The 2025 Minnesota State Fair will end Sept. 1, but the crop art excitement continues on at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Its exhibition “Cream of the Crop: A Minnesota Folk Art Showcase opens Sept. 6 and includes 10 works of crop art.
A curatorial team from Mia and director and president Katie Luber will visit the State Fair and give awards to two crop artworks. The two categories are best interpretation of an artwork at Mia and best interpretation of a Minnesota landmark, story or figure.
Winners of these two awards will be included in the exhibition in the museum’s rotunda. There also will be an additional eight notable crop artworks.
“Like everyone else, everyone here is excited by the possibility of the State Fair,” Mia’s Deputy Director and Chief Curator Matthew Welch said. “So this is our way of opening the museum up and demonstrating our enthusiasm for all kinds of creativity.”
The most exciting part? No one knows what will be in the show. Everything depends on what crop artists make this year.
A seedy past
Mia has hosted crop art exhibitions before, but never like this.
In 2004, Mia had a show of 50 portraits by crop art legend Lillian Colton.
In 2015, to celebrate its centennial, Mia commissioned Kansas-based artist Stan Herd to create a 1.5 acre crop art version of van Gogh’s “Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun” in a field.