Mercil, a associate professor in the art department, and his students planted four varieties of beans in the spot in 2006, tended them as they grew, and harvested them this fall. The cycle is being repeated in 2007.

The project was inspired by the "bean-field" Henry David Thoreau cultivated near Walden Pond and wrote about in his 19th-century classic Walden. It offers a nod to the university's agricultural heritage and reflects its ongoing commitment to provocative public and social art.

Find out more about The Beanfield project at the College of the Arts web site. Read a feature from last year (Sunday, August 20, 2006) from the Columbus Dispatch (registration may be required).