Ag Science Memorial

     As a former Art History student and continuing Art History lover, I enjoyed the field trip to the Ag Science memorial. I appreciate it when art is created by communities when something big has impacted their lives. This is what we, as a culture, are made of; this is who we are. We are contemplative creatures. Art is effective, not when it is appreciated by the masses, but when people are creating it. Art is an element of literature, yes, even farm literature, that sometimes gets over looked. Art provides a way for us to try to interpret our feelings about passions or tragedies. They are not merely pieces to look at, but pieces to feel something for.

     The piece in front of the Ag Science building was something that I'd seen before, but I'd never taken the time to try to understand. When I had an hour to sit in front of it and stare up at all of its details, I couldn't stop looking at the copper relief of the hand. That hand, immortalized on a piece of copper and then concrete, seven feet tall, led me to think about America and what it has taken to get us to where we are now. The hand on the piece was not just a general body part of a faceless person. It was a workman's tool. What is a farmer without his hands? Not only was he the face of agriculture in this country, but he was somebody's husband, somebody's father. A brother. A son. He was somebody to so many people, and, looking up at the hand that created and built and grew, I saw a little bit more of him. This tiny square, erected to honor a former faculty member of the school I love, struck an emotional chord with me. The day those men and women died in the fatal car accident must've been a tough one for our community, but we are able to celebrate the lives of those people through art, and isn't that amazing? We are able to create, just as they created. We are able to show the world that what they were passionate about, we are passionate about celebrating. I think that's incredible.