Michael Mick Meilahn: Artist in the Cornfield

Michael (Mick) Meilahn is a third-generation farmer and nationally recognized glass artist whose immersive installation, Primordial Shift, is now on view at the Rochester Art Center in Rochester, Minnesota. Mick’s work is visually stunning: towering glass ears of corn, cast bronze leaves, surrounded by a video backdrop of fields, but it also asks deeper questions about genetic modification, the evolution of farming, and our relationship with the land.From his roots in rural Wisconsin to the international world of glassmaking, Mick has spent decades blending the precision of agriculture with the expression of contemporary art. Mick shares more about his journey, what corn means to him as both a crop and a symbol, and why he's inviting all of us to think more critically about how our food is grown.