Lillian Colton (1911 – March 20, 2007) was a

crop art Crop art is an environmental art practice using plants and seeds in the landscape to create statements, marks and/or images. Agnes Denes, Matthew Moore (artist), Dennis Oppenheim and Stan Herd are practitioners of Crop art. Some works of Land ar ...

ist whose work, usually

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s of

public figure A public figure is a person who has achieved notoriety, prominence or fame within a society, whether through achievement, luck, action, or in some cases through no purposeful action of their own, In the context of defamation actions (libel and s ...

s made from

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

products such as

wild rice Wild rice, also called manoomin, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both ...

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

, and timothy seeds glued to

cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard which is made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light b ...

, has been prominently displayed at the

Minnesota State Fair The Minnesota State Fair is the state fair of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Also known by its slogan, "The Great Minnesota Get-Together", it is the largest state fair in the United States by average daily attendance and the second-largest state fa ...

for many years. She was "Considered the

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

of seeds" according to the

Minneapolis Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

.''Star Tribune'', Minneapolis, MN, March 22, 2007, "The cream of Minnesota's crop artists dies"

Biography

Colton was born and raised on a farm near

Sherburn, Minnesota Sherburn is a city in Martin County, Minnesota, Martin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,137 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the 2018 population as 1,093. Interstate 90 in Min ...

in rural Martin County. Moving to

Owatonna, Minnesota Owatonna () is a city in Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 25,599 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Steele County. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fairgrounds, which hosts the Steele County Free Fair i ...

after she married, she ran a beauty shop at her home in Owatonna called Cinderella Clip and Curl for 67 years. Lillian did not start as a crop artist until later in her life. Colton first entered her crop art at the Minnesota State Fair in 1966 and won nine "best-of-show" purple ribbons in eleven years. According to Steve Pooch, deputy general manager of the State Fair, "..Once she attained her level of expertise, there wasn't anybody that could compete. ... Quite frankly, a lot of people didn't want to compete against her."''Pioneer Press'',

St. Paul, MN Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

TwinCities.com, March 23, 2007, "LILLIAN COLTON 1911-2007, The Grande Dame of State Fair Crop Art" As a result, she retired from the State Fair competition in 1983 "to let others have a chance at winning ribbons".Lillian Colton, 1911-2007
/ref> She continued to be part of the show, though with "at least 50 of seed art pictures" displayed in the Fair's Horticulture Building and was hired by the fair to do live demonstrations of crop art techniques for fairgoers. She died of congestive heart failure at her home in Owatonna.

Sources

* ''Seed Queen: The Story of Crop Art and the Amazing Lillian Colton,'' by Colleen Sheehy, with a foreword by Karal A. Marling, Minnesota Historical Society,
Lillian Colton, 1911-2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colton, Lillian Folk artists Artists from Minnesota People from Martin County, Minnesota 1911 births 2007 deaths People from Owatonna, Minnesota

Biography

See also

Sources

References