Support local news that keeps Indy informed.

GIVE NOW

Helene Achgill, 60, likes to laugh. That’s why she spends a lot of time in her basement during the summer crafting the perfect vegetable art for the Indiana State Fair.

As a longtime resident of the Indianapolis suburbs, Achgill spent many years wandering the walkways at the fair with her children. Now that she’s moved to a more rural area, she’s made room for a bigger garden with more opportunities to have fun with food.

She started raising rabbits and entering a few breeds into judged contests at the fair about 10 years ago as a way to connect with her daughter, but branched into other categories as the years passed — even after her children lost interest. This year, she sent 57 entries to be judged in various State Fair contests.

While 27 of those entries were rabbits, the majority were spread among the agriculture and horticulture department in the Corteva Coliseum. It’s where she finds a lot of joy.

“This is just one of those crazy hobbies that some people have,” Achgill said. “Maybe I can encourage more people to enter in the future.”

Her art often features trending topics or political messaging, and Achgill hopes her sense of humor and love for all is displayed through her vegetables. It’s a tall order, but a visit to the Indiana State Fair’s Corteva Coliseum may prove that zucchini can present a lot more than just flavor.

Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.

Alayna Wilkening is a Mirror Indy freelance contributor. You can reach her at alaynawilkening@gmail.com.

Close window

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.

Meet the artist who turned a zucchini into Caitlin Clark

by Alayna Wilkening, Mirror Indy
August 12, 2025

<h1>Meet the artist who turned a zucchini into Caitlin Clark</h1> <p class="byline">by Alayna Wilkening, Mirror Indy <br />August 12, 2025</p> <p>Helene Achgill, 60, likes to laugh. That’s why she spends a lot of time in her basement during the summer crafting the perfect vegetable art for the Indiana State Fair. </p> <p>As a longtime resident of the Indianapolis suburbs, Achgill spent many years wandering the walkways at the fair with her children. Now that she’s moved to a more rural area, she’s made room for a bigger garden with more opportunities to have fun with food.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair06-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59066" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Vegetables are displayed Aug. 8, 2025, in the Corteva Coliseum at the Indiana State Fair. Though Achgill is a Delaware County Master Gardener, she doesn’t submit normal vegetables for judging.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair02-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59062" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">One of Achgill's decorated pumpkins won a blue ribbon at the Indiana State Fair. Though she compared her art skills to a kindergartener’s, Achgill said the most important part of vegetable art is finding inspiration. “It’s mostly about having an idea,” Achgill said. “If you have a good idea, you can make something.”</figcaption></figure> <p>She started raising rabbits and entering a few breeds into judged contests at the fair about 10 years ago as a way to connect with her daughter, but branched into other categories as the years passed — even after her children lost interest. This year, she sent 57 entries to be judged in various State Fair contests.</p> <p>While 27 of those entries were rabbits, the majority were spread among the agriculture and horticulture department in the Corteva Coliseum. It’s where she finds a lot of joy.</p> <div class="wp-block-columns alignwide"> <div class="wp-block-column"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair17-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59077" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Achgill shows a rabbit to spectators Aug. 8, 2025, during the rabbit show at the Indiana State Fair. In addition to her agriculture entries, Achgill entered 27 rabbits for judging. She has raised and shown rabbits for over 10 years.</figcaption></figure> </p></div> <div class="wp-block-column"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair09-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59069" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Helene Achgill holds a chicken Aug. 4, 2025, at her home in Selma, Indiana. Achgill said her zucchinis have grown out of control, so she feeds some to her chickens and donates the rest to soup kitchens and community pantries in Muncie.</figcaption></figure> </p></div> </p></div> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair15-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59075" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Achgill prunes flowers Aug. 4, 2025, at her home in Selma, Indiana. Though she spent most of her time focusing on rabbit and vegetable entries, she submitted a few flowers for judging as well.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair16-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59076" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Flower entries are seen Aug. 8, 2025, in the Corteva Coliseum at the Indiana State Fair. Achgill submitted 30 entries in the agriculture and horticulture department.</figcaption></figure> <p>“This is just one of those crazy hobbies that some people have,” Achgill said. “Maybe I can encourage more people to enter in the future.”</p> <p>Her art often features trending topics or political messaging, and Achgill hopes her sense of humor and love for all is displayed through her vegetables. It’s a tall order, but a visit to the Indiana State Fair’s Corteva Coliseum may prove that zucchini can present a lot more than just flavor.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair07-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59067" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Achgill walks through her garden with a harvested zucchini Aug. 4, 2025, at her home in Selma, Indiana. Her zucchini plants spanned well past the edge of her garden, and she grew several zucchinis that spanned a few feet in length.</figcaption></figure> <div class="wp-block-columns alignwide"> <div class="wp-block-column" style="flex-basis:69.2%"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair05-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59065" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A Loch Ness monster Achgill made from zucchini won a blue ribbon at the Indiana State Fair. She grew a new variety of zucchini this year that created giant, snake-like canvases for her art. “These things make me laugh,” Achgill said. “That’s much more entertaining to me than the perfect tomatoes.”</figcaption></figure> </p></div> <div class="wp-block-column" style="flex-basis:30.8%"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair08-682x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59068" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Achgill has enjoyed putting a spin on trending Hoosiers in the “Hoosier celebrity” category, like this zucchini rendition of Indiana Fever player Caitlin Clark</figcaption></figure> </p></div> </p></div> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair11-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59071" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Seed art entries were on display Aug. 8, 2025, in the Corteva Coliseum at the Indiana State Fair. As a former English Language Learners teacher in Muncie schools, Achgill felt a deep responsibility to make Indiana feel welcoming for people of all backgrounds and cultures. This year, her seed art featured a rainbow with the words “all are welcome” written above it in seeds. Above that, typed words spell out “welcome” in languages her ELL students spoke.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808_Wilkening_VegArtStateFair01-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59061" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Helene Achgill, 60, talks to visitors Aug. 8, 2025, in the Corteva Coliseum at the Indiana State Fair. Achgill started creating vegetable art because it made her laugh, but she hopes her entries also encourage others to enter their own artwork.</figcaption></figure> <p><em>Alayna Wilkening is a Mirror Indy freelance contributor. You can reach her at <a href="mailto:alaynawilkening@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alaynawilkening@gmail.com</a>.</em></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://mirrorindy.org/indiana-state-fair-vegetable-art-meet-an-artist/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://mirrorindy.org&quot;&gt;Mirror Indy&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-Mirror-Indy-square-logo-1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://mirrorindy.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=59256&amp;amp;ga4=G-X0R0QW371R&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://mirrorindy.org/indiana-state-fair-vegetable-art-meet-an-artist/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/mirrorindy.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

Copy to Clipboard

1