Des Moines Register
06-04-06
Worthen displays satirical engravings of '70s statehouse politics
The not-so-politically friendly 17-piece series can be seen at the State Historical
Society now through March.
By AMANDA PIERRE
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
In the late 1970s, printmaker Amy Worthen was making a serious, if slightly
subversive, start in the art world.
In 1977 Worthen embarked on a 17-piece series of engravings. The Iowa Arts
Council had awarded her a grant that supported a yearlong artistic exploration of
the State Capitol.
The exhibit, noted for its satiric observations of statehouse politics, opened in the
governor's office in 1978.
This summer, Worthen, now the curator of prints at the Des Moines Art Center,
has reprised the exhibit for a nearly yearlong run at the State Historical Society.
"Real and Imagined Aspects of the State Capitol" originally toured several Iowa
museums and art centers. Some editions of these works are also owned by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and Iowa State University, which currently has
the series on view at the Brunnier in Ames.
"I started off doing fairly realistic views of the Capitol, just happy with the
wonderful structure, decorative ensemble and space," said Worthen, 59. "But the
longer I spent there, during the legislative session, the more bizarre the place
became to me."
Hired as an Art Center curator in 1998, the New York-born Worthen was 31 when
the series began, and was active as a teacher and guest curator at the center.
She had completed graduate school at the University of Iowa and was married to
Drake art and design professor Tom Worthen.
She was also pregnant and had a 2-year-old daughter when she started work on
the series.
The images in "Real and Imagined Aspects of the State Capitol" capture not only
the intricate decor, actual characters and structure of the Iowa Capitol but include
fantastical creatures, some modeled after her 2-year-old's toys and planted in a
comical manner to represent politicians.
Realistic scenes from the Capitol include a "Debate in the House of the
Representatives" and "The Tulip Queen Visits the Senate."
There are also straightforward drawings of the Capitol interior and exterior,
notably the rotunda and the governor's office.
These renderings of the stately architecture demonstrate Worthen's keen linear
sense, as well as her eye for tiny details - from the curves on the Capitol's
decorative cornices to the eagles atop the official flag staffs.
Other drawings maintain this careful eye for detail, but normalcy begins to
deteriorate with the introduction of fictional elements such as cow skeletons
making their way up the Capitol's grand stairway.
"The marble balusters of the stairway made me think of bones, which pointed the
way to putting a skeleton in the print," Worthen wrote.
In another piece, a giant sow and bull are installed in the secretary of
agriculture's office. Worthen said these represent her biased view of the
inhabitants of that office, who shooed the artist out while she was working.
"I took my revenge," she said.
The editorializing goes even further in "The Supreme Court." Birds and animals
such as a snake, rat and a cat are sitting in the venerated seats, looking
judiciously out at the viewer.
In a piece called "State Capitol as an Aquarium," the world of politics is entirely
submerged. Worthen depicts the Capitol rotunda as a water tank filled with fish
that reflect her take on the behavior of legislators.
There's the stingray (after then-Gov. Bob Ray"), as well as the "Cut-throat Trout,"
"Bigmouth Buffalo" and "Common Sucker."
Despite the somewhat caustic visual commentary, Worthen said that legislators
and lawyers were amused by them and bought a number of the prints.
The complete series was loaned to the Historical Society by Des Moines attorney
and philanthropist Robert Josten, who recently purchased it.
Many pieces from the series are also available at the Olson-Larsen Galleries in
West Des Moines, where Worthen is represented.
Reporter Amanda Pierre can be reached at (515) 284-8163 or
apierre@dmreg.com