Bone Creek

Sharleen’s afternoon off yesterday presented the opportunity for our first non-routine activity together since my retirement. We took advantage of it with a trip to David City, about 50 miles away, for a visit to the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art.

Our route took us through rolling hills and valleys filled with corn and soybean fields and, occasionally, grassland and prairies made lush by irrigation and rain. We passed through or near towns, villages and “wide places in the road.” The names of those places include Touhy, Raymond, Agnew, Valparaiso and Brainard.

The last was our stop for lunch. We need not have worried about whether the only place to eat would be open since many small town restaurants and cafés close after the noon rush. Despite the sign saying its hours were 8:00 until 1:00, the door to the Brainard Café was open and a voice invited us to “come on in.” Too late for the daily special, hamburger steak, we selected pork tenderloin sandwiches. They and the curly and French fries were delicious. The two sandwiches, each with fries, and a 24-ounce Diet Coke cost $12.68.

As good as the drive and food were, the highlight of the afternoon was to find, tucked away in a town of 2,500 people, a small, intimate building displaying an exhibition of paintings, owned by galleries and private collections all across the country, done by David City native, Dale Nichols. My words are inadequate to describe the scale of the exhibition and the vibrant colors of his scenes mostly of small American farms and farmers, but a visit to www.bonecreek.org provides a glimpse into not only the Nichols exhibition but also of Bone Creek’s collections. (None of the latter were on display as the hanging space was devoted exclusively to Nichols’ works.)

Beyond the captivating and compelling nature of Nichols’ paintings, what struck me most about the museum (why it is called a “museum” and not a “gallery” is a bit perplexing) is that it exists and is apparently well supported and funded in a town with a population of only 2,500 people. Bone Creek must also be growing. The organization has acquired a two-story building to house its collections and to enable it to display more and larger exhibitions. An upcoming fund drive has the goal of raising three and one-half million dollars!

I wish them success.