Each year, the concrete pad in front of the 4-H Building
at the Indiana State Fairgrounds becomes the home
for a sculpture. The past couple years the site has been visited
by very large fiberglass representations of the farm
couple in American Gothic, while last year saw a dancing
couple from a painting by Renoir.
This year welcomed a creation both more modest
in scale and more ambitious in that it is
non-representational (i.e. "modern) art.
From the plaque:
"The Hoosier Spirit is fruitful, strong and resilient. ...
When faced with a challenge, Hoosiers respond much
like the farmer -- we get our hands dirty --
we do the work."
Jamie Dickerson, Sculptor
Made from Indiana hardwood, the exterior of the pieces invites
the viewer to enter, to explore them as they twist and rise
towards the sky, much as the trees that produced them,
and just as people continue to work towards their goals.
5 comments:
I made a fence once that ended up looking something like that.
Yeh, I know, Dive, but I actually prefer it to the previous years' fiberglass pieces. While I appreciate the sentiments expressed by the artist, I wonder why people think such character and spirit are exclusive to their people, rather than shared by people in general.
I completely agree, Speedway. Being English, of course, I have no idea what a Hoosier is. I like the swirly wooden sculpture though.
"Hoosier" is the nickname for someone from Indiana. However, it had it's origin as a deprecating word for "any awkward, unsophisticated person, especially a rustic." I prefer to believe that pioneers who settled the territory were sitting around their campfires at night and heard the sounds of Native Americans mating in the distance - "Who's yer daddy-who's yer daddy-who's-yer-daddy?" At least, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Hee hee hee!
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