I recently got the opportunity to make a monotype for a local farm family of their old red barn. It is so neat to be surrounded by interesting structures like this one. The fence and corral area were a bit tricky to pull off, but are such a huge part of the process and production of this sheep farm. I have a few more barn images in my "inbox" of paintings to do and hope to get to those as soon as possible especially since a few of them are not used and are definitely not in the great shape this family barn is in. There was an Smithsonian exhibit that traveled through Elkins a few years ago called Barn Again! - barns were and still are important. If you have not been to a barn dance- you should put that on your list. I think that is one of the special things about having family roots in Helvetia- I got to participate in and experience things that are definitely not main-stream but give you a window into the past and how creative people were about coming up with ways to entertain within their livelihood.
1 comment:
I did not know you had ties to Helvetia. I have some good friends that live there with the last name of "Lehmann". You might have heard of them. Anyway, I have never been to a barn dance. One day I am going to have to go to Helvetia for one of their pot luck suppers and maybe I will be lucky enough to be able to go to a barn dance.
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