Gary Kelley - Iowa Connections

Gary Kelley, an Iowa native, created these illustrations for a gallery exhibition earlier this summer on the topic of Iowa facts and connections. Each piece features a famous person or event in history that had its roots in Iowa. A calendar will be published later this month with these and more artworks in the series.

Buffalo Bill got his start in Iowa

Norman Borlaug of the WFP and father of the "Green Revolution" was born in Iowa. 

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus owes a big thanks to the town of Cascade, Iowa. (Read about it here)

Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Praire learned to read in Iowa

Jazz Legend Bix Beiderbecke was born in Iowa

Update (10/08/2012): Here are the rest of the illustrations featured in the calendar 

The Buxton Wonders, an all African American baseball team based in Iowa at the turn of the century

Carrie Chapman Catt, a leader in the Women's Suffrage Movement, was an Iowa native 

Duke Slatter, one of the great football players of his time, played for the Iowa University

"King of the Road", a Roger Miller song, was inspired by his drive through Iowa

Antonin Dvorak, a Czech composer, was very inspired by the Iowan countryside