Iowa museum exhibit gives shimmering look at iconic crop

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Hanging from ropes on the ceiling, 28 glass ears of corn shimmer in the dim light. Behind them, images of cornfields flicker on the walls and you hear the sound of wind and chirping birds and crickets.

As your eyes adjust, you see that there's more going on here, though, than a video and a display of dazzling blown glass.

Each colorful ear of corn has a hole punched in it, with a glass appendage squirming and twisting its way out -- a device intended to raise questions and provoke thought.

Titled "Corn Zone," the multimedia installation is a new permanent acquisition for Davenport's Figge Art Museum and is on display now through November in the gallery off the lobby.

The work was purchased by an anonymous donor in honor of Tom Gildehaus of Moline, a longtime Figge supporter who recently completed a term as president of its board of trustees.

'A signature work'

Dan McNeil, the museum's director of development, calls the work "so magnificent that it will become one of our signature works." The purchase price was not disclosed.

Gildehaus, a driving force behind the museum's capital campaign, could not be more pleased.

While some might associate corn with "corny" or the unsophisticated and mundane, Gildehaus said he "can't think of a more perfect piece of art for our museum and our location deep in the heart of America and corn country.

"Corn is an incredibly important element of all our lives in Iowa and Illinois. It is an exquisite piece of art [and] a wonderful addition to our permanent collection."

The work was created by Michael Meilahn, an artist who also operates a corn and soybean farm west of Oshkosh, Wis.

Although Midwesterners see endless fields of corn from their car windows, they do not necessarily think, or know, too much about corn, Meilahn said.

He said people don't realize, for example, that corn is one of this country's most financially important crops, with many jobs dependent upon it, or that it forms the basis of more than 2,000 products, including the ubiquitous high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive sweetener.

Genetic modification

Increasingly, the country's bin-bursting yields can be attributed to seeds that have been genetically modified, but that kind of engineering is controversial in some quarters.

Meilahn is not opposed, though. Far from it.

He has been planting genetically modified seed since 1996 and embraces bioengineering as the only way farmers will be able to feed a rapidly growing world population.

"Utilizing that technology is what we're going to have to focus on because the human footprint is huge," he said.

Cross-breeding, or hybridization, of grain brought us a long ways in terms of increased yields, but "genetic modification opens the door to the next level of food potential," Meilahn said.

"Corn Zone" is a celebration of sorts, "the end of one chapter in our history and the start of a new chapter that is huge," he explains.

"The jump we've made is bigger than the atomic bomb and electricity put together. And we have to use that technology. If we don't, you'd better believe China is going to."

But as with every advancement, "There's always going to be a downside," he said. "'Corn Zone' deals with all those issues. The ears are large [about 4 feet] to confront you."