On the web this week...

I have a few photos to pass on. This first one is called "Tourists at the American Gothic House," but it isn't of your typical tourist. You can check it out here on Flickr.

The second set of images are of a local Barn Quilt using our Gothic Window as a model. They will even take custom orders if you are interested in having your own.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend!

On the web this week...

This first link is to a well written essay about the American Gothic House and its significance. David K Leff visited this last summer. He is an essayist, poet and lecturer, and according to his blog, he likes to discover the commonplace world at hand, while exploring wonders hidden in plain sight. Here is "Stepping in the Picture."

On a recent trip to Iowa I visited a familiar place to which I’d never been. Though it’s hidden on a back road in the sleepy town of Eldon, it’s a place most Americans and many people around the word would recognize almost instantly. READ MORE

This second piece comes from Jolen Whitworth from Leeds, England. She visited earlier this week, and shared that she had written a poem inspired by "American Gothic." This may not be what you would think of when thinking of our favorite painting, but it is interesting to see the different inspiration it produces. Here is "A Murder of Crows (Through the Crosshairs)."

Marblesque eyes along the copper horizon. READ MORE
*Note about the poem - a "murder" is what a group of crows is sometimes referred to as.

On the web this week...

This first blog entry was in response to the blog entry I shared last week.

Grant Wood, American Gothic. 1930, oil on board.

My fellow art history blogger N.C. recently wrote an excellent post on Grant Wood's ubiquitous American masterpiece. It inspired me to feature it myself.

This is probably the American Mona Lisa, or at the very least Edvard Munch's The Scream. You've seen this pose parodied inThe Rocky Horror Picture Show, on Green Acres, and if you've ever been to Washington, DC on postcards featuring the President and First Lady (whomever they may be at the time). It's disgusting; wait about five hundred years and someone will take a print of American Gothic, draw a mustache on the wife and give it a catchy title that implies that the farmer has a hot ass. (If you're one of those smart alecks who's crying out "Hey, that's his daughter, not his wife!" then your concern will be addressed soon.) READ MORE

This next blog entry wasn't posted this week, or even just discovered this week, but I thought you might enjoy it as well.

AMERICAN GOTHIC PARODIES
A COLLECTION OF PARODIES OF THE 1930 GRANT WOOD PAINTING, AMERICAN GOTHIC, BASED ON MY GRANDMOTHER'S COLLECTION. SHE USED TO TAPE THEM UP IN HER BASEMENT AND ASKED ME TO SHARE THEM WITH THE WORLD.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2009
Mortgage Foreclosure American Gothic

SEE IMAGES

On the web this week...

KTVO came out and did a short story on our Halloween Party this weekend, and a blogger chose "American Gothic" for her blog "Inadvertently Art."

Festivities were held around the American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa on Saturday.

By Matt Buhrman

Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 10:04 p.m.

ELDON, IOWA -- The iconic house is a prominent feature in Grant Wood's 1930 painting, "American Gothic," and today the structure is a historic landmark. Throughout Saturday afternoon, young trick-or-treaters took part in games and enjoyed an array of treats. READ MORE.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2009

Grant Wood fills you with questions.

All right, if you tell me you have never seen this picture, or at least a reference to this picture... you either are lying are live in a shoe box. If you just haven't seen it, here's your chance. I present to you.....American Gothic, enjoy as you will never be the same. READ MORE.