Artwork copyright Jean Whitesavage and Nick Lyle. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Artwork copyright Jean Whitesavage and Nick Lyle. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission (detail).

Stalk of Wheat, 2009

Jean Whitesavage and Nick Lyle
Jean Whitesavage (American (born 1960)) - Nick Lyle (American (born 1958))

Location: City of Connell, Connell

About the Artwork

Artist team Jean Whitesavage and Nick Lyle created Stalk of Wheat as part of six large-scale, forged-steel sculptures. They placed the sculptures on a walking path in Connell, Central Washington. Each sculpture represents a different native prairie flower or local crop. They celebrate Connell's heritage of farming and close relationship to the land. Impressed by the expansive landscape, the artists noted, "it's big sculpture for big country."

Wheat has been farmed in Washington State since the 1820s and is one of the state's top five crops. Washington is the ranked number four in the U.S. for wheat production (2024), and it produces over two million football fields of wheat each year. Wheat farming replaced the original prairies of Eastern Washington. 

Check out the grades K-2 lesson plan for this artwork, linked as a PDF under "Lesson Plans and Documents".

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with City of Connell.

About the Artist

Jean Whitesavage and Nick Lyle are an artist team who create hand-forged metal sculptures and installations for public and private spaces.
Whitesavage earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, and a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
Lyle earned a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College, Massachusetts, and studied glassblowing and metalwork at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.