This is the 4th in a series of Friday Footnotes on The Art of Agriculture written by Jim Connors. In this Footnote Jim will look at a common form of artwork that can be seen in many communities, large and small, across this great country – mural paintings. Take it away Jim.
If you visit any community, rural, suburban, or urban, you can often see mural paintings on the side of buildings, walkways, or even intersection power boxes. Many communities use murals to celebrate the beauty of their community, agriculture heritage, or even FFA chapter.
Grant Wood
We will start this footnote by revisiting an artist that was introduced in our last Footnote – Grant Wood from Iowa. While Wood is most remembered for his famous paintings, including American Gothic, he also painted some very famous murals.
If you ever visit the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, IA, make time to stop at the Parks Library. The walls of the Parks Library at ISU contain the largest work of art designed by Grant Wood. These murals were created as part of the Public Works of Art Project for Iowa during the 1930s depression. The funding for the artwork was part of the Works Project Administration (WPA), part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. While the murals were designed by Wood, they were painted by University of Iowa students in 1934.
The murals, titled “When Tillage Begins, Other Arts Follow” were “inspired by a quotation from Daniel Webster’s remarks on ‘The Agriculture of England’ made on January 13, 1840” which stated:
“When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.”
The main mural is titled Breaking the Prairie. The central section is 23’ x 11’ in size. A description of Breaking the Prairie states:
An ox team in the background engages in the difficult task of breaking the prairie in the first year’s plowing, while a horse team in the foreground does the easier work of second year’s tilling. The two side panels depict strong men chopping down trees to build cabins. The idealized figures and setting, so characteristic of Wood’s work, along with the Lincolnesque appearance of the males, fit the concept of government-sponsored WPA art of the 1930s perfectly. It has been noted that the Lincolnesque figures suggest that hard work, moral courage, and leadership can lead anyone to the highest office in the land.
Figure 1.Breaking the Prairie (Grant Wood, 1937 – Parks Library, Iowa State University)
Diego Rivera
Probably the most famous mural painter in the world was Diego Rivera. Some of Rivera’s murals are on the walls of the Chapingo Autonomous University of Agriculture (UACh) in Mexico. His mural titled Tierra Fecundada (Fertile Land) depicts the revolutionary struggle of Mexican peasant farmers. Another Diego mural is Sugar Cane (1931) that shows the harsh conditions on a large Mexican plantation (haciendas). The mural shown below is The Maize Festival from 1924.
Figure 2 The Maize Festival (Diego Ravera, 1924) – Secretariate of Public Education, Mexico City
University of Idaho – College of Agriculture and Life Science
During my 20 years on the faculty at the University of Idaho I had many chances to attend meetings, presentations, and teach classes in the large lecture hall in the Agriculture Sciences building. Directly outside this classroom was a mural depicting a composite of many scenes related to Idaho and agriculture. Included in the mural you will find:
- Mountains, Valley, Forests, and Palouse Hills
- Dams, Water, & Irrigation
- Grain Elevator, Harvesting, Combine, & Trucks
- Farm, Fields, Barn, Cattle, Chickens
- Wheat, Corn, & Potatoes
- Farm Family – Father, Daughters and Son
- Farm Laborers
A description of the mural focuses on the main figure in the bottom center – a young man studying. The student, absorbed in his book, is equally symbolic and slightly secondary to the farm. The student is given the central position in the mural so that all activity in the painting could stem from it and thus signify the role of education in the state.
Figure 3: Agricultural Mural – University of Idaho – Agricultural Sciences Building (Artist Unknown)
Idaho State Capitol
There is another agricultural-themed mural in the Gem State of Idaho. In 2020, Parma High School art teacher Linda McMillin was asked to paint a mural in the hallway of the State Capitol building in Boise. An article about the mural states:
It features the word AGRICULTURE and each of the large letters contains a different farm commodity produced in Idaho. The word AGRICULTURE appears to be planted in a farm field and the Sawtooth Mountains are in the background.
- A – Russet potatoes – the farm commodity Idaho is world-famous for.
- G – Wheat fields
- R – Dairy Cattle
- I – Onions
- C -Trout
- U – Beef Cattle
- L – Sugar Beets
- T – Apples
- U – Alfalfa Hay with Cut leaf Bees
- R – Honey Bees
- E – Sheep
Figure 4: Idaho State Capitol Agriculture Mural (Linda McMillin, 2020)
Community Murals
If you do a Google search for agricultural murals you will find dozens of pictures and stories of communities across the country and public murals painted on the sides of buildings, walls, parks, etc. Below are just two examples of community agriculture murals.
