“You can’t take the farm out of the boys.”

That’s the reason Christian Vandehaar’s, entitled his FOCUS project with only one word: Farmboys.

Vandehaar, a FOCUS grant recipient and senior in integrated studio arts, recently had his artwork honored at the Reception for FOCUS Grant and FOCUS Juried Exhibits in the Memorial Union.

Vandehaar created three chalk pastel drawings called Farmboys. The concept behind the piece about “how to express what farm kids have to deal with,” Vandehaar said. In the fall, he worked on the composition of the drawings and this semester he began drawing and using pastel.

The idea for the concept of his piece comes from the urban sprawl that is coming closer to his family’s farm, and the “huge highway” that is being planned by it.

The three drawings are of him and his two younger brothers, Vandehaar is in the center drawing and his brothers are on the drawings beside him.

The storm clouds in his drawing represent the coming of the urban sprawl, but the boys are standing their ground, Vandehaar said.

Vandehaar got the idea for his painting from the Renaissance painter Caravaggio who “took contemporary people of his time to tell a biblical story,” Vandehaar said.

The pose of the boy in the middle drawing is based off of Michelangelo’s David, for example.

“The three figures are based off of famous sculptures,” Vandehaar said. “There’s a lot of layers in the piece.”

Each pose the boy is in represents a decision the boy has to make, he said, such as working on the farm or playing sports. Another drawing represents the choice of school or the farm. These are decisions he and his brothers have had to make.

“All three figures go through what farm kids have to deal with,” Vandehaar said.

Two of Vandehaar’s chalk pastel drawings are in the FOCUS Juried exhibits with the theme of contemporary religion and “the decisions students have to make in college and its ties back to biblical references,” Vandehaar said.

After graduation, Vandehaar plans to attend Drake Univeristy for a master’s degree in secondary art education. He would like to be a high school art teacher while continuing his art as well.

“I’ve learned from farming, you do what you love,” Vandehaar said.

Vandehaar is also fine arts director for the Student Union Board and helped with the FOCUS Juried Exhibit.