The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (and the Cedar Rapids Art Association before it) has a long and rich tradition of supporting local and regional artists. As a result, one of the major strengths of the CRMA collection is art with some sort of local tie. This tradition continues to the present day where, even with limited resources, the CRMA strategically adds works to its collections made by artists with a connection to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or the Midwest.

In this new installation, Grant Wood and Marvin Cone, while still possessing major roles, will be joined by a wide variety of other Midwestern artists from the collection, to provide a fuller and more complete picture of the Midwest's contribution to the history of American art. In addition, the galleries will be organized according to overarching themes which artists returned to frequently throughout the twentieth century: landscape, portraits, still lifes, the farm, and the city. These in turn can be subdivided even further and will allow visitors to contemplate more accurately both the strengths of CRMA's collection as well as the strength of Midwestern art. Approximately two dozen works by Grant Wood are included in this exhibition.