Stone City Foundation hears about UI connection

By: 
Kim Brooks
Express Editor

     The Stone City Foundation, a non-profit organization, held its annual meeting last week on April 17. The meeting finally took place after two winter weather events caused cancelations.

     The Stone City Foundation is tasked with organizing the annual Stone City Festival every year in September in, where else, Stone City. (This year’s festival is set for Sunday, Sept. 16.) The festival helps to promote the arts, particularly of young people in Jones County. High school students who enter works of art in the contest have the chance to earn cash prizes. Middle school and elementary students receive ribbons.

     Bob Hatcher, president and treasurer of the Foundation and director of Jones County Tourism, shared that the Foundation formed about 10 years ago with the idea of keeping the village of Stone City going.

     “We want to make sure Stone City doesn’t go away,” he said.

     Hatcher said their mission of showcasing the arts simply carries on Grant Wood’s legacy. In the 1930s, Wood started the Stone City Art Colony as a way to give artists some exposure.

     Hatcher said in 2017, they gave 22 tours of Stone City.

     “Virtually every tour of Jones County includes Stone City,” he said of requests for tours through the Tourism Office.

     The guest speaker at the Foundation’s meeting was Maura Pilcher, director of the Grant Wood Art Colony at the University of Iowa.

     What is the University’s interest in Grant Wood, you might ask? In the mid-1930s to the early ‘40s, Wood was on the faculty as an art instructor in the Department of Graphic and Plastic Arts (now known as the School of Art & Art History). Every other year, UI’s Art Colony hosts an art symposium, which “focuses on topics related to the life and times of Grant Wood.”

     Pilcher said the college wants to establish a relationship with the Stone City Foundation and the revived Grant Wood Art Gallery in downtown Anamosa, with all three entities working together toward the same goal: promote the arts and all things Grant Wood.

     UI is also home to a house that Grant Wood, himself, built in 1935 while teaching there.

     “His time at the University of Iowa wasn’t great,” Pilcher admitted.

     She said many people don’t even know the name of the artist of the second most recognized piece of art in history: “American Gothic.”

     “He was written out of history,” she said.

     Pilcher said there has been much national attention as of late paid to Grant Wood’s legacy in Iowa, sharing an article written by famed author Jane Smiley that appeared in the Smithsonian Magazine and on smithsonianmag.com.

     “This is the time to capitalize on Grant Wood,” she said. “We want to bring his legacy back into play.”

     In 2009, UI hosted its first Grant Wood art symposium. It was also that same year they hosted their first art fellow. The fellowship program highlights the areas of Paint and Drawing, Printmaking, and Interdisciplinary Performance. Each fellow also stays inside the Grant Wood home, which was restored and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Several buildings throughout Stone City are also on the registry.

     “These fellows are from all over the world,” said Pilcher. “They get exposure to Grant Wood and walk away with an appreciation of him and his work.”

     She said she would like to see UI collaborate with the Foundation during the September festival, adding to the artwork and presence of artists.

     “We want to help support organizations like the Foundation,” offered Pilcher. “We want to bring our fellows here to see what Grant Wood is all about, to see where he came from.”

 

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