Culture Clash, 2011

acrylic and screen prints

11ft x 26ft

1.MENNONITE PREACHER  The liturgical black, plain suit worn by my father was a significant visual symbol for me, and an ever-present reminder of our “non-conformity” to the world. He died never learning of early Dutch Mennonites’ activity in the arts.

2.RED SWATH  Cultivation markings were prominent, contrasting dark moist subsoil with dry gray top soil.  Farming and painting are in some ways similar.  Priming a canvas with gesso to receive paint reminds me of preparing earth’s seed bed for grain.

3.MOTHER’S QUILTS  Quilting bed covers was a perpetual activity for our family of twelve.  The tumbling block design, left, was known as “Mosaic from Antioch” in Plato’s time.

4.PEACE DOVE  This image symbolizes an important characteristic of Mennonite religious beliefs.  Picasso’s lithograph of a white dove shown at the Museum of Modern Art inspired my dove of peace, an image etched and enhanced with carborundum grit.

5.DAKOTA FIELDS  The uniformity of mid-west flatland invites examination of detail.  The shadowed furrow is made by a plow.  Cultivation marks are unexpected contrasts of color combinations and become vivid and dramatized when carefully observed.

6.AGRARIAN II  Each day a plane carrying US Mail flew over our fields as I worked the land in Dakota, sometimes so low I’d wave.  I tried to imagine how these fields appeared to the pilot, and what design configuration and color might be evident.

7.CROSS BEAMS  Non-conformity to the world was ‘our cross to bear’ in the secular society.  The cross beam’s motif in our barn was, for me, a visual reminder of father’s admonitions: this world was temporary and not to give in to the allure of its pleasures.

8.RED NECKTIE  We saw ourselves in contrast to the world ‘out there’ and we seemed to know exactly when we crossed over into it.  I recognized this boundary when, as a teenager, I lingered over this red tie to hear my father say, “too bright and too worldly”.

9.FAVORITE JOHN DEERE I drove this John Deere model A tractor eight hours a day in the fields of North Dakota.  It symbolized our work ethic.  The tractor’s green color changed with time of day and weather changes.  (This recalls Monet’s ‘ Haystacks’ series. )

                                                                            Abner Hershberger, artist       2011

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CULTURE CLASH

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