NPE thrown on instantiated objects

Question

    canvasPanel.setLayout( new GridLayout(7,5,10,10));
    JTextField[] textFields = new JTextField[30];
    for(JTextField field : textFields){
        field = new JTextField(5);
        canvasPanel.add(field);
    }
    for(int i = 0; i< 2; i++)
        canvasPanel.add(new Box(1));
    JButton checkResults = new JButton("Click Me!");
    canvasPanel.add(checkResults);

    checkResults.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            if(textFields[0].getText().equals("S")){
                System.out.println("works");
            }
        }
    });

"textFields[0].getText().equals("S")" throws NullPointerException, I can't access the first JTextBox because it is null, but I see it in the GUI.

Cannot invoke "javax.swing.JTextField.getText()" because "this.val$textFields[0]" is null