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CNN Live At Daybreak
Look at Some Crop Art
Aired July 11, 2003 - 05:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you've probably heard of pop art. But what about crop art?
CNN's Jeanne Moos takes us to a hayfield in New York that has immortalized the lives of Elvis and now Einstein.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the next best thing to getting inside the mind of Albert Einstein.
(on camera): What is this?
ROBERT BAKER, ARTIST: Part of Einstein's hair.
MOOS: It's where you mowed him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Albert Einstein, genius.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice-over): Albert Einstein, crop art.
BAKER: These protrusions in the grass here are the wrinkles in his forehead.
MOOS: Einstein was tops in many fields and now a hayfield in the Catskill Mountains.
BAKER: We are now in his right eye.
MOOS: A 35 foot eye. But from the ground, you'd never know you'd stumbled on the glint in Albert Einstein's pupil.
Starting from a sketch, artist Roger Baker used lawn mower tractors to carve Einstein's portrait.
BAKER: He's got great hair. It's a great image to do. I've always been fascinated with the guy. His mustache is really cool.
MOOS (on camera): Oh, let's go to his mustache.
BAKER: Let's go to his mustache.
MOOS (voice-over): The crop portrait coincides with an exhibit on Einstein at New York's American Museum of Natural History. But the E in this E equals Mc squared is 120 feet tall.
BAKER: Oh, look at the deer.
MOOS (on camera): Do they eat Einstein?
BAKER: Yes, theyve grazed on Albert.
MOOS (voice-over): Nibbled on and landed on.
(on camera): So hang gliders land here?
BAKER: Hang gliders land here.
MOOS (voice-over): Some of these pictures were taken by a parasail pilot as he drifted back to earth. You can even see the shadow of an ultra light plane piloted by another photographer. Sure, there have been other crop portraits, from Larry King to Babe Ruth, but not with the fine lines of Einstein. This is not Roger's first.
(on camera): So Elvis was here and down there?
BAKER: It covered as far as you could see.
MOOS (voice-over): Last year, Elvis was cut into the very same field. The high point was mowing Elvis' sideburns. From a hang glider's point of view...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When u really see it nice is when you're coming in to land.
MOOS: More than once Albert Einstein has had to take it on the chin, but this is one straw man who never had to say if I only had a brain.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, Ellenville, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 11, 2003 - 05:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you've probably heard of pop art. But what about crop art?
CNN's Jeanne Moos takes us to a hayfield in New York that has immortalized the lives of Elvis and now Einstein.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the next best thing to getting inside the mind of Albert Einstein.
(on camera): What is this?
ROBERT BAKER, ARTIST: Part of Einstein's hair.
MOOS: It's where you mowed him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Albert Einstein, genius.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice-over): Albert Einstein, crop art.
BAKER: These protrusions in the grass here are the wrinkles in his forehead.
MOOS: Einstein was tops in many fields and now a hayfield in the Catskill Mountains.
BAKER: We are now in his right eye.
MOOS: A 35 foot eye. But from the ground, you'd never know you'd stumbled on the glint in Albert Einstein's pupil.
Starting from a sketch, artist Roger Baker used lawn mower tractors to carve Einstein's portrait.
BAKER: He's got great hair. It's a great image to do. I've always been fascinated with the guy. His mustache is really cool.
MOOS (on camera): Oh, let's go to his mustache.
BAKER: Let's go to his mustache.
MOOS (voice-over): The crop portrait coincides with an exhibit on Einstein at New York's American Museum of Natural History. But the E in this E equals Mc squared is 120 feet tall.
BAKER: Oh, look at the deer.
MOOS (on camera): Do they eat Einstein?
BAKER: Yes, theyve grazed on Albert.
MOOS (voice-over): Nibbled on and landed on.
(on camera): So hang gliders land here?
BAKER: Hang gliders land here.
MOOS (voice-over): Some of these pictures were taken by a parasail pilot as he drifted back to earth. You can even see the shadow of an ultra light plane piloted by another photographer. Sure, there have been other crop portraits, from Larry King to Babe Ruth, but not with the fine lines of Einstein. This is not Roger's first.
(on camera): So Elvis was here and down there?
BAKER: It covered as far as you could see.
MOOS (voice-over): Last year, Elvis was cut into the very same field. The high point was mowing Elvis' sideburns. From a hang glider's point of view...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When u really see it nice is when you're coming in to land.
MOOS: More than once Albert Einstein has had to take it on the chin, but this is one straw man who never had to say if I only had a brain.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, Ellenville, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
