CATHY WURZER: OK speaking of the state fair, the Crop Art exhibit at the fair has become a must-see. There have been long lines of people winding through the Ag Hort Building waiting to get an up close view of the intricate art made from seeds. Melissa Olson is a reporter at MPR. She joins us now to talk about this year’s bumper crop of artworks. I had to say that, Melissa. How are you?
MELISSA OLSON: I’m good. How are you, Cathy?
CATHY WURZER: Good. Thanks for being here. So I understand the state fair’s commemorative art is created by a crop artist. Tell us more about that.
MELISSA OLSON: Veteran crop artist Liz Schreiber describes crop art as a mosaic of seeds. This year, Schreiber has created commemorative art for the state fair. Her piece, which features a Guernsey cow, incorporates lots of state fair iconography– ears of corn, vintage tractors, stars and ribbons. All images of the fair she says she just loves.
Her commemorative work for this year’s fair is exhibited in the Fine Arts Center and can be seen on posters all around the fair. I talked with Liz just after she finished her demonstration on the first day of the fair. And what’s just incredible is that she creates many of her works using a toothpick and Elmer’s glue. I talked with her a little bit about what she likes about seeds as a medium.
LIZ SCHREIBER: It’s very meditative. And it’s kind of like doing a puzzle. You get into it and then you kind of become obsessed for a while. You have to kind of keep anticipating parts being done. And it’s– I like the challenge of trying to make something look like someone or something, three-dimensional, you know.
MELISSA OLSON: Another familiar face at the fair, Superintendent of Crop Arts Ron Kelsey was honored earlier this year as a life member by the Minnesota State Agricultural Society, the governing– the governing body of the fair. This will be Ron Kelsey’s 75th year at the fair.
And if you’re at the Crop Art exhibit, Ron is almost sure to be nearby educating fairgoers about Minnesota seed. He’s got such great stories to share. His collection of 1,400 vintage cloth seed bags are sort of a visual history of Minnesota farming.
CATHY WURZER: I love the vintage cloth seed bags. I think they’re pretty cool. Tell us more about this year’s Crop Arts exhibit and the competition itself.
MELISSA OLSON: I visited the Crop Arts exhibit on the first day of the fair. The line was trailing out the door of the hall. It’s estimated that over 200,000 people visit the Crop Art exhibit each year. And like years past, there are hundreds of entrants into the competition in over two dozen categories.
One of the important rules of the competition requires artists to use only seeds native to Minnesota. But that’s hardly a limitation when considering the breadth of artwork on display. Visitors see everything from portraits of celebrities and politicians to landscapes and three-dimensional art pieces.
CATHY WURZER: There are some pretty interesting entries. Did you have any favorites this year?
MELISSA OLSON: Well, I totally hope that everyone takes the opportunity to visit the Crop Arts exhibit. And yes, I did have some favorites and noticed some themes. Lots of good puns on seed art. I laughed out loud at the portrait of rapper Snoop Dogg that tells viewers to “crop it like it’s hot.” I also liked a 3D work that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first cell phone call.
And there are several beautiful pieces paying tribute to the late comedian Paul Reubens and his character, Pee Wee Herman. There are several takes on Barbie. There are lots of cheeky pieces, one by our state auditor Julie Blaha, who asks people to join her in her role as state beancounter by guessing how many beans and seeds she’s used to create her crop art piece. So lots of fun and lots to see and enjoy at this year’s Crop Arts exhibit.
CATHY WURZER: I love the fact that Liz said that she looks at this as like a mosaic with seeds. You know? Like, I like that visual. You wouldn’t ever try this, would you?
MELISSA OLSON: I would love to try this, actually. I just admire the fact that they do this with a toothpick and Elmer’s glue. It does seem so, so meditative, requiring lots of concentration.
CATHY WURZER: Well, if you do it, I’ll do it. How does that sound?
MELISSA OLSON: Absolutely.
CATHY WURZER: We’ll do it together. OK, Melissa, thank you so much.
MELISSA OLSON: You’re welcome, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: Melissa Olson is a reporter for MPR News. By the way, we’re going to have a story on our website later today where you can see some photos of the amazing Crop Art entries this year.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
