In the novel “The Grapes of Wrath,” the effect of the seven-year-long drought on the land is explicit. Unsustainable farming practices impacted families across the country from the dust bowl of Oklahoma and Texas to the cut-over farms of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Images from the era depict the stark reality of broken land, human migration and the struggle for survival.

Artwork by regional artists will be displayed alongside photographs from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information collection at the Library of Congress. The artwork and images speak to the legacy of people’s impact on the land and subsequently, how the changed land has an effect on people.

“From a Cloud of Dust” is an exhibition in two locations. In addition to the ArtReach Galleries in Stillwater, work will be on view at Great River Road Visitor & Learning Center at Freedom Park in Prescott, WI.

Photo credit: Dust bowl farmer raising fences to keep it from being buried under drifting sand. Cimarron County, Oklahoma.  Arthur Rothstein, photographer. From the Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

 The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. The Big Read in the St. Croix Valley is presented by ArtReach St. Croix in conjunction with core program partners Valley Bookseller, Stillwater Public Library, St. Croix Festival Theatre, Little Free Library and library branches located in St. Croix Valley communities between St. Croix Falls, WI and Hastings, MN.