Lillian Colton was a crop art

Crop art

Crop art falls into several different categories, all of which employ land and/or what grows from it to create images.-Seed art:One version of Crop art is also called Seed art, a visual art created in mosaic-style. Mosaic is an ancient technique of making designs, often from bits of tile or...

ist whose work, usually portraits of public figures made from agricultural products such as wild rice, hay and timothy seeds glued to cardboard, has been prominently displayed at the Minnesota State Fair

Minnesota State Fair

The Minnesota State Fair is the state fair of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its slogan is "The Great Minnesota Get-Together." It is the 2nd largest fair in the United States, and the largest state fair in the United States in terms of average daily attendance, though the State Fair of Texas runs...

 for many years. She was "considered the Andy Warhol of seeds" according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune,

Colton was born and raised on a farm near Sherburn, Minnesota

Sherburn, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,082 people, 484 households, and 285 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,220.6 people per square mile . There were 535 housing units at an average density of 603.5 per square mile...

 in rural Martin County

Martin County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 21,802 people, 9,067 households, and 6,047 families residing in the county. The population density was 31 people per square mile . There were 9,800 housing units at an average density of 14 per square mile...

. Moving to Owatonna, Minnesota

Owatonna, Minnesota

Owatonna is a city in Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 25,599 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Steele County. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fairgrounds, which hosts the Steele County Free Fair in August....

after she married, she ran a beauty shop at her home in Owatonna called Cinderella Clip and Curl for 67 years. She didn't start as a crop artist until later in her life. Colton first entered Crop Art at the State Fair in 1966 and won nine best-of-show Purple ribbons in eleven years.

According to Steve Pooch, deputy general manager of the State Fair, "She had basically won everything. Once she attained her level of expertise, there wasn't anybody that could compete. ... Quite frankly, a lot of people didn't want to compete against her." As a result she retired from the State Fair competition in 1983 "to let others have a chance at winning ribbons".

She continued to be part of the show, though with "at least 50 of seed art pictures" displayed in the Fair's Horticulture Building and was hired by the fair to do live demonstrations of crop art techniques for fairgoers. She died of congestive heart failure at her home in Owatonna, MN.

Sources

• Seed Queen: The Story of Crop Art and the Amazing Lillian Colton, by Colleen Sheehy, with a foreword by Karal A. Marling, Minnesota Historical Society,
• Lillian Colton, 1911-2007