“Supper Time” Art Connects Iowa and Czech Republic

HILLS - As an artist who lost his parents, Pat Muller, 50, wanted to tell his story in a unique way. He turned to dinner, a pleasant time, and the plates it is served on. And he reflected on life, doing it with symbols rather than a written language.

What you find, then, are ceramic plates - "Supper Time" - created to represent Iowa communities in a fresh way.

The Riverside plate (left), for instance, depicts a barbershop and pole along with the Star Trek emblem. For, not only were Pat's ancestors barbers here, but his father, Kenneth, was born in Riverside and the fictional Star Trek's Captain James T. Kirk is to be born here, behind the barbershop, on March 22 in either 2228 or 2233, depending on which source you believe.

The plate for Wheatland (right), where his mother, Hazel Fox was born, shows the Wapsipinicon River running through it, intersecting with an unnamed stream and a creek called Yankee Run, one of the settlement's early names.

Hazel died in 2007; Kenneth in 2008. Their son always thought he'd have plenty of time to learn their history.

"You take it for granted," Pat says, "because you can always ask questions tomorrow."

He created the first plates in 2010 and has steadily added to them as he traveled to many surrounding communities, researching their histories and talking to residents. He's approaching 50 plates now.

"They started with where my family came from, but then I added towns because I liked them," he says. "It's kind of a way to tell stories. For this project, it was a way to continue to tell family history in a unique way."

Born in Washington, Iowa, Pat is a 1979 graduate of West High School in Iowa City and earned counseling and education degrees at the University of Iowa in 1983 and 1995. He now develops essay tests at ACT in Iowa City and lives in the home that was his parents' in Hills.

"I like to do art that gives the viewer some kind of ownership and also that makes culture palpable," Pat says. (He blogs on the Internet at http://prairieincubator.wordpress.com)

For instance, not only have his "Supper Time" plates been on display (at Plum Grove Historic House and Public Space One in Iowa City), they've served as eating utensils at an invitation-only dinner at historical Elmhurst (the Singmaster Mansion) in Keota.

"Eating on the plates makes it interactive," Pat says. "They pick a plate and take it to their place."

In conjunction with this project, Pat has created a subset of plates as a wedding gift for a couple and their two children in Prague, Czech Republic, which he'll revisit late this month. He'll also pick up companion pieces (a commemorative book and a doll) for a handmade ornamental sword he bought in the village of Strani, Moravia, in February. He hopes to have a ceremony in Cedar Rapids before donating the items to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library.

"My Czech connection is my own connection," Pat says. "But my family was in the Austrian-Hungary Empire at one time."