Wacky Wednesday #12: Corn—Ten Ways

Corn, ten ways: it sounds like a recipe, but it’s not. Unless you’re talking about how to make corn out of art materials. Corn is on my mind because it’s a summer crop and I see it growing at the community garden these days and for sale at the grocery store. Making a costume that celebrates corn appeals to me because corn is yellow (cheerful), and it’s visually interesting with all those green leaves flopping in different directions.

This week’s costume really doesn’t have a deeper meaning. It’s just about corn. There’s no metaphor intended. It’s not a commentary on the human condition. I’m not being deep. I just thought it would be fun to make some corn out of art supplies and to see how many different ways I could depict it. I attached seven ears of corn to my dress and I turned three of them into a hat.

 

 Do you know the opening song from the musical Oklahoma? There’s a line in the song that goes like this: The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye, and it looks like it’s climbin’ clear up to the sky…

I remember hearing that song when I was a child, while watching the film version of Oklahoma on tv. I scoffed at the idea that corn could be as high as an elephant’s eye. I was probably nine years old, and clearly an expert on corn. After all, I lived in Los Angeles, which is the corn-growing capital of America, right? So I would know. Fast forward a few decades and I get it. Corn really does grow tall. I’m still dazzled by corn growing at my community garden. It’s charming to see a little piece of the country in the suburbs.

Here are the supplies I used for each cob of corn:

 1)      Felt and buttons.

2)      Cardboard from cereal box, lemon Jello box and macaroni box, and yellow paper.

3)      Plastic water bottle, paint, Sharpie and fabric.

4)    Cardboard egg carton, cardboard leaves, paint.

 

 

     5)  Small pasta shells glued to a rolled-up paper plate, painted, with painted newspaper as husks.

 

     6) Chair caning, paper plate, paint, feathers.

 

     7)  Green and yellow Legos (and duct tape on the back, should a Lego try to jump overboard).

 

8)   Styrofoam, bubble wrap, paint, batik fabric 
  
9)   Felt, stuffing, ribbon, rick-rack, fabric, plastic ribbon (for husks)

10)   Felt, plastic tabs from bread bags

Everything I used in this project was stuff I already had on hand, with the exception of the green dress I bought at a thrift store (fifty cents!) and the binding tape (for the corn stalks) I bought at the fabric store ($3.76). My grand total for expenses: $4.26.

Here’s some corn-related trivia I found online:

There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn. This goes for the nonfood items as well: Everything from the toothpaste and cosmetics to the disposable diapers, trash bags, cleansers, charcoal briquettes, matches, and batteries, right down to the shine on the cover of the magazine that catches your eye by the checkout: corn. –Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: a natural history of four meals.

Good point, Michael. Suddenly, my costume has deeper meaning and in fact may be a metaphor for life as I know it in America in 2015. Corn is a huge part of our lives and my costume celebrates that. Now I can pat myself on my husk-covered back for creating a costume with many layers of meaning. I’m so deep. Aren’t you glad you spent a few minutes with me (your deep friend) today?

You’re welcome!