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America's Heartland is made possible by...
Farm Credit - Financing agriculture and rural America since 1916.
Farm Credit is cooperatively owned by America's farmers and ranchers.
Learn more at farmcredit.com
CropLife America - Representing the companies whose
modern farming innovations help America's farmers provide
nutritious food for communities around the globe.
Hi I'm Sarah Gardner.
Coming up, we'll share some of the most
beautiful scenery in America with you
and meet the people creating art in the Heartland.
We'll meet a Colorado artist working on a big, big canvas
Take you to Minnesota to visit with a woman for
whom cows are the artistic inspiration.
See how California farmers are opening their land
to creative artists.
And travel across the plains for a one of a kind
art experience in Nebraska's wide open spaces.
It's all coming up on America's Heartland.
♪You can see it in the eyes Of every woman and man♪
♪In America's Heartland living close to the land♪
♪There's a love for the country And a pride in the brand♪
♪In America's Heartland♪
♪Living close Close to the land♪
♪♪
One of the things that viewers of America's Heartland
share with us on our website, our Facebook page,
or in tweets to us each week is how much they enjoy
our stories about agriculture in some of the
most spectacular scenery in America.
And we'll be the first to admit that we're often blown away
by beautiful landscapes in many of the places we visit.
Literally from amber waves of grain
to those purple mountain majesties.
It's easy to see why viewers in a congested urban environment,
maybe that's you, appreciate the incredible scenery
that farmers and ranchers enjoy when they look out the window.
Capturing America's iconic rural landscapes has been a
popular subject for artists for hundreds of years.
So let's take you cross country to meet some artists
for whom art and agriculture are a natural combination.
Jason Shultz starts with a special lady in Minnesota.
I am painting a group of sheep in a pasture.
♪♪
Bonnie Mohr is in a familiar place...
her second story studio putting brush to canvas.
It's a peaceful serene pasture with no particular time of day.
The Minnesota farm-girl turned artist has established a
unique reputation among rural-lifestyle artwork fans.
I'm known as the cow lady.
Outside window of her studio is her family's
rural Minnesota dairy farm.
I look right out the window, the cows are out there.
And I can't tell you how many moments I've been
sitting here painting and I'll take a break and
look out the window and I mean literally see a newborn calf
and grab my camera and run out the door.
C'mon girls!
Smile!
These Holsteins photographed on the Mohr family dairy farm
today might someday become the subjects in a future painting.
It's not every dairy farm that has its own artist.
I almost wanted to call you the cow whisperer after
watching you out here the way you work these...
I've been called worse, yeah...
That's fantastic.
What are you looking for out here?
You know you're talking to the cows...
Well you know cows are very curious creatures and they
respond to almost any kind of activity around them.
I'm looking for, a look, an ear the right way.
I'm looking for them to stretch their neck in an interesting way
Because when I got back to the studio I have to pretty
much work off of photographs because I don't sit out here.
With your easel?
Yeah
That wouldn't work very well.
The cows won't stay in one place long enough
Yeah, that's right.
Bonnie and her husband John own Glenmark Genetics...
a 75 head dairy farm.
It's kind of our little saying that we have
between the neighborhood.
She's the painter and I'm the milker
Of course like most farms, roles aren't ever really defined here,
everyone in this family does their part.
Bonnie and John grew up on Minnesota dairy farms and
after college found jobs in the city of Minneapolis.
But at the same time I was working at my painting
evenings and weekends.
You know, I think for everyone there comes that
defining moment where you say, "I need to do this."
And so after three years with the publishing company,
had a big talk with my husband and I said, you know,
I really feel the calling for this.
We both had secure jobs in the metro area.
But we still wanted to follow our dreams.
We grew up on a dairy farm.
But I always wanted to run a dairy farm myself someday.
Today Bonnie Mohr sells paintings worldwide.
Now, she's got employees who handle shipping and marketing
from the office and gallery located right on the farm.
She paints what she loves.
And she can paint a cow better than anybody else I know.
And as she continues she wants to branch out into
more different styles of painting.
Painter, businesswoman, dairy farmer, when you wear
that many hats you've got to set priorities.
You know, I strive daily to find that balance.
I think the way to do it is to prioritize.
And for me, I decided my kids would come first
and my work would come second.
Which brings us back to the sheep painting.
To achieve what she's looking for she's got to
leave some things out... to prioritize.
You have to decide what's important and what's not.
