Cornscapers create a-maze-ing works of art

Anyone flying in an airplane over farm country these days might want to keep an eye out for the works of art down below. A growing number of landscapers are turning corn mazes into art, using all sorts of themes, from sports to movies to patriotism to just about any idea they can come up with to create amazing scenes.

Timothy Day, of Edinburg, Va., has been churning out corn-maze art since 2005. He has cut more than 50 mazes, traveling from Florida to Canada, and anywhere in between, reports The Associated Press. Day said, “It’s not out of the ordinary for us to drive 3,000 or 4,000 miles in five days and cut out 10 or 12 corn mazes in that amount of time." Once he gets to a farm, Day "drives around the field’s perimeter to establish the boundaries for the GPS system. Then he fits the design into that shape, and the computer does the rest. He said, “There’s very little room for error in our corn mazes. They’re tight-packed. The trails are close to together. So a little mistake breaks through a whole wall and changes the whole maze.” (AP photo: An maze with an African safari theme near Troy, Ohio)

Day isn't the only one turning corn into arty mazes. Ryan Richardson, of Hobart, Ind., used his skills to create two mazes to honor the Chicago Blackhawks for winning the Stanley Cup this summer, CBS News reports. He used 15 of his 40 acres just for the maze above. (Read more)

Brett Herbst, who has created 2,000 mazes since 1996, uses GPS coordinates and computer software to meticulously create mazes of eight to 60 acres by carving out the pathways with rototillers and riding lawn mowers, Morgana Matus reports for Inhabitat. His designs have included President Obama, state flags, and the above Star Wars theme above. (Read more)