From artmuseum.usu.edu
LOGAN — With the issues of continued growth and the need to hold on to open space being hot topics in northern Utah, a timely exhibit has opened at USU’s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. The exhibit is called “The American Farmer”.
On KVNU’s For the People program on Tuesday, Bolton Colburn, curator of collections and exhibitions at the museum, told us about the exhibit.
“It’s based on a book that was published, the photographs of a photographer named Paul Mobley, which was titled “American Farmer: The Heart of Our Country”. It’s really a portrait of mainly family-owned farmers across the country. Paul spent ..something like a hundred-thousand miles going across the country taking photographs of various different farmers, ” he said.
The exhibit features about 45 large-scale color photographs. The book on which the exhibit is based came out in 2008 and it quickly became a New York Times best seller. Colburn said you can’t find a new edition of the book online anymore.
“The book (is) really interesting, the photographs are riveting. It’s a great portrayal of farming in the United States in the early 21st century.”
Colburn said the exhibit is being accompanied by two other exhibitions formatted to help contextualize the show.
One is called “Three Depression-era Photographers in Utah” that highlight agriculture in Utah in the mid-1930’s. Another exhibit is called “Barns, Cows, Tractors, Horses, Hay and Farmers” that features works of art about agriculture that comes from the collection at the museum that also highlights the agriculture legacy of Utah State University.
The museum is open from 10a.m. to 5p.m. Tuesdays thru Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7p.m. on Fridays and 10 a.m.to 3p.m. on Saturdays.
Colburn said because of COVID-19 restrictions, the public will need to make reservations so they can limit the number of people in the gallery at 25 at any given time. For more information, visit artmuseum.usu.edu.
AUDIO: Curator Bolton Colburn on For the People on 1/26/21