If there is too much going on,
the eye can't focus and it's mumble jumble.
A life lesson that's served this artist, mom and farmer well
Cows are big animals.
Fully grown, those black and white Holsteins
can weigh up to 15 hundred pounds.
And if you come in contact with a bull... be aware that
you're facing an animal that might weigh up to a ton.
Oh yeah, and some bulls have horns.
The wide open spaces of America's Heartland offer
many opportunities to capture images that touch
the very soul of the American agricultural experience.
And having the chance to spend some time on our
country's farm or ranch land can give an artist inspiration.
Let's take you to a couple of places where those
experiences are shared by farmers and artists.
Akiba Howard travels to the wide open spaces of Nebraska.
♪♪
There are images and sounds we usually
associate with life in the heartland.
♪♪
But there are also... images and sounds
that make some places unique.
♪♪
Here's space.
Do what you want.
And you don't have to worry about someone looking over
your shoulder that you are doing this.
You can experiment.
I encourage experimentation.
Welcome... to the Art Farm.
Created in 1993, this artistic enclave sits on
half of Ed Dadey's farm a couple hours west of Omaha.
Ed's nephew works the "production" side of this land -
growing corn and soybeans.
And while that farm work goes on, visiting artists
spend their time appreciating the rhythms of rural life.
That's sort of typical the way artists work around here.
Like, long periods of thought,
trying to go through the process...
It's the reason why I sort of recommend they come
for two months, cause it takes one month to get
through all the other stuff... Then they work.
On this late Spring morning, a poet and two painters have
immersed themselves in the farm's creative atmosphere.
On the website Art Farm seemed kind of
like strange and adventurous.
Not like your average residency.
29-year-old Rebecca Johnson is an impressionist artist
from Asheville, North Carolina.
The Art Farm gives her a window on a world that's
different from her usual environment.
There's just something strange and amazing about
walking down a dirt road and just being able to see for
miles and knowing that like you can walk and walk all day,
and you'll be on that same dirt road
and it'll pretty much look the same.
24-year-old Amy DiPlacido traveled
1600 miles from Middleton, Massachusetts.
She found the pace of the farm
fueled her passion for linear art.
It really slows you down here.
I think that's really important to learn too,
especially coming from the city and just knowing like
the hustle and bustle it doesn't really matter.
The geography also inspired her artwork of straight lines.
...and seeing those lines of cornfields and soybean.
And you can see right down, everything's placed in a grid.
So, I'm very inspired by these
man made geographical lines on the landscape.
"Sycamore. Lone mare under the arched limb.
Here a list of yellow things."
For poet Meredith Clark of Seattle, the Art Farm
offered a new look at her view of writing.
I think it's been a real life changing experience
in a lot of ways.
Learning an awful lot about the way that I work.
Ya know I think a lot of people make the mistake
sometimes of coming to a residency assuming that
they're going to turn something out.
She also had to learn the "process" of
printing her poetry... the old fashioned way.
This has probably taken me an hour and a half to two hours.
And it's just six lines of type.
The Art Farm has welcomed artists
from ten different countries.
Space is limited to fewer than two dozen residencies a year.
And in exchange for room and board...
the artisans help work the farm.
A current project is restoring old barns which
see duty as studios and living quarters.
♪♪
On this day, an old bathtub became a spa... of sorts.
♪♪
And it gets hot here during the day, so we're going to
fill it up when we need to cool off.
Jump in the tub, go back to our studio and work.
We were doing that with the hose occasionally,
but this will be better.
The landscape has become a repository of artwork
completed by previous residents.
Carole and Bernard Smith say they make the pilgrimage
from Indiana on a regular basis to see what's new.
I remember when Ed first started this and it was
"How's he going to get people to come here?"
But it just never stops. I mean it just seems like
every year he's got more, and more, and more.
And it's wonderful.
♪♪
Perhaps it's the liberation of open space...
perhaps it's the serenity to be found here.
Ed and the artists will tell you...
it's inspiration without encumbrance.
It's the experience that you can try something, you can
experiment and not worry about failing.
♪♪
While cattle, sheep and horses roam the ranch lands
of Nebraska today, the area was once home to giant mammoths.
The University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln has skeletons
of full sized elephants that once roamed the region.
Oh... and one sweet food note about Nebraska.
Kool Aid was invented in Hastings, Nebraska in 1927.
