FALCON HEIGHTS, Minnesota — From a rotating gallery of butter sculptures to a hall bursting with quilts and embroidery, the annual Minnesota State Fair is always awash with creative endeavors. But the line is always the longest at the crop art display, the only one of its kind at a state fair in the United States. Here, fairgoers crowd shoulder-to-shoulder, sipping honey-infused lemonade from the nearby beekeeping room as they inspect hundreds of painstakingly crafted mosaics made entirely out of Minnesota-grown seeds. And more than any other art on the fairgrounds, this richly nutty art form is often explicitly and proudly political.
So it’s no surprise that in this action-packed election year, Minnesota crop artists jumped at the chance to depict their highly meme-able governor, vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. In the seed art section of this year’s fair, which runs through September 2, there’s a portrait of Walz wearing a Minnesota-emblazoned sweater, exclaiming “Ope!” like a typical Midwestern dad, and shouting his recent catchphrase: “They’re just WEIRD.” Other artworks focused on his culinary commentary, like when he told Kamala Harris that black pepper is the spiciest seasoning he could handle, or when he informed his vegetarian daughter that she doesn’t have to worry about turkey meat, since in Minnesota, “turkey’s special.”
Harris had her moments too, as did Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, portrayed in thistle and quinoa; a steadfast Rashida Tlaib in amaranth and Japanese maple leaves; and a whining JD Vance and Donald Trump in wild rice and barley. There was also an array of Palestinian flags gleaming with tightly-packed green, black, and red beans. This year’s less explicitly political submissions also included tributes to the beloved basketball player Naz Reid, the newly-adopted Minnesota state flag, and a loon with red lasers beaming from its eyes, a popular suggestion for the flag design.
“People like the chance to make statements,” crop artist Joel Alter, a former Minnesota legislative auditor, told Hyperallergic. “Interestingly, the crop art gallery has kind of become a place for people to do that if they want.” And he really means “if they want,” since the fair accepts and exhibits every single piece of crop art that gets submitted each year — and each gets equal billing, regardless of quality.
Many credit Ron Kelsey, the Minnesota State Fair’s superintendent of Farm Crops, with this democratic tradition. He told Hyperallergic that it’s the rare piece that doesn’t make it on the wall (a notable example from years past being a portrait of Bill Cosby made out of rapeseed). Each year, dozens of new artists jump on the opportunity: The 2024 edition saw 354 entries compared to last year’s 240. “I think it’s just growing because people come here and think, ‘Oh, I could do that!’” Kelsey said.
“What I love about crop art is that every piece gets displayed,” said Marta Shore, assistant superintendent of Crop Art and Scarecrows.
“I never would have thought of myself as an artist,” she continued. “I’m actually a biostatistician for my day job. But I made my first piece in 2015 and it was displayed. That felt so cool, because I made something I loved and people got to see it.” Today, she teaches dozens of newly seed-obsessed artists at Wet Paint in St. Paul.
“I feel like Minnesotans are clever and funny. I love how it comes out in crop art,” says Mary Beth-Leone Getten, the artist behind the “They’re Just Weird” Walz portrait. Like Shore, she had never created art before. In fact, she considers this her first work of art, ever. And with the late announcement of Walz as VP candidate on August 6 — nine days before the fair’s submission deadline — Getten was one of many who rushed to complete their works at warp speed when they would normally spend months carefully gluing each seed in place.
But looking at many of the pieces’ intricate, almost pointillist beauty, you’d never know it. This kind of dedication may be part of what gives crop art its particular political punch: Anyone who’s ready to meticulously lay down thousands of seeds to create the right expression on their governor’s face really wants to say what’s on their mind.
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