By SCOTT NILES Courier staff writer
December 07, 2005 12:24 am
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ELDON — A $15,000 grant has been awarded to the city of Eldon to help with the construction of the American Gothic Visitor Center.
Christopher Rossi, executive director for Humanities Iowa, the organization that presented the money, said this is one of the best things this funding can go for.
“The purpose of Humanities Iowa is to promote a better understanding of Iowa’s history and heritage,” he said.
He said the Humanities Iowa grant board reviewed applications at a recent meeting that was held in Ottumwa.
“One of the major grant proposals in review came from the city of Eldon, relating to the exhibition of Grant Wood’s most famous painting ‘American Gothic,’” he said. “The board determined that this is something quintessentially Iowan in character that spanned the spectrum of something from national to international significance.”
Brenda Kremer, a member of the American Gothic Visitors Education Center Committee, said this money will be used to set up the exhibits inside the center.
“Through the grant, we will be able to put together a museum quality of the exhibit for people to view and understand why this painting is so tremendous,” she said.
Rossi said the Humanities Iowa group never would have discovered Eldon’s plans for the visitors center if the Wapello County Board of Supervisors had not intervened in the process.
Through a conversation with the supervisors, Humanities Iowa became aware of the efforts to create an interpretive center for the American Gothic House.
“We are glad the supervisors were on their toes,” Rossi said.
Rossi said the proposed visitors center is not the first entity to receive money in connection to Grant Wood’s famous painting.
“Currently we have given thousands of dollars to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art for the ‘American Gothic’ exhibit,” he said. “But it is just as worthy to focus on good people in Eldon who are working to complete the [Grant Wood] story, that will have educational value, tourism value and economic development value.”
Besides funding the visitors center with a $15,000 grant, Humanities Iowa is also in charge of approving curators for the establishment.
Kremer said the group has to go through many different background and educational checklists to find a curator who would be knowledgeable enough in the arts and presentation for the job.
Two curators — Leah Rosson DeLong and Jennie Bailey — were hired to help with the project planning and oversight of the center.
Through the grant money, the exhibit will be transformed into a collection of parodies, mostly provided by Don and Helen Glasson.
Rossi said Humanities Iowa has a reputation of bringing a sense of history to Iowa and letting people know what it means to be an Iowan.
“Grant Wood’s regionalist perspective quintessentially distills what it means to be an Iowan though his painting,” he said.
Scott Niles can be reached at (641) 683-5360 or via e-mail at sjniles@mchsi.com.
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