A Mona Lisa made of seeds: the quirky craft of crop art

Creativity and agriculture merge with crop art, a craft that uses grains, seeds or leaves as its material - and Minnesota leads the way

When Laura Melnick arrived at a gathering hosted by her husband's colleague over 25 years ago, she quickly realized this was no ordinary house party. Containers of seeds, toothpicks and Elmer's glue topped the tables, and guests created pictures with dried seeds and beans that they stuck on to boards.

This was Melnick's first introduction to crop art, a craft that uses seeds, grains, leaves or other botanical materials instead of paint or clay. She had fun with it, so after the party she and her family started making their own crop art. Then she saw artist Alan Carpenter's kitschy seed portraits at the Minnesota state fair; in his The Vices of First Ladies: Mrs John F. Kennedy Smoking, Jackie Kennedy holds a cigarette while she burns in flames. It used about a dozen kinds of seeds, including two colors of clover, multiple kinds of millet and the common poppy seed. Inspired by Carpenter's quirkiness, Melnick decided to take her seed art game to a new level.