Field of Corn
|
Field
of Giant Corn Cobs Dublin, Ohio Maybe it's supposed to be ironic, this
former corn field, sprouting
109
people-sized ears of
concrete corn in a large oddball art
display. But it's also a salute to Sam Frantz, an inventor of hybrid
corns, and a very weird sight along the highway. Frantz farmed this site from 1935 to 1963, using it as as a study field for tasty mutant strains. Frantz was "well known for his development of hybrid corn seeds," and worked with Ohio State University on hybridization projects. He donated this land, now named Sam and Eulalia Frantz Park, after its farming days were over. The artist brought in by the Dublin Arts Council to create the environment of corn, Malcolm Cochran, completed the field in 1994. A row of old Osage Orange Trees anchors the west side of the park, where you'll find signs explaining hybridization and describing the project. Three different molds were used to create the concrete ears of corn. The variety Cochran used is a "double-cross hybrid called Corn Belt Dent Corn." Intended by the Arts Council to remind residents of the area's long-gone agricultural heritage, the Field of Corn instantly became a joke -- giant inedible food -- paid for with tax dollars, and surrounded by a sprawl of corporate offices, bland businesses and suburban neighborhoods. A fun road side attraction when traveling in Dublin, Ohio |
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