We needed to secure a permit to allow us to cut the prairie grasses. Here are Craig and Felicia collecting material.

Here Cynthia and Paloma are weaving grass into the wire armature for the dress. I found volunteers to help with the project through a local art gallery and also by searching online.

The completed "Prairie Dress"

I thought it was fitting with the nature of this Great Plains state to keep Iowa's dress low to the ground.

This project would not have been possible without my awesome volunteers, who spent a day with me under the hot sun, attacked by ticks and mosquitos, to make "Prairie Dress" happen. From left: Leif Zalewski, Felicia Taylor (hair and make-up), Craig Volesky, Stewart McCoy (holding the wire dress form), Cynthia Wittstruck, and Paloma Jamal Scheck.

Iowa is in America's heartland, the great prairie lands that became the farming breadbasket for the United States. I found out during my work on "Prairie Dress" that the natural environment of Iowa has been reduced to 1/10 of 1% to make room for farming and housing. In other words, if Iowa was a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, only one piece would be undeveloped nature.

"Pieces of History" Mural in Wadena, MN

For the entire month of June, I have been painting as part of a community project in Wadena, MN.

My assistant Michael Beachy, a local art student, and project director David Evert working behind him.

BEFORE... this is what the wall looked like before we started.

And AFTER... the finished mural! It is intended to look like a big jigsaw puzzle, to fit with the "Pieces of History" theme of the project. This is the first in what it is hoped will be an onoing project to depict the history of Minnesota in Wadena.

It's an orgy of bird life, with blue herons and the state bird, the loon, which is almost as big as a goose, and its babies ride on its back!

Details of eagles. Notice the painted turtle on the log, which was painted in on the last day on the town barber's request.

I could not have done it without the help of many, many friends, including Hope, who is helping me here to touch up nail holes once it was installed.

Catching a big Northern pike with new friends in MN. (...note the plastic gloves; it all seems a little icky to this city girl)

Tornado hits Minnesota!

On June 20, a tornado and wind storm hit both the county I am living in (Ottertail) and the county I am working in (Wadena). I was painting the mural indoors at the Wadena Emporium when the storm hit: the sky turned green with black swirling clouds, hail rained down, and the windows shook. Then the sky went dark. The power went out and we all sat by candlelight listening to the radio, until the local station got hit by lightning, and the radio went out. I am lucky enough to be painting in a very secure building, so many people fled the storm to join us in our candlelit safety, including one woman who had seven trees fall in her yard, one through her roof. What surprised me most was how graciously everyone weathered the weather, even those with massive damage to their property seemed affably awed by the power of nature. The home I am staying at in Ottertail is just not the same, as all the trees on the property were lost. Here is a picture of my yard after the storm.

The top of this tree was lopped off right next to the house. Although much damage was done in two counties, I haven't heard about any injuries, and many houses were luckily just missed by falling trees.

Man VS. Nature.... nature wins!

It was tragic to see all the beautiful old trees felled by the winds,

The New York Mills Cultural Center has graciously allowed me to use their beautiful upstairs studio space to work on wire dress forms for the next project.

Work in progress...