Field Trip

No, aliens didn't swoop down on Illinois to carve these fascinating designs. They're the work of artists who visit Oregon, Illinois, for the Fields Project.

The annual Fields Project Art Festival aims to bring art and agriculture together. And while the terrestrial artists may just be from out of town, the results are out of this world.

The project, a 9-day arts workshop and retreat in Ogle County, is the brainchild of a group of Oregon farmers who wanted to build their area into a tourist attraction. Local families host the painters, photographers and sculptors as they create, letting artists and farmers learn from each others' field of expertise.

The festival continues Oregon's long marriage to the arts, jump-started more than a century ago when famed Illinois sculptor Lorado Taft founded the Eagle's Nest Art Colony on the banks of the Rock River. Taft's Black Hawk statue, the second largest concrete statue in the world, looks out over the river where artists continue to come for inspiration.

Related Links

See more work by field sculptor Patricia Innis.

Read about the Fields Project and participating artists and learn how you can take part in the project.