May 13, 2002

11:09 AM

Have you ever wanted to try painting a portrait of Pappa Hemingway or Joey Ramone using poppy seed, grits, brome grass, millet, lentils, and white rice? Do you have the patience to recreate Van Gogh's Starry Night in cream of wheat and split peas? Crop art showcases artists who use only harvested natural materials to create their art. Via Coudal.
posted by iconomy (9 comments total)

Wonderful, Ike. I'm a Coudal fan too. Does elephant dung from the London zoo qualify as a harvested natural material? If so, Chris Ofili's Virgin Mary, which caused such an outcry in London and Brooklyn - Giuliani's arteries popped - should be added to the list.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:17 AM on May 13, 2002

I actually saw this on WTTW (Chicago Public TV) and was amazed at how cool this stuff looked. I had completely forgotten about it til' now. Thanks!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:22 AM on May 13, 2002

This is very cool. And surely requires significantly more patience that I have ever possessed. Groovy link!
posted by dejah420 at 11:38 AM on May 13, 2002

I'd pay a few bucks for that Joey portrait...
posted by spilon at 11:52 AM on May 13, 2002

Cool link. Now back to making my portrait of George Lucas composed entirely of fatback and jelly beans.
posted by zoopraxiscope at 11:53 AM on May 13, 2002

It's Macaroni Midler! And fusilli Jerry.
posted by mikhail at 12:30 PM on May 13, 2002

I should have included the word "edible" in the description, Miguel - edible natural harvested materials. Edible to humans, that is - not flies and dung beetles ;)
posted by iconomy at 4:07 PM on May 13, 2002

I love this stuff. I forget how I came across these pages a few years ago, but I immediately called up Lillian Colton in southern Minnesota and interviewed her for the 141st edition of my talk radio show (November 26, 2000). She's the true master of all this; starting in 1966, she won the crop art competition at the state fair 9 out of 11 times, and then stopped entering, to give somebody else a chance.

Her crop art like this timothy, canola, alsike, bromegrass, birdsfoot trefoil, and salsify portrait of Willie Nelson is excellent, and her timothy, canola, pine needles, clover, brome grass, poppy seeds, and grits version of the We Are The World ensemble I think qualifies as almost unbelievable.
posted by LeLiLo at 6:42 PM on May 13, 2002

I vaguely remember doing this in kindergarten. Not as well of course. I'm delighted that someone's manged to create legume cheesecake and I think Frank would be delighted with this portrait.
posted by jonmc at 8:24 PM on May 13, 2002