Travel the Amana Colony trail through the 7 villages and find as many scarecrows as you can.
Maps are available at the Visitor’s Center.
Rounding out our anniversary year will be an unusual look at arguably Iowa’s most important artist, Grant Wood. While known for his iconic American Gothic (Art Institute of Chicago) and other Regionalist works from his mature style, Grant Wood was constantly exploring styles, techniques, and media. This exhibition will bring together works from both the CRMA collection as well as from private collections to celebrate Wood’s inquisitive mind. Rarely seen paintings will be joined with diverse metalwork pieces, drawings, and studies to construct a fuller view of Wood’s genius.
Grant Wood’s American Gothic is probably the world’s most parodied American painting, second only to Leonardo’s Mona Lisa. The fact that thousands of parodies of American Gothic exist, dating back several decades, speaks to the enduring inspiration of one of America’s greatest works of art. This exhibition—a first for the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art—will look at many of these parodies—some in the flesh on the gallery’s walls and many others digitally projected in an attempt to share the incredible reach of this iconic painting. From Bill and Hillary Clinton to Leonardo and Mona Lisa to RuPaul as male and female, these parodies speak to how this one painting serves as the basis for looking at various contemporary people and issues. Wood’s impactful 1930 painting continues to inspire “artists” of all ages and skills in a playful and humorous way that Wood would no doubt have applauded.
