Ground Work

August 25, 2026

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January 24, 2027

Ground Work is an extension of our recent exhibition Homegrown, which brought together works from the Sioux City Art Center’s collection focused on agricultural life in Iowa and the Midwest. This new and expanded installation continues to ask how the landscape becomes a source of creative inspiration. In this region, the land is never only scenery. It is always changing, showing the slow effects of time and the seasons.

Several of the artists included have direct ties to the region. James Goff’s watercolor paintings approach rural subjects through careful observation and seasonal changes. Stuart Klipper’s large-scale photograph documents a working landscape with a precision that reflects long-term engagement with the land. Terri Parrish McGaffin’s painting January Afternoon captures a beautiful yet precarious moment. Artists such as Marvel Cox, Frank Breneisen, Don Glasell, and John Gordon have lived in or worked in Sioux City. Some artists reflect early efforts to define regional identity through land and labor. Others respond to the same terrain through contemporary concerns, including industrialization and environmental change. Together, their work sits alongside artists from earlier and later periods, creating a conversation across time about how land is seen, used, and remembered.

Drawn primarily from the Art Center’s collection, with additional loaned objects, Ground Work reflects an ongoing interest in agriculture and the landscape as inspiring subjects for artists and a record of human presence.