A Student's Journey Through Art On Campus: February 2014

The Journey Begins

As a college student money is tight most of the time, and with a down turn in the economy it has become even more important to curb my spending. People always talk about college students' spring break trips and the crazy amount of money spent on excursions to all the corners of the globe. Unfortunately, I am not able to afford these pricy vacations and I began to think about what I could do to experience culture in my own backyard. As I researched my community and university, I came upon the University Museums website and learned just how important they really are. The most impressive thing about the museums on campus is their collection of public artwork. Iowa State University has the largest collection of public works of art of any university in the United States! This fact shocked me and truly made me think... why do I have to take an airplane to see great art? Do I really need to spend a fortune to experience fine art and culture? The answer I came to was absolutely not! Not until I came to this realization did I feel I had something worthy of blogging about. This blog is my journey through 645 pieces of public work on the Iowa State University campus. I will include my opinions, my interpretations, and always a little background research to put the piece in context. Shall we go on a campus tour?

Friday, February 28, 2014

Farm House Museum

Welcome to the Farm House Museum!

The Farm House built in 1860 was the first building on campus and the beginning of Iowa State University. It is open Monday to Friday from noon to 4pm during the school year with limited hours during break times. Anyone is welcome to drop in for a tour and during winter they offer hot chocolate to visitors. It's a great place to stop in for a visit if you're on campus.

Here are Farm Assistants Matt and Megan. If you visit the museum you will most likely meet one of them. In this picture they're rolling a quilt as part of an on going renovation project that I've been helping them with. The Farm House Museum has a large quilt collection that has been generously donated over the years. We measure, catalogue, photograph, label, and carefully roll the quilts with a special tissue paper, then we cover them with muslin and store and hang them on the storage unit you can see in the background.

The Farm House Museum has some quilts by Mary Pemble Barton, one of the most celebrated quilters of the 20th century. Besides here you can also find her quilts at the state historical society and living history farms.

By Josianne Ishikawa