Art is… by Bev Jackson Cotter

Michael was asked to do a program on a Belmond, Iowa farm site. Should I go along? No, I’m too busy. Oh, what the heck. We headed south on Highway 69 and plugged in the GPS for specific directions.

How surprised we were to see the sign “Jenison-Meacham Memorial Art Center and Farm.” We drove on to a delightful farm site, the old house with the front porch, the red barn where his program would be held, buildings filled with antique farm equipment, a wood cook stove in the yard with the aroma of sugar biscuits cooking, a steam engine waiting for riders to climb on the wagon for a trip around the farm and a warm welcome and handshake from our hosts.

When I asked about the art center mentioned on the sign, we were directed to a new building housing an art gallery, the Jenison-Meacham history room, meeting rooms, a small kitchen and a beautiful, restored Victorian oak stairway railing leading to the upstairs.

My curiosity was riding high. How did this all come about? Why this unique art center miles outside of town? How long have they been in operation? How are they supported? Our hosts were gracious and happy to share the history of their unusual operation.

Cloe Jenison was a teacher, an artist and the farm’s owner. She was considered to be a little eccentric, and when she died in the late 1970s, the community was surprised to find that she wanted her 120-acre farm to become the Jenison-Meacham Memorial Art Center and Farm. Proceeds from the land would provide its annual support.

Today it is an active organization that has expanded the art idea from exhibits to annual kite flying days, Christmas tree reviews, spring planting and fall harvest with antique equipment, school tours and programs on area history, opportunities for receptions and gatherings in the art center and numerous other activities.

I learned just a little of the Cloe Jenison story. On the wall in the farmhouse there is an ornately framed wedding picture of a very serious couple. Cloe’s parents looked like they would be hard-working, honest, prosperous, and a prominent family in the community. Another large picture showed a 10-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, both children also looked like they would take life very seriously.

No one seemed to know what happened to the older brother, but Cloe loved 4-H, teaching school, art, beautiful clothes and travel. The museum area of the Art Center displayed formal gowns and hats that she wore at dinner on shipboard traveling to and from England.

The farm home retained the furnishings of a well-to-do family, a beautiful dining room set and a sofa and chair with that velvety upholstery that was popular in the 1930s-1940s. The upstairs bedroom floors were covered in linoleum and on her bedroom wall hung a rack labeled “Cloe’s gun.” The story goes that as she grew older, if someone came into the farm yard that she didn’t know, she greeted them with her shotgun in hand.

The bathroom walls were covered in a hand painted mural. Birds, flowers, trees and poetry greeted the guest. She dated her poems and printed her thoughts for all to read. Even near the end of her life, her words left the reader pondering her feelings.

Cloe had been “jilted” by a lover when she was a young woman. It was the talk of the community and an extremely difficult time for that hard working, serious-looking family. How interesting, that her legacy is a setting for history and art and sharing and learning.

I cannot close this column without saying “Thank You” to Paul Sparks. While most think of him as our former city manager, we will remember his enthusiasm for the arts. His office walls were adorned with paintings by his daughter Mary and in the 1980s his support of the Albert Lea Art Center allowed us to move from a tiny church to a much larger facility. More recently his determination that ALAC should be housed in the first floor of the beautiful Freeborn National Bank gave the organization the impetus to begin the fund drive that will finally open that beautiful historic building as a culture center in downtown Albert Lea. Thank you, Paul. Your work is so appreciated.

 

Bev Jackson Cotter is a member of the Albert Lea Art Center where the show “White on White” will be on display through July 11.