March 15, 2016

Growing West:

Exploring Art and Agriculture

March 15 - May 7, 2016

Growing West is organized by students from the USU Honors Think Tank course and visually recounts the historical narrative that drove Americans and European immigrants to settle the American West as homesteaders and farmers. The exhibition includes a range of artworks from NEHMA’s collection and incorporates both historical and current perspectives on themes such as food production, gender roles, labor issues, irrigation systems and the mechanization of farming practices.

The 19th-century concept of Manifest Destiny led many individuals to settle in the West. Legislation such as the Homestead and Morrill Acts (1862) facilitated growth and established land-grant colleges such as Utah State University to research the practical application of modern farming and engineering practices. Growing West illustrates the hardships that homesteaders faced during the 1930s such as the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression as well as the U.S. government’s efforts to provide relief and recovery through President FranklinRoosevelt’s groundbreaking New Deal programs starting in 1935. 

This exhibition explores the settlement of these homesteaders and farmers in Utah through as election of Resettlement Administration (RA) and Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographs dating between 1935 and 1937 along with modern and contemporary artworks that represent current attitudes about agriculture, food, and the land. Here, USU Honors students ask that you consider your relationship and role in our country’s agricultural industry, past, present, and future. 

This exhibition is made possible through the work of USU Honors Think Tank ProfessorJoyce Kinkead along with her students working with NEHMA’s Curatorial staff and through the support of the USU Honors Program led by Professor Kris Miller.

Artists

  • Roger Brown
  • Bede Clarke
  • Wayne Higby
  • CJ Jilek
  • Dorothea Lange
  • Russell Lee
  • Karen Massaro
  • Tim Mather
  • Megan Rae Mitchell
  • Joseph Pintz
  • Clayton S. Price
  • Mario Reis
  • Regal China Corporation
  • Mel Rubin
  • Edward Ruscha
  • United Farm Workers Union

Selected Works