When Grant Wood’s iconic painting “American Gothic” depicting an Iowa farmer and his daughter first gained fame, offended Iowans accused Wood of creating a less-than-flattering caricature of their Midwestern lives. Quite the contrary, protested Wood, an Iowa native who got his art training in Minneapolis, Chicago and later Europe. The painting, he said, was actually meant as an appreciation of the state and its people. “I had to go to France to appreciate Iowa,” he famously stated.

Wood wasn’t alone. When it comes to ideas, design and culture, it seems many of the world’s tastemakers tend to look elsewhere before discovering what we in the Midwest already know: some of the most cutting-edge and interesting design, architecture, culinary arts, fashion and more are emanating from right here in fly-over country.

We’ve launched Modern Midwest for lovers of modern living to get together; not only with each other, but also with providers of the ideas, inspiration, products and services they seek. The stories you’ll find here celebrate and define the Midwest’s distinct take on modern living, and all of them will be sponsored, either by Modern Midwest or our content partners. If our content is timely, inspiring, surprising and thought provoking, we are confident that we will be able to bring value to both readers and our partners. We intend to set a high standard in our coverage of the Midwestern scene and expect the Modern Midwest community to hold us to it.

We invite you to check back daily, as we’ll frequently post fresh content, including video, photos and stories from around the Midwest. We also invite you to join the Modern Midwest community on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter.

In short, we hope this will become the place to celebrate modern living, Midwest style. We look forward to hearing from you, and in the meantime, thanks for checking us out!

-Jorg A. Pierach

Founder, Modern Midwest