Originally a soft drink syrup called Fruit Smack,
Inventor Edwin Perkins changed it
to a powder to make it easier to ship.
Rural images have long been a staple of American Artists.
Think about the work of Edward Hopper,
Andrew Wyeth or Georgia O'Keefe.
Part of the attraction is capturing the subtle changes
of light and color on fields or farm buildings.
Kristen Simoes says in northern California, is home
to a unique partnership, bringing farmers and artists
together to encourage that creative spirit.
♪♪
The scenic beauty of America's farm and ranchland has
long been a natural inspiration for artists and photographers.
From sweeping fields of South Dakota Wheat...
to the wide open spaces of Colorado cattle country...
to the rolling hills of California's Capay Valley.
This is the second time I've been here at this farm.
And I've been trying to capture these hills.
And I've been working on it in between when I'm not even
here to see how I can get the feel of just the curves
and the undulations of the land.
And that's my goal today.
I'm painting the hedgerow over there
and the orchard in front of it.
I like that contrast of that big, dark windbreak
and I like the lime green line of the...
I think they're apricots over there.
Not wanting to impose... or trespass...
many artists often limit themselves to accessing
heartland views from public roadways.
But California farmer and... fellow artist...
Annie Main recognized those limitations and began
inviting creative folks onto her farmland
in Yolo county... east of San Francisco.
Having our own farm, and seeing the landscape and
seeing the beauty, that is when I started inviting
other artists here - to places that they would never
have the opportunity to go to.
♪♪
I think somebody is going to go paint out there.
Annie reached out to an existing Yolo County Arts program...
together creating the "Arts & Ag Project."
Any way that you can get people to stop and think
about where their food comes from and the importance of
fresh food, fresh local food.
And if we can do that through a painting, that's fabulous.
The program allows as many as 35 artists to visit a
Yolo County farm or ranch each month.
I'll look at the hills, the lighting on the hills,
and it is a moment,
where that light hits it and creates the scene.
And it is so incredibly beautiful.
And then there's the challenge to see if you can
figure out how to catch it on a piece of paper, in
water color, or even in a photograph.
The thing I like about it is it puts me in touch with nature.
Maryanne Kirsch has been teaching art for 25 years and
believes that programs like these help people understand the
importance of maintaining open space and protecting rural land.
This is a valuable part of our life,
and a valuable part of our environment.
And that's key to what's happening right now because
I think preserving the environment is
a number one issue for us.
This project has actually given me access to lots of venues.
Rebecca Ryland uses water colors in crafting
her landscape artwork.
She enjoys the solitude of working in an environment
that's filled with plants instead of people.
I think the arts benefit all of us.
And for the farmer, it's been really... I think sometimes
they enjoy having visitors on the farm.
Some of them definitely do.
And of course if they don't they make themselves scarce.
So, it's an activity where everybody gets to be together.
Well this is my very first attempt, too.
The Arts and Ag Project in Yolo County has proven to be
so successful that it received a grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts -- providing a model
for other communities that want to showcase their tie
to the land and American agriculture.
It's exceeded our wildest expectations.
And now we're getting phone calls from all over the country.
The completed artworks capture iconic
images of rural life in America.
And many of the projects find their way to a year-end
public event - the proceeds... from which...
are used to promote farmland preservation.
The message is this is worth saving.
That we really want these farms to exist in the future.
I really feel that if we lose the appreciation for
our farm lands, we lose a part of our American soul.
And I think it connects the community to their place.
And ultimately that's the power of where we are,
and who we are, and what we want for our community.
♪♪
California has more than 75 thousand farms and ranches.
And many California crops make their way around the world.
Tops in the production category are dairy products,
grapes, nursery crops, almonds and strawberries.
So far we've seen how artists capture the majesty
and beauty of the heartland on a fairly small scale.
But let's introduce you to an artist whose work touches
the pride and products of a particular region with a
kind of canvas you'll probably see nowhere else.
Rob Stewart heads for a small community Colorado
with a very colorful artistic attraction.
♪♪
Welcome to Berthoud, Colorado... a small town in a
state where cattle, corn, wheat, dairy and hay are
prime products in a robust agricultural landscape.
Berthoud sits at the heart of Larimer county where
farming and ranching generate nearly 130 million
dollars each year for the local economy.
Berthoud has been nicknamed the "Garden Spot of Colorado."
And if you head for the center of this rural farming
community you'll find - a beacon shining bright.
