Stooks, Stacks, and Sheaves:

Agricultural Landscapes in America, 1850 - present

September 2 - December 19, 2008
Wolcott Gallery

Images of the agricultural landscape, including stooks of grain, stacks of hay, and sheaves of wheat, generate highly individual responses depending on one's perception of the land. In the mid-1800s, painters and poets found the agricultural landscape a subject capable of expressing the nation's hopes and aspirations for progress and a symbol for American freedom, democracy, and wealth. These views of the land frequently evoke a nostalgic vision of an earlier time of greater social harmony and stability in a pre-industrial un-polluted world. With the shift from hand-harvesting methods to mechanization, and the increasing costs of farming and accelerated development, the agricultural landscape has been transformed, challenging our associations of rural life.

Stooks, Stacks, and Sheaves: Agricultural Landscapes in America, 1850 - present explores the artistic, cultural, and literary response to the changing representations of the agricultural landscape. The exhibition includes works drawn from the Fleming's collections, the University of Vermont's Special Collections, and generous lenders.