karen cooper - Blog: WPA mural

Everywhere, Everywhere, Art

by Cooper on 10/10/2010 8:13:07 PM1 Comment

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa. Today the subject is art availability, or everywhere, everywhere, art. And of course it is. Let me explain.

Ever since moving to Jefferson, about a year ago, I have been in love with a painting way high up on the wall of the Jefferson post office. I didn't ask the appropriate questions about it, I just plain old enjoyed it.

Then, I was at an art event in Illinois earlier this summer where someone was bragging that his father was friends with one of the artists who had been commisioned in a WPA program to create art for public buildings. WHAT???!!! How could I have lived through two entire years of art history and not heard of this? And it happened a long time before I graced the grounds of the University of Nebraska, so don't make any "old" jokes for my benefit. Surely the professor knew about this. Why weren't we told?

So I took a little self made art history course the other day. The painting in the Jefferson, Iowa post office was painted in 1938 by a man from Fort Dodge, Iowa, named Tom Savage. The painting, "The New Calf" is an oil on canvas mural measuring 14' by 6'10". It was installed April 21, 1938. The post office was brand new, as well, being built two years prior, in 1936. Surely you are eager to see it. Did I mention that it was WAY up high on the wall, and even though I am taller than average, and held my camera as high as I could---well, you guessed it, this image is, sorry, slightly skewed.

Mr. Savage also painted, "Breaking The Colt" for the New Hampton, Iowa post office, and "Cotton Farm" for the Eupora, Mississippi post office. A protege of Grant Wood (you know HIM as Mr. American Gothic, of course), he worked with him on a series of murals in Ames, Iowa. The then First Lady, Mrs. Roosevelt, must have appreciated his work as well, as she selected a Tom Savage painting to hang in the White House, now a part of the permanent collection of Fort Dodge, Iowa's Blanden Memorial Art Gallery.

And to think, one of his paintings is hanging in my post office. Wow. It's fairly easy to find information about the entire WPA art project, once you know it's there. It seems Iowa lucked out and had quite a few of these commisioned arts, 34 according to one online list. I think it would be fun to see how many of them I can visit :) I wonder if I'll enjoy them as much as the one in my post office?!

And then, have you heard about:

They were inspired by the public art project “Play Me, I’m Yours,” which has placed pianos in open spaces around the world to challenge people to interact.

http://thegazette.com/2010/07/20/pianos-give-downtown-iowa-city-some-heart-and-soul/

More art. Everywhere, everywhere, art. This time, audio. Musical. A piano right out on the sidewalk in Iowa City, Iowa. Actually, two pianos, one on the pedmall, one in front of MC Ginsberg Jewelry.

Have I mentioned daughter Abbie is a pianist? So the piano in front of MC Ginsberg rocked out a little Beethoven Pastorale Opus 28 sonata #15. And then two cute little girls, daughter Lindsey's contribution :) rerouted the piano sound to "The Wheels On The Bus".

But hey, it's all art. And it's all around us. Everywhere, everywhere, art. Pay attention. You'll want to enjoy it. I'm sure.

Later, Cooper

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