ARTiculture: Creativity’s Crop

Throughout history, artists have explored the subject and medium of agriculture and land in their work—from the earliest cave paintings of the Mesolithic period depicting livestock to Anselm Kiefer’s elaborate experimentation of natural materials on canvas.
Through research, I explored how art can be utilized to guide young artists in engaging with art and the land around them. Agriculture provides us with much to be thankful for, and with art, we can show our appreciation of the land and all it has to offer.

What Is Articulture?
The application of human labor, expertise, and culture to create art and meaning from the land and the world around us is known as articulture. Exploring the relationship between art and agriculture, I used my research to develop several interdisciplinary units to engage students of all levels with the importance of agriculture through a variety of artistic media.

Farm to Table Diptychs
During the Farm to Table unit, third-grade students reflected on their relationship to agriculture as they created Farm to Table diptych paintings of their favorite foods. Students examined a variety of visual culture examples for inspiration, including Malcolm Cochran’s Field of Corn (with Osage Oranges). Next, they researched the ingredients in their favorite foods and where those ingredients came from. Students began to recognize that the majority of the ingredients in our foods come from plants grown in the ground that are harvested by farmers. Students reflected on their understanding of Farm to Table as they created a diptych of their food items and the plants used to make them.

Farm to Table Photo Collage
High-school photography students explored the concept of Farm to Table by looking at their own personal diets—from the foods they share at home with their families to their school lunches. Students examined Peter Menzel’s infamous Hungry Planet: What the World Eats photography series and then reflected on what a week’s worth of groceries and food looks like in their households. As students brainstormed a list of foods they eat on a regular basis, they formed connections to where their favorite foods originate.

Students were then asked to identify the agricultural processes used to make the ingredients in their favorite foods. They put their creative thinking and reasoning skills to work as they researched and found photographic examples and compiled them into a digital collage.

Students came to realize how crucial a role agriculture plays in our day-to-day lives. They noted that agriculture feeds our families and communities and provides us with necessities for survival.

Farm to Table Drawing Series
The Farm to Table drawing series unit provided students with a thought-provoking art challenge, requiring them to use creative problem-solving and deeper-level thinking to explore their connection to agriculture. After learning about the Farm to Table concept, students researched and developed ideas on how agriculture plays a role in their lives. They began to recognize and form ideas around the foods they eat and the agricultural processes necessary to make them.

Students chose to draw one of their favorite meals and then produced a breakdown of where all the ingredients came from, such as crops harvested from the ground or livestock animals. Students continued their progression drawing series, illustrating the concept of Farm to Table and recognizing the work that goes into making the foods they enjoy.

Conclusion
Engaging students with articulture allows them to realize all the opportunities our land has to offer and why it is important that we give back to our land—so that future generations can enjoy all that our land has to offer.