STATE 31: IOWA
[PLEASE BE PATIENT AS HI-RES IMAGES LOAD]
When you think of Iowa, public art doesn’t automatically come to mind. Like many, my expectations were flat farmlands and small towns — neither of which is a bad thing, may I add.
But the state capital impressed us right off the bat with its central grass park thoughtfully curated in public art installations by world-renowned artists like Keith Haring, Ai Weiwei, Yayoi Kusama, Yoshitomo Nara, Deborah Butterfield, Robert Indiana, Jaume Plensa, and dozens of others.
The Pappajohn Sculpture Park was opened in 2009 thanks to a contribution of 31 works from John and Mary Pappajohn to the Des Moines Art Center. Since our STATE 31: IA project was at the creative agency Flynn Wright right across the street from the park, we were able to experience the art park on both a ‘nothing but sun’ day and a ‘nothing but clouds’ day — which does make a difference in the art viewing experience. For the full list of artists, map of the installations, and a brief description about each piece, visit the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation website.
My next fascination with the capital of Iowa was its capital building. All capital buildings are interesting to me in how grand, historic, and oftentimes intimidating they’re meant to look and feel like in their neoclassical style, but this one was especially grandiose with its golden dome overlooking its city.
Not far from the capitol built on the hill was the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, which was closed by the time we got there. I really liked its dome on their building though. It was a little less intimidating, more approachable, and purposeful to help create and grow life beneath it. Side note: it’s a dream of mine to have a similar greenhouse-like roof over a center courtyard in my dream house so that I can have year-round access to my bottomless avocado tree, raspberry bushes, and many other fruits and vegetables that make us happy and healthy. One day…
Then, talk about the unexpected: along the riverfront was an instant transport to China? — in Des Moines? There must have been a story behind it, but it wasn’t really prevalently displayed onsite. Come to find out later, it’s the Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens, named after the late Governor of Iowa, Robert Ray (1928-2018) who held office from 1969-1983 during which he is credited for his humanitarian support for Asian countries, welcoming programs for refugees, and relationship building with Asian governments and businesses. The gardens is meant to highlight the importance of diversity in the community and acknowledge the contributions that Asian Americans have made to Iowa. Slow-clap for Iowa.
One of Kendra’s childhood friends is a professor at Iowa State University in Ames, which is about a 45-minute drive due North from Des Moines. We presented to one of her classes about [HAS HEART] and the 50 States: Veterans + Artists United tour and were even interviewed for the student paper, the Iowa State Daily.
After crashing a Cyclones football practice before being kindly asked to leave and then spending the rest of the afternoon walking around the cute college town of Ames and working from a local cafe for a few hours, we proceeded to head back to our campground at Griffs Valley View RV Park in Altoona.
We had a couple days for ourselves to enjoy the beautiful weather that Iowa so generously graced us with as we ate delicious handcrafted pancakes made by Kendra to fuel us for a little Fall cleaning of our Airstream and reorganization of our traveling trunk of tour supplies.
Before too long we packed up and headed east to the tiny, little, small historic town of the Amana colonies where we had some familiar faces waiting for us for lunch and casual shopping at the Amana General Store.
Also, our favorite thing to do when we’re driving with the trailer is to sneak up and see where and what Noel is doing. More often than not, she’s curled up like a ball in the middle of our bed. But she would always perk up to greet us at the door.
Kendra’s dad was born and raised in Dike, Iowa before he was drafted to join the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, so even though they had just visited us in Colorado a couple states ago, Kendra convinced them to make the 8-hour drive from Grand Rapids, Michigan to the Hawkeye State.
She grew up coming here as a kid for the Watermelon Days festival each August, so it was a special time for me to get the tour of the town where her dad grew up and where she enjoyed some of her favorite childhood memories.
Dike, Iowa is named after Chester Thomas Dike. He was a railroad construction engineer who allegedly got off the train to pee in 1900 and ended up choosing the area to build a town that bore his name. When Kendra’s dad lived here, it was home to around 650 people. Nowadays, the population has boomed and doubled in size to over 1,280 residents.
While Kendra was falling head over paws for a barn cat, my last Iowan experience was a true, authentic Iowan experience: harvesting corn. Her dad’s childhood friend is a farmer and had me ride in the combine for a few rows with his fellow farmer friend, Matt who owns Creswell Farms.
I learned that farmers oftentimes help each other harvest their crops together and will share the costs of larger equipment. Then once they fill their combines and trailers, they haul their bounty to the nearby farmers cooperative where they’re paid by the size and quality of their crops. I’m sure the big industry farms operate quite differently, but it was cool for us to get a taste of a day in the life on a family farm.
