2024 - Volume #48, Issue #4, Page #22
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Artist/Farmer Tells Corn Story With Glass
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His immersive exhibition, Primordial Shift, captures the history of corn, from a hand-fabricated bushel basket spilling out giant and colorful glass corn representing Native American culture to 28 larger-than-life glass ears of corn hanging from the ceiling. All are handblown in his Wisconsin art studio/farm shop. Primordial Shift is a traveling exhibit currently showing at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, S.D., through mid-July and is scheduled to be in Rochester, Minn., in 2025. Meilahn’s work is exhibited and collected privately and in museums in the U.S. and internationally.
Until 5 years ago, his life revolved around four seasons of caring for and working 2,000+ acres while etching a pattern of winter creating, spring planting, summer art shows, and fall harvesting. Now retired from farming, he focuses on art, continues to create sculptures, and works at streamlining his traveling exhibition.
Meilahn’s passion for glass-blown art began when he signed up for a ceramics/glass class in college while studying Ag Business at UW-River Falls. “When I happened upon the roaring hot glass-blowing lab on campus, I was captivated by the medium and changed my major to art. That was it,” he recalls.
In 1969, Michael traveled to Europe on the Quarter Abroad Program to study glass history and technique. He spent 6 weeks in Germany with Erwin Eisch, a renowned glass artist and abstract art painter, at his family glass factory and studio. He also served with the Peace Corps and lived and worked with Indigenous peoples in Bolivia, sharing sheep management practices. Those experiences helped shape his approach to art.
For the installation, audio plays and video images of the farm flash in the background, creating shadows cast by 3-ft. ears of corn hanging from the ceiling. Bronze-fabricated leaves and objects fastened to the ears add texture and dimension. For example, Meilahn adds dice decoration to many of the ears.
“The idea of risk is familiar to all farmers and comes in many scenarios, from weather, price, markets, economy, and seed choices, to name a few. I planned to design a visually engaging environment that brings forth thoughts of contemporary issues involving branding, bioengineering, new and safer practices, evolution, and survival of the fittest in today’s complicated world,” he explains.
Creating the ears of corn requires a team of skilled glass workers, including his son, to assist Meilahn with blowing and controlling the liquid glass, placing decorative elements, sharing the weight bearing, and maneuvering 50 lbs. of glass into a giant bronze mold.
As a farmer, Meilahn views it as capturing the spirit of agriculture and invites readers to watch the video on YouTube (search “The Arts Page Segment Farmer and Glass Artist, Mick Meilahn”).
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Michael Meilahn, North 9268, Co. Rd. M, Pickett, Wis. 54964 (ph 920-420-2945; mmeilahn12@gmail.com; www.michael-meilahn.com).
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