In the endless cornfields of Iowa, the carefully plotted rows stretch around rural routes. In the Buddhist gardens of Japan, the crops bend around carefully placed stones, creating a maze-like field.

A collection of paintings by Orange City artist Elinor Noteboom examines these comparisons and contrasts the two cultures in “Prolonged Tranquility,” showing in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union between Wednesday and Oct. 31.

Noteboom says the goal of the paintings is to unite the two lands and show how lands used for different purposes can look similar.

“That is beautiful, to know each other,” she says. “To bring them together; make them one.”

The idea for the project began in April 1984 when Noteboom traveled with other Iowa artists to Kofu, Japan. There she took in many of the sites of Japan, including the Zen Gardens in Kyoto.

Upon returning that summer, she says, viewing the Iowa cornfields gave her a sense of connection to both of the lands, and she was stirred to show this connection through paintings.

She says she was given further inspiration when her grandson Ryan, while replacing light bulbs on a radio tower, took bird’s-eye view pictures of Iowa cornfields for her. She says this affirmed her idea and gave her enough inspiration for her to begin painting in 2002.

Noteboom says the cornfields were made for distinctly different reasons. Iowa cornfields are made by farmers in an effort to create the most efficient ways of using land. The gardens in Japan were traditionally made by Buddhist monks and samurai behind walls only wealthy nobles could pass through.

These gardens were carefully plotted, and every rock and plant was carefully planned to show the balance and harmony of nature, Noteboom says.

However, the forms of both are epitomized by two symmetrical paintings, one representing a small Buddhist field with spiritual rocks separating an endless field. The second painting shows an Iowa field with almost exactly the same form, save for a stream running through the middle.

Noteboom normally paints more realistic landscapes capturing the more aesthetic qualities of Iowa cornfields. She says she felt a more minimalist approach was needed for these paintings to capture their significance.

“I longed to do something that was simpler, that was reaching for the essence of things,” Noteboom says.

Although the paintings offer beauty in a simplistic form, Noteboom says she also wants the paintings to give viewers more, “offering them this spiritual and restful surround in hopes that they will see the sacredness in it.”