♪♪
It's called "Berthoud's Roots," an expansive 55 foot
mural painted on the historic grain elevator downtown.
This unique artwork on its giant concrete canvas is not
only a tribute to the town's agricultural roots, but to
its modern spirit of community as well.
What were you trying to capture?
Well I think we wanted a family unit that works together.
An agricultural family taking a break in the field...
maybe from harvest, or mom bringing lunch kinda
feel like we're taking a few minutes away from the hard
work of farming to enjoy our family.
Colorado artist Susan Daily worked with muralist,
Eleanor Yates, to conceive and execute this
collaborative creation in 2005.
And since then, people from all around the world have come
to this small Colorado community to see the giant mural.
People will say "oh they're the ones with the grain elevator"
and people come in they take great pride this
is one of the few communities certainly west
of I-25 in the front range that is still agriculturally
oriented and they take great pride in it.
One of the things I felt when I saw it is that I feel
like it really transcends time.
My fond memories of childhood are on my grandparent's farm.
I already kind of love the agricultural scene and you kind
of see the agriculture disappearing
from the front range it just feels like
it's kind of a tribute to those roots.
Roots, than run deep for Susan Dailey.
Her earliest childhood memories are happy times
spent on her grandparent's farm.
She's been painting agricultural images ever since.
For Susan, it's her way of connecting to her past.
♪♪
I always was fascinated by the farm and it's funny
because I think my mother grew up on the farm and she
was sort of "I'm getting away from the farm" and here
her daughter wanted to go back to the farm all the time.
Susan travelled cross country to Philadelphia to study with
famous muralist Meg Saligman in learning how to best create the
expansive images that give her murals such impact.
It was the life lesson Susan was looking for.
Sort of giving me a boost of confidence that the size of
her project was so overwhelming to me and it
was such an opportunity to work with her that now I
come back here and I can do anything.
♪ Oh the happy, sunny, pretty rolling hills, ♪
♪ where the sweetest gladness ever there prevails,♪
♪ where the sunshine lingers on the lovely hills,♪
♪ on the sunny side of life. ♪
But painting isn't Susan's only creative outlet...
music is another.
♪♪
Both my husband and I are musicians.
She just always was interested in drawing and
seemed to follow that line more than the music.
Although she enjoyed the music too
but I think art got more devotion.
That devotion to making an impact is on display in the
nearby town of Dunn, Colorado where another grain bin mural on
a family farm has transformed this rural landscape.
It's a wonderfully personal statement for a family
and I just love it, every image means something
and it says something about the land.
What does it say? What does it say to you?
I think it's about the heart,
this one just sort of about family,
and hardworking family, celebrating family heritage
of one family in particular but also of the land where they live
Of one family versus the community mural we saw earlier.
Even though it reflects the community as well.
And you see the family here watching the harvest and you
just get a feel of how much hard work went into this.
Kind of like a little moment in time
looking at the fruits of the labor.
And thanks to Susan, a moment in time that will last a lifetime.
Looking at your beautiful mural, I can't help but think
of the song you were singing, "The sunny side of life."
Well I think the golden wheat fields sort of reflect
the sunny side but also just positive, good feelings,
I guess that's what I hope to portray in my mural.
That the people that look at it feel good, maybe on a
deeper level than they realize, that its bringing
joy or meaning or reflection into themselves.
The sunny side of life.
Yes!
♪ That the world may know as we onward go, ♪
♪ there's a sunny side of life! ♪
And that's going to do it for us this time.
We thank you for traveling the country with us on this
edition of America's Heartland as we find
interesting people and places to share with you.
We know that we pass on a lot of information to you
in every program, and in case you missed something or
you just want to check out videos from this or other shows,
we make it easy.
Just log on to our website americasheartland.org
And, of course, there's a lot going on
in our social media arena.
You'll find us there as well.
Well, we'll see you next time... on America's Heartland.
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♪♪
♪You can see it in the eyes Of every woman and man♪
♪In America's Heartland living close to the land♪
♪There's a love for the country And a pride in the brand♪
♪In America's Heartland♪
♪Living close Close to the land♪
America's Heartland is made possible by...
Farm Credit - Financing agriculture and rural America since 1916.
Farm Credit is cooperatively owned by America's farmers and ranchers.
Learn more at farmcredit.com
CropLife America- Representing the companies whose modern farming innovations
help America's farmers provide nutritious food for communities around the globe.