The Experience of Farmers: Artist Statement
By Lora Jost

The "Experience of Farmers" was a series of mixed-media and clayboard art works, exhibited in various locations in Kansas, Virginia, and Canada, between 2000 and 2002. The exhibit continues, today, on the World Wide Web.

The "Experience of Farmers" was an art project that used pictures and words to explore the experiences of farmers at a difficult time - from 1999 to 2000. The project developed out of concerns about the farm crisis at that time, and how the crisis was affecting farm families, rural communities, and the broader society. Low commodity prices were squeezing many independent farmers out of farming, and this project explored the joys and struggles of farmers, and what society loses when independent farmers lose their livelihood.

From July of 1999 and into 2000, I interviewed and tape-recorded the voices of forty-two farmers, farm family members, and farmer advocates for this project. Quotes transcribed from the interviews were included directly in the artwork, or on text panels beside the artwork. Themes in the project included experiences of the countryside, the joys of farming, the farm family, the experience of drought, the beauty of rural Kansas, the perseverance of farmers, discrimination against black farmers, the erasure of independent business and agriculture, and the effects of corporate mergers and multinational corporations on rural communities.

In my artwork I enjoyed creating rich surface textures, careful compositions, and fanciful images to capture moments in the stories-from mundane to whimsical to socially urgent. To make the black and white drawings I used an art material called clay board. This material includes a thin layer of white clay covered with black ink, affixed to a Masonite surface. I scratched off the ink with a sharp tool to create white lines, cross-hatching, and textures. The collages I made included a combination of materials such as photos, magazine pictures, embroidery thread, cloth, and paint.

Collaboration with farmers and organizations was a fundamental part of "The Experience of Farmers." I collaborated with eight Lutheran churches from Kansas - from Belleville, Beloit, Concordia, Courtland, Glasco, Mankato, Norway, and Scandia. The churches, through the City of Glasco (coordinated by Joan Nothern), provided matching funds for a Grassroots Grant from the Kansas Arts Commission to fund interviews with farmers from each church. The churches were interested in this project as an outreach project offering farmers a chance to talk about their concerns in a way that would reach an audience beyond their local communities. I was also granted a month-long residency at the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center in Minnesota to interview area farmers and work on the project. Jerry Jost of the Kansas Rural Center, and friends and family, assisted in locating farmers for interviews north of Lawrence, in Newton, Kansas, and in Nebraska.

"The Experience of Farmers" has been exhibited in libraries, coffee shops, peace centers, galleries, conferences, the state capitol, and other spaces in Topeka, Lawrence, Newton, Concordia, and Kansas City, Kansas, and in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

I received my MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1992, and my BA from Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas, in 1988. I have a studio in Lawrence, Kansas and I work as an artist, illustrator, muralist, community arts organizer, and educator. I grew up in North Newton, Kansas.

lorajost@hotmail.com