Farm/Art DTour celebrates the intersection of farming and the arts in Wisconsin

Donna Neuwirth said she believes the arts are essential to a “thriving rural community.” That motivates her to help put on an art tour that stretches 50 miles of farmland in rural Wisconsin. 

Neuwirth is co-founder and director of the Wormfarm Institute, a Reedsburg-based nonprofit organization, which is celebrating the 10th year of the Farm/Art DTour. The self-guided tour takes visitors through scenic rolling farmlands in the Driftless Area, with roadside poetry, live performances and art installations along the route.

This year’s DTour features works by more than 20 artists from around the country, including an irrigation system transformed into a dragon and Wisconsin’s first life-sized alebrije, which is a colorful sculpture form popular in Mexico. 

The Farm/Art DTour runs through Oct. 14 and is free and open to the public. Visitors can pick up printed DTour route maps at the Sauk Prairie Area Chamber of Commerce, the Kraemer Library & Community Center and the Reedsburg Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Farm/Art DTour debuted in 2011 as part of Fermentation Fest, an exploration of fermented local foods that grew into an annual and then biennial series of community events that the Wormfarm Institute calls a “cultural convergence” bringing together the worlds of farming, local food and art. Since 2020, Wormfarm has switched to hosting Fermentation Fest and the DTour on alternating years, though it still sees the events as integrally connected.

Neuwirth developed Fermentation Fest and has served as the artistic director of the Farm/Art DTour since its beginning. She sees a natural link between the chemical process of fermentation and acts of creativity.

“The root word of ‘culture’ means to till the soil. And for generations and generations, and up until recently, dance and music and art have been a key part of fertility and harvest rituals,” Neuwirth told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “So, I think about it as kind of a modern approach to an ancient, meaningful ritual.”

Catherine Schwalbe is one of this year’s featured artists. Her piece, called “Spirit of Jaedike Granary,” is “a temporary work celebrating (seemingly) obsolete farm buildings,” she wrote in an Instagram post. 

For Schwalbe, the DTour is a unique opportunity to showcase her artwork in a rural area.

“I think art is for everyone. And to have it be accessible without having to walk into a white-wall space, those are opportunities I seek because I really do feel (art) is for everyone to view and for everybody to do,” Schwalbe told “Wisconsin Today.”

Schwalbe participated in the first Farm/Art DTour in 2011. She said that even though the artwork is temporary — it has to be removed after two weeks so farmers can use the land as usual for the next growing season — it can have a lasting impact on how people view and experience the landscape. 

“(These are) unforgettable works that make you think about a place differently for the rest of your life when you look at those places,” she said.

On the DTour’s second day, Schwalbe watched a live performance of the “Hay Rake Ballet,” a choreographed dance featuring tractors, hay rakes and local performers, with farmers operating the heavy machinery. Schwalbe told the story of a local pumpkin grower who said he has expanded his business thanks to the influx of visitors for the Farm/Art DTour. He also participated in the hay rake performance.

“We went to pick up pumpkins for display, and (the farmer) puffed up and he said, ‘I’m going to be one of the tractor drivers in the ballet.’ And I’m like, ‘Ballet will never be the same,’” Schwalbe said with a laugh. “It’s those bridges of humans that make it all worthwhile.”

Here is a photo gallery to preview what visitors can expect from this year’s DTour: