Ethan Barlow is Rachel “Ma” Barlow’s son and he came over to the farm this morning to help his mother unload her art. It turns out he and Fate are very much alike, they have boundless energy and affection, for the world and for one another. I saw them rolling around on the ground after running around for a half hour.
Rachel Barlow is an inspiration to those people who know her, her life and work are testaments to the power of creativity. She came to the farm this morning with her two sons, Mac and Ethan, known in her writing as Thing 1 and Thing 2. In reality, they were sweet and interesting and great fun to be around.
Rachel brought her landscapes, tote bags and sketches, she is selling her work almost as quickly as she is making it. But I loved this photo, it showed the very human side of Rachel, she is devoted to family, they are the center of her life. This also shines through in her work. Rachel will be at the Open House this weekend, she has been a student in my writing classes and workshops for the past five years, and my appreciation for her work grows with every class.
She has overcome serious issues with depression and bi-polar disorder, creativity has been as healing for her as it has been of benefit to the rest of us. We are especially proud to have her work in our Open House.
Our Open Houses are about many things, but in a sense, our dogs are the heart of it. People come from great distances to see Red work with the sheep and to meet Fate, as they met Lenore, Frieda, Izzy and Rose. Our dogs love Open Houses, they love to meet people, greet people and show off for them.
In so many ways, they are the soul of the our Open Houses, they set a tone of welcome, enthusiasm and joy. Farmers love animals and Ed Gulley will drop anything he is doing to greet a dog. Or cat. Or goat. Or cow. Red and Fate were overjoyed to see him yesterday, and they hardly know him. Ed is like that, once you meet him, you know him.
In a sense our Open Houses are a celebration of the love of animals, especially dogs. After all, dogs started it all.
In so many ways, Carol Law Conklin symbolizes what our Open Houses are all about. She exudes character – honesty, creativity, the sometimes forgotten passions of rural life. She is a former dairy farmer, she has one cow she loves who remains with her and is 12 years old, along with a Llama and her husband Dick. She works in the very difficult and specialized art of batik and creates work that is as beautiful and inspiring as it is meticulously prepared.
We have come to love Carol as well as deeply respect her work. She is the real deal. The is authentic, unassuming, full of warmth and perception. There is something so very real and open about farmers, I am coming to see the creative spark burns so brightly in many of them.
Carol is selling scarves, prints, batiks at our Open House, and she is, in some ways, our poster girl. Rural life is deep and rich in the art it produces, from from the swanky museums of the big cities. Carol’s work evokes animals, mysticism, the deep roots of the farm, of horses, cows and sheep. We are very lucky to know her and to have her work at our Open House. She will be here Saturday and Sunday. You can see videos explaining her work on Maria’s website.
Today is pretty crazy. In addition to blogging and writing, I’m the official Open House errand boy and handyman, two new roles I am enjoying. Maria is in her studio frantically arranging the wonderful art that is arriving, and I have to pick up some food for our helpers, go to the hardware store, and paint this funky old Adirondack bench that our friend Jack Macmillan dropped off last night. Red stain, I think. Red has to have his massage at the Cambridge Valley Vet somewhere in there, and Scott and I cancelled our weekly Tai Chi-writing lessons. Too much happening. I’ll post some photos of my bench progress.
