The third Iowa Humanities Festival (IHF) invited participants to consider the prairie—its role in our history and cultural development and how our relationship to the land has morphed with time and urbanization.
This year’s IHF started on Friday evening, with a reception at the John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center. The evening included a storytelling-musical performance by Jeff Biggers and Gabrielle Kouri and an exhibit of winning entries to a photo contest.
Saturday panels at the Des Moines Arts Center and the Salisbury House featured faculty members from Drake University, Grinnell College, Mt. Mercy University, and Iowa State University. Kären Mason (Iowa Women’s Archives, University Libraries), Marian Wilson Kimber (Music, CLAS), Barbara Mooney (Art & Art History, CLAS), and Joni Kinsey (Art & Art History, CLAS) brilliantly represented the University of Iowa.
Jon Andelson, Anthropology, Grinnell College
Barbara Mooney, Art & Art History, University of Iowa
Neil Bernstein, Natural & Applied Sciences and Biology, Mt. Mercy University
Jeremy Chen, Art, Grinnell College
Michael Haedick, Study of Culture and Society, Drake University
Joni Kinsey, Art & Art History, University of Iowa
Timothy Knepper, Philosophy, Drake University
Kären Mason, Curator of the Louise Noun–Mary Louise Smith Iowa Women’s Archives, University of Iowa Libraries
James Pritchard, Landscape Architecture, and Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University
Eric Smith, Executive Director of the Salisbury House Foundation
Marian Wilson Kimber, Music, University of Iowa
Matthew Wynn Sivils, English, Iowa State University
Learn more about the Iowa Humanities Festival here.
New to the 2015 IHF was a photo contest, which brought submissions from across Iowa and its contiguous states.
Meredith C. Ver Steeg (Ames, IA) “Winter Hues,” Madison County, IA, December 28, 2014
Gary Hamer (Robins, IA), “Wikiup North Prairie Sunset,” Wickiup Hill Learning Center, Linn County, IA, August 11, 2008
Chris E. Mortenson (Iowa City, IA), “Untitled Prairie,” Broken Kettle Preserve, IA, May 2014
Katherine A. Gould (Omaha, NE), “Prairie Pathway,” Homestead National Monument, Beatrice, NE, March 7, 2014
Larry Mendenhall (Altoona, IA), “Prairie Sky,” Neal Smith Prairie Learning Center, Prairie City, IA, September 10, 2005
Kristopher R. Mueller (Dubuque, IA), “Big Yellows of Iowa,” Clayton County, IA, May 18, 2014
