DAIRY BARN / AMERICAN DREAM - ATHENS, OHIO (Cheri)

We traveled to Athens, Ohio primarily to see an exhibit of modern quilts, and I thought that I would lead with that post, but the venue seemed a better introduction.

The Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio was long associated with the Athens Asylum for the Insane, later designated the Athens Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center.  (More about the Asylum later, in a post that Mark will be writing.)

In 1977, just nine days before it was to be demolished, the Hocking Valley Arts Council created a citizens' committee to convert the barn into a nonprofit arts center.  You can read more about its history here.

This is a "slice quilt" portraying the Barn, which was created recently and hangs in the venue's lobby:

Created by Danette Pratt, Teresa Faires Winning, Meta Van Nostran, Lanna Galloway, Wendy Degenhart, Beverly Ketraugh, and Mary Roedger.

​There are three exhibits hanging currently.  Interpretations of An American Dream reflects deep concerns that various artists have with the viability of an American dream.

(Coincidentally, the book Paper Girl:  A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America, released just last week, speaks of the author's "reckoning with the changes that have rocked her own beloved small Ohio hometown," Urbana, Ohio, located just 120 miles from here.  I haven't read it yet, but I plan to.)

​Most of the art in this exhibit wasn't textile-based, but this was right at the front:

What a great idea to make postcards of her work and send to Senators!

I'm not usually drawn to ceramic work, but the imagery on this piece caught my eye:

I really loved his explanation of how he obtained his imagery:  the time spent together as a teen with his family,  and scoring vintage paper related to his world!

We've been watching short episodes of a Discovery+ show called Where We Call Home, about adaptive re-use, using various types of buildings for homes.  The Barn was able to incorporate some old fixtures, which I so appreciated:

You can probably figure out where I was when I got these shots!

If you would like to be added to the list to receive email messages when we upload new posts to this blog - and don't already receive our emails - email us at [email protected].  (If you come from links on Facebook, you may not see all of our posts.)