This whimsical montage consists of a 1920s-era McCormick Deering tractor bedecked with original backlit stained glass in the Artist’s signature style. The work pays homage to the local threads that have woven together over time to become the fabric of Montevideo, Minnesota today.
The tractor – itself symbolic of the transition from the pre-industrial to the post-industrial era – is accoutered with panels reflecting various aspects of local and regional history. A real-life folk tale emerges from the seek-and-find imagery in the glass: In dreamlike plays on scale, emblems from nature and agriculture blend together in prismatic whirls, chronicling everything from nostalgic pre-industrial bygones to more recent echoes from collective local memory. Images portraying the Spirit of Nature – such as extreme wind, temperature, and moisture levels – serve as a tribute to the Land Stewards’ many challenges throughout time. The discerning observer will also unearth local icons from spheres lateral to the rural theme: Having played key support roles in the region’s agricultural history, the worlds of banking and finance, education and knowledge, and religion are also all represented in the imagery, as is the cohesive notion of communal spirit.
The Farmer has always been a land-bridge between the urban and the natural worlds, and as such has also always been a traditional surveyor of knowledge. RUSTICIAN seeks to embody the stalwart beauty of this spirit in reverence to both our hardy rural roots and the crucial sustenance that agriculture provides.