A WORD ABOUT GRANT WOOD COUNTRY 

Being an Iowan who grew up and lived as an adult in "Grant Wood Country," with several generations settled there before me and now a couple behind, I am constantly discovering new things about the ongoing influence of Grant Wood and his art. As I prepared to present my first collection of poems, Grant Wood Country Loose Leaf Poems, I revisited some of the scholarship of Grant Wood and his art. Though his name and work were ever-present throughout my youth, I have discovered that many continue to discover him anew, study him and his art, and create new work derived of his influence. Those of us who are daughters and sons of "Grant Wood Country," can speak with particular authenticity to many cultural aspects of the area. It has been intriguing, exciting and, at times, befuddling, to learn more about the scholarship, books, and articles written about our area, its celebrity artist, and the impact of his famous paintings. 

Wood's work has been studied through many lenses. It is an area of ongoing fascination for me to balance these varying lenses with my own experiences of growing up as a 6th generation daughter of the beautiful area known now colloquially as "Grant Wood Country," previously the land of the Sauk, Meskwaki, and Ho-Chunk Native Nations

HAPPENING NOW

My poetry folio, Grant Wood Country Loose Leaf Poems, continues to be available via this site (See Home page). 

Grant Wood Country Forum 2025—

Facebook Page: Grant Wood Country Forum

Forum Email: gwcf@windstream.net

Contact: Elaine Mattingly, Grant Wood Country Forum and Grant Wood Country Chronicle Director/Editor, gwcf@windstream.net or elainemattingly@windstream.net • 641-840-0972

Sessions Held Online via Zoom on Tuesdays, January 7 - February 11, 2025, 6:30-8:00 p.m. - 2025 Grant Wood Country Forum kicks off its 6 -week online series, in partnership with Cedar Rapids Public Library (Zoom host). This forum is for anyone interested in art, history, culture, and creative writing related to the life and legacy of the iconic artist Grant Wood, as well as the life and times of Iowa before and after his life. Observers and writers (emerging and experienced) are welcomed to any or all sessions. Reading times for participants to share their creative writing inspirations (short fiction, poetry, short essay) are built into the Forum. Enjoy presentations by a range of dynamic presenters. A culminating publication, Grant Wood Country Chronicle (digital and print editions.

UPCOMING PROJECTS

• Limestone Elixir: Words & Music to the Beat of Grant Wood Country 

• Stranded in Stone City, musical theatre production (in development), text by Elaine Mattingly, music by John and Elaine Mattingly

Grant Wood Country Loose Leaf Poems

Dear Reader, 

These, my precious poems, began in the arms of a black walnut tree in Viola, Iowa, a place embedded in a celebrated area known as Grant Wood Country. Some poems have lain fallow for decades; some sprang to life recently. I hope you will enjoy their varied styles, tones and formats. Like people, they tend to go where they will. 

This collection is inspired by several generations of my ancestors—Irish, Pennsylvania Dutch (German), Swedish, Czech/Bohemian, Austrian, Quakers, Methodists, Anabaptists, to name a few. They hail from places like Waubeek, Paralta, Cedar Rapids, Marion, Springville, Viola, and Anamosa. The first-person retellings by relatives—of life before, during, and after the Great Depression (the timeframe of Grant Wood’s life)—linger still, never far from my consciousness, nor imagination. 

This collection is also born of experiences and observations gathered while living in Grant Wood Country from birth well into my adulthood. These poems are influenced by the excellent education I received in the heart of this particular landscape, first at Viola Elementary, then from Anamosa Junior and Senior High Schools (as well as Cornell College, University of Iowa and Iowa State University in subsequent years). Inevitably, this collection is shaped by joys and grapplings—personal, cultural and systemic—many of which continue still. 

Most of all, dear Reader, I want you to know that I feel, in my Grant Wood Country bones, that it can enrich us to revisit the iconic body of work of Iowa’s famous artist-son. And, certainly, with the late Grant Wood Country poet Jay G. Sigmund as model of the voice of the land and people of this area, I wish to continue this legacy—incorporating new sensibilities, experiences and understandings. My poems have sprung organically since girlhood, from the very areas that Mr. Sigmund created his poetry and Grant Wood crafted his immortal paintings. With Wood’s and Sigmund's creations as touchstones, I cannot wait to continue to write—and reveal to you—new poems, songs, stories and sketches. Join me as I take a modern-day journey deep into the land, lore, and current beauty (and challenges) of Grant Wood Country. May we never stop striving to understand each other, nor to reflect upon our shared histories as members of the ever-evolving American family.  —Elaine

POET'S STATEMENT

Exhilarating it is to witness today's ever-fluid creative possibilities. Today's possibilities blur the boundaries among written, oral, performance and cyber traditions. Contradictions flourish everywhere in the push and pull of the provincial and global, rural and urban, faithful and skeptical, collective and individual, and the Utopian and dystopian.   

From my home observatory in Washer City (Newton), Iowa, the undeniable challenges of globalization continue to loom. This community, a former one-company town (Maytag Corporation), has no choice but to respond. Writers need conflict, and life in Washer City, and the Midwest, provides enough tensions and complexity to keep this native Iowan writing since her teens. The hardwood arms of black walnut trees in the lap of eastern Iowa’s Grant Wood country nurtured my youthful imagination. Muses continue to luxuriate in our welcoming landscape. It is a privilege to call myself Iowan.  —Elaine