It takes some time to plant 10,000 corn seeds, one at a time, in rows 10-inches apart in what is now an open corn field on the east lawn of Central Middle School.
Volunteers spent Saturday and Sunday under overcast skies and dodging raindrops to plant five types of corn in the field, the tallest varieties on the outside, with gradual smaller varieties making up the interior of the field, marked off with colored string to denote locations for each corn variety.
This fall, the 100-foot by 150-foot field will become “Corn/Meal,” an Exhibit Columbus installation to remind visitors about food production and its importance. Proposed by MASS Design Group, the creators of the installation hope the site could play host to a mini-Halloween corn maze in October.
An artist’s rendition of the installation shows students moving through the corn stalks to a clearing space in the center of the installation where a gathering area allows visitors to contemplate what it must be like to be surrounded by corn stalks.
“Part of the design intention is that so many people have that relationship to corn — it surrounds them here, and they see it sometimes as sort of background material,” said architect Caitlin Taylor, who operates an organic vegetable and cut flower farm in Connecticut.
For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
