AMES, Iowa— This week, Iowa State University’s Parks Library hosted a tour of Grant Wood’s murals.

The United States Government paid artists from around the country under the Works Progress Administration.

Grant Wood was nominated to be the leader of the Iowa division for this program,” said Caitlin Patton of the Iowa State University Museums. “He was not only the leader for deciding which artists were participating, but also for selecting and designing a lot of the projects himself.”

Wood is already well-known across America for his painting “American Gothic”. In Ames, there are two giant murals from different eras of agricultural development in Iowa. 

“This mural is depicting that sort of initial wave of European immigrants and their role in cultivating this land,” said Patton. “The title of this series of murals is called ‘Breaking the Prairie Sod,’ which is obviously referring to the process in which you have to chop down trees and drain swamp land.”

The Prairie Sod mural was placed inside what was once the front entrance to the ISU Library.  Thanks to additions, that part of the Library is now considered the back part of the building.  Right nearby the Sod Mural is a giant artwork depicting different aspects of Iowa State University.

“This is a unified composition that reveals all of the different elements that go into work on a farm,” said Patton. “We have sort of the class distinctions between the person with the degree and, you know, the working-class laborers, but there would’ve also been some identification with the men in the overalls with the students because again a lot of them likely grew up on farms.”

Grant Wood and a team of artists worked on the two giant murals in his studio on the campus of the University of Iowa. It was a former swimming pool, converted to work on the giant canvas murals, which were then mounted at Iowa State.

“Iowa State has one of the largest collections of public art of any university in the United States,” said Patton. “All that art is designed to be an educational and a teaching tool as well as an aesthetic object.”

These murals can be seen by the public anytime the Parks Library is open. Learn more about the Iowa State University Museum program here.