Join artists and neighbors for the opening reception of “From a Cloud of Dust,” the visual arts exhibition for The Big Read in the St. Croix Valley.

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.

Photo credit: Untitled photo, possibly related to: Henry Holt, Negro farmer near Black River Falls, Wisconsin, who is being moved off submarginal land by Resettlement Administration. Russell Lee, 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.