I grew up in Marion/Cedar Rapids, Iowa located in Linn County, but my family had many relatives who lived in Jones County. We traveled often to visit friends and family throughout the area, and I have fond memories of attending the Great Jones County Fair. Somewhere along the way, I feel in love with Stone City, a quaint locale where Grant Wood established an artist colony. Jones County is rich with rolling hills just as Grant Wood’s art depicts.

For the last three years, I have participated in the Grant Wood Country Forum. For six weeks, enthusiasts of Grant Wood meet via zoom and learn all kinds of unique facts about Wood’s life and work. Did you know he was married once? Experts are fairly certain he was homosexual so that makes that part of his life a kind of anomaly. He also loved to host parties at his home where actors would often perform to entertain his party quests. Woods also created interesting stage pieces and once made a corncob chandelier.

One of the participants of GWCF is Joe Coffey. Joe is a marvelous historical wiz. He creates entertaining TikTok videos and always shares fabulous tidbits about Grant’s art and life during the zoom meets which are hosted by the Cedar Rapids Library. You can find one of Joe’s video’s here.

Elaine Mattingly is the emcee of this group and is the editor of the Grant Woods Country Chronicle which features essays, stories, poetry and more about Grant Wood and his contemporaries. Last year I had one of my ekphrastic poems published in the 2023 edition of Lyrical Iowa. It’s based on Grant Wood’s painting Peter Funcke by Indian Creek, and I’ve written some other ekphrastic pieces to celebrate Wood’s artwork. I love how he captures Iowa’s rolling hills and inserts religious motifs and windmills. His landscapes are like a voluptuous woman’s figure on display. Perhaps I also love Grant Wood’s art because it reminds me of my grandfather’s farm that was located north of Onslow, a small burg in Jones County which inspired my poem today.

     grandpa's farm is long gone−
           still, I remember a summer day
                lying on his lush hillside
                    smelling fresh cut hay
                         along the lonely highway

Barb Edler
21 March 2024