WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderFields Project Brings Art and Agriculture Together

Fields Project Brings Art and Agriculture Together

By Audrey Haynes

OREGON (WREX) -- It's not too often that you see an artist's canvas that's bigger than a building. But on a farm between Byron and Leaf River, entire fields are canvases for art. That's why it's called "The Fields Project."

Daniel & Donna Kay Shipyor took a plane ride over the farm, which is the only way to view the art.

The Shipyors were impressed. "The way it was cut it was just perfect. You could tell exactly what everything was. There was a wolf, and a buffalo, they had butterflies, and Indian Aztec art. Who would ever think you'd get to see that as well?"

Artists from all over the country, from as far away as California, Arizona, and Virginia, come to the area and stay with farm families for over a week. At the farms, they create both field art and more common pieces such as paintings and pottery.

It's a learning experience for both. Elsie Richolson, a Davis Junction host for the project, says she gets to share her agricultural experience.

"They can take it back and explain how agriculture works because so many people do not realize what agriculture's all about," says Richolson.

 Artists say the farmers see artistic value in what they usually take for granted.

Artist Curt Buethe explains. "They saw a new interest, a way of looking at things they hadn't seen, too.  Any time you get together people from different areas you see that. And the kind of bonding that we've had and the people we've met, it's been just a wonderful experience."

The Fields Project has been going on in Ogle County every year for more than a decade.

Betty Adams, a Fields Project Founder, says agriculture can go hand-in-hand with art in a rural community.

"We wanted to do something to keep our community alive as far as the arts are concerned," says Adams. "And we wanted to emphasize the heritage that we have."

The week-long project wrapped up Sunday with an art show in Oregon. Dozens of artists got to show off and sell their work to hundreds of visitors.