And their stolid, steadfast Depression-era inhabitants are evoked in one of the most iconic pieces of 20th
century art, Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.”
Farms have long been an influence for artists – from the 19th century
French countryside to the thick-of-the-Depression American Midwest.
And this summer, they’re once again serving as muse through a unique,
months-long collaboration in central Maine.
The Kennebec Valley Art Association in Hallowell and the Kennebec Local Food Initiative in Gardiner have
paired 14 artists with 13 farms through a project called “CSA: Community Supporting Arts.” Over
several months, local artists have been visiting partner farms (all of which have Community Supported
Agriculture, or CSA, programs) to take in everything — landscapes; buildings; caretakers; feathered,
furred and four-legged inhabitants; crops bountiful or blighted; struggles and successes — with a goal to create a series of
works by the end of the summer.
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