Book Art of the FarmLand Series

 

This FarmLand series began from my desire to depict art through a subject I was both fond of and had first hand experience with.  Having grown up on a productive farm fit that bill when I came across old agriculture textbooks.  Those with farm life images printed on the covers became the catalyst for a new direction in my art.  I had already incorporated books as a foundation in my art and these books became my new palette.  They were simple in design, sparse with color, and had been executed  with an obvious knowledge of the land.  The textbooks I “found” had a variety of titles: “Field Crop Management”, “Yearbook of Agriculture”, “Raising Livestock”.  It was the images printed on the covers that captured my imagination.  

 

The stories I created through my artistic freedom of altering the books became my new platform.  I gave the land rich green pastures, rolling terraces, and fertile fields.  My art stories elevated the act of plowing the fields to heights of contentment - and valleys became peaceful destinations.

 

This FarmLand series is also an attempt to salvage as many book images from that textbook era that I possibly can.  I have only just begun on that particular journey.

 

Ultimately, the reality of farm land these days is about the diminishing  -  dare I say - extinction of the small family farm…..and in turn…I would imagine, the agriculture classes and textbooks.  The story I’m telling through my art will eventually fade.  My wish is that it sparks a ray of hope into our collective quest for a better world so that we all can continue to enjoy a bountiful harvest and have an appreciation for the compelling beauty of the land.

 

Janice Anderson

October 2020