Iowa: Fusing art and agriculture

Written by Hannah Agran. Photographs by Doug Smith

Originally published September/October 2008

Diane and Wendell King make art amid the northwest Iowa cornfields, where unbroken wind blows across the golden landscape and deer take shelter in isolated stands of trees. The Kings value their quiet life. But each October, they (and some 40 other artists) open their homes and studios for the two-day Artisans Road Trip, a self-guided tour through farms and towns along US-71.

On a chilly fall afternoon, Diane tells Photo Editor Tara Okerstrom-Bauer and me how she and Wendell converted a 1954 Quonset hut into a dual studio for her beaded jewelry and his stone-topped tables. Wendell ducks out. The next time I see him, he's churning up a cloud of rust-color soybean dust behind his combine.

Of course, not everyone on the tour is a farmer, but art and agriculture intertwine here, three hours northwest of Des Moines. Silos inspire paintings, and barn cats sun themselves in studios.

Leaving early on Saturday, Tara and I try to fit the whole route into one day. We begin in Spirit Lake and continue 60 miles south through Okoboji and Spencer to Storm Lake. The route passes Iowa's "Great Lakes," but the resort area is quiet in the off-season.

We begin at potter Brad Travis' fog-shrouded studio. He offers cider, and we chat about the built-in surprises of clay. He confides that one glaze, meant to be an earthy green, emerged an unexpected sparkling blue from the kiln.

The day unfolds from there: Dennis Dykema's dappled landscapes, William Lieb's jigsaw sculptures, Jesse Bogenrief's glass vases. With each work comes a story about its creation. We pull into our last stop past a row of cows that silently note our arrival. Potter Beth Cathcart says she looks forward to mingling with visitors, adding, "You never know who's gonna come through the door." This time, it was Tara and me. Next time, we might bring friends.

More Midwest Road Trips

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