Figure 5. Left – Parkrose Neighborhood, Portland, OR — Right – Haven, KS
FFA Murals
If you ever visited the first National FFA Center in Alexandria, VA or the current center in Indianapolis, IN you may have noticed a large mural depicting FFA members and activities. The 10’ x 15’ mural was painted by New Jersey artist Karen Kleinschuster in 1990. It depicts a series of FFA images painted on an American flag that’s flapping in the breeze. The lower right corner of the mural shows two FFA members, Dan Ruehling of Belle Plaine, MN and another FFA member from New York. The scene was taken from a photograph of these FFA members overlooking the harbor in Hamburg, Germany during an FFA Stars awards trip to Europe. The mural was commissioned by National FFA Advisor Dr. Larry Case after he saw another work by the artist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture building in Washington, DC.
Figure 6. We the People – FFA Mural (Karen Kleinschuster, 1990) Courtesy of National FFA Organization – National FFA Center, Indianapolis, IN)
When asked to comment about the mural, Kleinschuster stated:
I found out that FFA is a uniquely American product. The children who make up the group’s membership are a part of the families that produce our food and fiber. They are the unsung heroes of our country. They’re the ones who go out to work when the rest of us go home.
Many local high schools also include agriculture and FFA themed murals, often painted by FFA members and/or art students in the school. Below you will see an FFA themed mural in Wessington Springs High School in South Dakota and a mural by W.B. Saul FFA member Destiny Porter honoring noted agricultural scientist George Washington Carver.
Figure 7. Left: Wessington Springs FFA mural (Kenzee Schafer, 2023) and Right: George Washington Carver Mural – W.B. Saul High School (Destiny Porter, 2023)
Conclusion
You don’t have to look very hard around this country to find agriculture-themed murals. No matter what state you live in, people, politicians, community leaders, all appreciate and want to support agriculture by incorporating artwork into their buildings and communities.
FFA is no different. Many high schools across the country contain student-designed and painted murals celebrating their chapter, FFA members, or famous agriculture leaders. Agriculture and FFA murals bring recognition and celebration to the importance of agriculture to our world.
If anyone is interested in learning more about agriculture and art I would recommend the following book:
Eldredge, C.C. (2021). We gather together: American artists and the harvest. Oakland: University of California Press.
Activities
- Survey your agriculture classroom, shop, or school to determine if there is an ideal location that could be beautified by adding an agriculture or FFA-themed mural.
- Work with our high school art teacher to design an Agriculture/FFA mural.
- Invite your high school art teacher into your agriculture class to have students design, draw and paint an agriculture mural on poster paper for display during National FFA Week (February) or National Agriculture Day (March).
References
Affron, M. & Zucker, S. (n.d.). Diego Rivera’s Sugar Cane. Smarthistory: The center for public art history. https://smarthistory.org/rivera-sugar-cane/
Archived (2025). The maize festival (1923-1924) by Diego Rivera. https://www.artchive.com/artwork/the-maize-festival-diego-rivera-1923-1924/#:~:text=About%20The%20Maize%20Festival&text=This%20fresco%2C%20rendered%20in%20the,Headquarters%20in%20Mexico%20City%2C%20Mexico.
Ellis, S. (2020, March 3). Agriculture mural in Capitol building celebrated.
FFA mural captures our heritage (1990, September 6) Post Bulletin – Rochester, MN. https://www.postbulletin.com/ffa-mural-captures-our-heritage
Grant Wood Murals (n.d.). Iowa State University of Science & Technology. https://www.lib.iastate.edu/visit-and-study/art-in-library/murals
Philadelphia Museum of Art (n.d.) Diego Rivera’s mural sugar cane shows the harsh reality of Mexico’s haciendas (large plantations), where farmers were often exploited and mistreated by landowners. https://philamuseum.org/learn/educational-resources/diego-riveras-mural-sugar-cane-shows-the-harsh-reality-of-mexicos-haciendas-large-plantations-where-farmers-were-often-exploited-and-mistreated-by-landowners
Porter, D. (2023, March 22). W. B. Saul FFA member creates mural of ag innovator George Washington Carver. Lancaster Farmer. https://www.lancasterfarming.com/country-life/youth/w-b-saul-ffa-member-creates-mural-of-ag-innovator-george-washington-carver/article_cc243e75-ff6b-5a56-8817-9baf2fcdd7fa.html
Rushall, J. (2017, November 15). Mural marks Parkrose’s agricultural history. Mid-County Memo. https://midcountymemo.com/2017/11/mural-marks-parkroses-agricultural-history/
Schumacher, A. (2023, August 14). Artwork brings life to Wessington Springs FFA hallway. Ag Week. https://www.agweek.com/lifestyle/education/artwork-brings-life-to-wessington-springs-ffa-hallway#:~:text=The%20new%20mural%20in%20the,the%20South%20Dakota%20Revitalization%20Grant.