Gallery

“Fresh from the Studio”

“Barns”

In the early 1600’s, the first farms were established in NY State. Farmers built timber barns using the styles and techniques they brought with them from Europe. For example, in Holland, the house was attached to the barn, in England, the barn was used to store crops, not livestock. New York timber barns were constructed by the Dutch settlers who discovered the Mohawk, Hudson and Schoharie River Valleys (the New World “Dutch Barn”).

As we travel through the New York countryside, we can identify elegant Gambrel-roofed barns, English Barns, Dutch barns, basement barns, bank barns, round and polygonal barns. These structures are symbols of our American Heritage, and the hard work that produced useful and life-sustaining products.

I have chosen Barns as a theme for my most recent group of paintings in the hopes of heightening awareness of their importance and the precious heritage they represent in New York State. Perhaps in some way this may avert their destruction to make way for housing projects and industrial development that deplete our natural resources and decimate ecosystems that might better be utilized to provide food and clean water to our communities. The strength and beauty of these barns, even in their structural decline, is a testament to the social and cultural heritage of New York’s Hudson Valley Region and beyond.