 1970, on my first trip across country. It was spectacular, I have not thought of it in many years. I wonder how they maintain it, surely insects and weather take a toll.
Thanks for another great post while yb was so far away.
LikeLike
lil, thanks. I was bowled over by Mary of the Grains, too. The details. I guess I’ll have to make it over to the Corn Palace someday. South Dakota seems so close to Minnesota. But the further west you move, the longer the states get — Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota take a while to drive across. Maybe we’ll plan a trip through there on a western trip to Montana someday. I haven’t been back to Missoula in years. It would be fun to see my old friends there again.
LikeLike
chicknlil — they re-do the Corn Palace every year, and I’ve usually been there in August and it looked fine. I took some close up photos. I can imagine by early spring though it’s definitely time for a face lift again.
LikeLike
[…] 2 1/2 ton Paul Bunyan and 5 ton Babe the Blue Ox. South Dakota has the Corn Palace (thanks to Bo’s comments for the great postcard link). And Texas has Cadillac Ranch creating by eccentric millionaire […]
LikeLike
[…] allow the Virgen to become the tree, as she is already. -related to posts haiku 2 (one-a-day), Mary In Minnesota (haiku for yb), Virgin Mary Sightings, and The Virgin Mary Appears On A […]
LikeLike
[…] Mary In Minnesota (haiku for yb) […]
LikeLike
[…] begins this Thursday, August 27th and runs through September 7th. Be sure to stop and enjoy the crop artists and the work of painter Leo Stans. You’ve got one more day to purchase your Blue Ribbon […]
LikeLike
[…] II – Video & Stats, On-The-Go List Of Must-Haves (MN State Fair), Nightshot – Carousel, Mary In Minnesota, food on-a-stick […]
LikeLike