The artwork Threshing Crew shows an artwork of a crew of people, neighbors and family members, helping one another in using horses and a threshing machine to cut the beautiful golden wheat fields and piling the wheat in huge piles and then hauled off by a wagon with horses which can be seen in the distance. There are a couple of kids talking and watching the adults working, along with a couple of dogs laying around. The artist uses an horizontal spacing which would show us how far the wheat fields beyond the artwork to the left and right and makes the threshing machine and workers stand out. The coloring in the artwork uses light colors in the light blue sky to make the dark golden wheat and threshing machines, the farmers and wheat pile stand out.
The meaning of this artwork shows us how hard people had to work, to make a living. Threshing time meant, being able to survive, through money, food, clothing and shelter. Farmers, neighbors and family members teamed up to help out with the threshing, it was a time of year that stood out, not only because it meant making money or surviving, it was a time of farmers and family of accomplishing one goal, harvesting that brilliant bright golden wheat and this relates to the social issue of family. Family is an important, valuable thing. When harvest crews made up of many family members and neighbors, it in a way brings the families closer together because it’s the time of year when they know that harvest means clothing, food and a source of revenue, which gives them a feeling of urgency, a feeling of pride and joy.
This artwork could influence many farmers in the way they look at farming and their attitudes towards farming. Now days, farmers and ranchers are using combines which cuts the work in half and it’s very hard to understand the feeling of accomplishment that families felt when accomplishing harvesting wheat with horses, wagons and a threshing machine which takes a dramatically amount more time to do than a combine can. So I think it can make farmers and ranchers today, think about how nice or great they have it because they don’t have to do what farmers had to back then. “ In that setting, the season produced a sense of urgency, of total involvement, finally of accomplishment, that was largely lost when the combine made harvesting a one-stage, one-man job-another routine, another chore”.
Title: The Golden Spell of Harvest
Author(s): Charles Vindex
