Julie Aronson's story of how Grant Wood's iconic "American Gothic" came to be at the Cincinnati Art Museum this fall is a lesson in not censoring yourself while brainstorming.

"This is something I always thought, 'Gee, wouldn't it be amazing?' said the museum's curator of American paintings, sculpture, and drawing. "I thought this was just a pipe dream, that it would never happen."

"American Gothic," at the Art Institute of Chicago since it was first exhibited in 1930. It rarely travels.