RWP Universal Menu Block

Chanhassen
Villager
Shakopee
Valley News
Victoria
Town Square
Chaska
Residents Guide
Coupons
Savvy.mn
Let's Go!
Scoreboard

News, sports, politics, blogs and forums for Chaska, Minnesota • (952) 448-2650
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Chaska Resident's Guide • Local Worship Directory • Chaska Foreclosure Data

Chaska, Minnesota

Motorbuys
Garage Sales
Local Jobs
Homes | Rentals
Classifieds
Keep up with the Herald! Sign up for email newsletters and RSS feeds.
Forecast
Click to Login
No account? Sign up!

Advertising

Advertising

Politics gone to seed: Where are the GOP crop artists?


» Read similar stories filed under:

GOP supporters certainly have the lead when it comes to talk radio.

And conservatives and liberals are neck and neck in the blogosphere.

However, if the Minnesota State Fair is any indication, DFLers obliterate the competition in the medium of crop art.

Year after year, the crop art on display in the Minnesota State Fair’s Agriculture/Horticulture Building leans to the left.

For those who were schooled in more traditional arts, crop art is a field where artists use soybeans, wheat, sunflowers and a multitude of other Minnesota plants to render a portrait.

At this year’s State Fair, the Agriculture/Horticulture building had a whopping four pieces of crop art and one scarecrow all ripping the GOP to shreds.

In order to make their case, three of the five pieces referenced elephants’ scatological proficiencies (in one piece, lovingly rendered using beans).

Sen. Norm Coleman is the target in another asking the public to: “‘Spare us’ from ‘the Norm’” and illustrating Coleman as a bowling pin.

The scarecrow portrays President George W. Bush in a flight suit, wearing a sort of “Jughead” hat, holding a marionette of Norm Coleman in one hand and a missile labeled “fear” in the other.

Advertisement. Article continues below.

In case that wasn’t irreverent enough, he’s also sporting a Pinocchio nose.

Ideology is never on display among the 4-H booths. It’s rarely on display at the Creative Activities building (although I would love to see a quilt taking on an issue like sexism or racism). Doctrine sometimes works its way into the pieces on display at the State Fair Fine Arts building.

With crop art, politics is a common theme, which is all fine and good. What better way to demonstrate free speech than through one of Minnesota’s preeminent forms of folk art?

However, it does beg the question “Where are the GOP crop artists?”

The pieces of crop art can take hundreds of hours of arduous labor, placing the right seed in the right place. When delivering a message, it’s definitely not as time-efficient as hammering out an online treatise, or voicing thoughts over the airwaves.

However, there are thousands of people who line up to take a walk through the building to look at crop art. This year, there may be hundreds of National Republican Convention delegates checking out the fair.

Perhaps they’ll begin wondering, “Are we losing the crop art race?




It's not political but, one...

Back to page top

It's not political but, one year, I recall seeing a seed art depiction of Bjork, that lovable Icelandic pixie. Perhaps there's just a certain type of person drawn to making seed art. It could be the hottest trend among left-leaning indie-rock fans. That, and the occasional anarchist knit-circle could be their main hobbies.


Submitted by Leah on August 26, 2008 - 4:52pm.

Reality is..... The reason...

Back to page top

Reality is.....

The reason there are no Democratic bashing "crop artists" is because Republicans are out earning their paychecks. They don't have time to sit at home making such art while sucking up the Democratic driven welfare system.

OK, I was being a little humorous there, but maybe people who would make such art for the "right" have better things to do with their time...


Submitted by mattgeurts on August 26, 2008 - 6:11pm.

What about these items? It...

Back to page top

What about these items? It seems that GOP art is more utilitarian, whether it's an envelope, bottle, T-shirt or cuddly elephantine friend.
Cuddly toy

Send it 'Nixon'

Tricky Dick bottle

Reagan says...


Submitted by HawkEye on August 26, 2008 - 11:48pm.

Advertising

Advertising

Recent comments

Advertising

Who's new

  • jenny03
  • advantlee
  • Kremburg
  • coconut1456
  • Dreamwalkin14

Who's online

There are currently 0 users and 285 guests online.

Advertising

Advertising