I am happy to announce that for part of the summer some of my artwork will be shown at The Hive Taproom in East Troy, Wisconsin. The series is called “Places we used to farm.” The project consists of farms and farming equipment that until recently were still in use. It was one of those things you didn’t notice it until they were gone.
Resting Peacefully
I first move to the area full time in 2002 to attend college and never really left. When I moved down from central Wisconsin, there were a few more operational farms than there are today. While in college I had several photography classes and with them came projects. Because of these projects I quickly became acquainted with the backroads of Walworth and surrounding counties.
This spring I was out driving around the county doing a few bids for the aerial part of Vagabond Photography and started to notice some of the buildings I photographed in college were gone and with the looming reality of what is coming in the future on the family’s(uncle & cousins) farm in Central Wisconsin I decided I wanted to capture some of these farms before they are lost to the ages or swallowed up by bigger farms or turned into a dreaded subdivision.
Forgotten Barn
In Wisconsin alone we lost some 300 farms from January of 2019 through May and 700 farms in the 2018 according to the Journal Sentinel in a recent story “Struggling to tread water: ...” published on May 18th. Much of this is because of the lower demand for milk and dairy related products and some of the trade war related matters. Its sad, but my hope is that even though those stanchions are no longer filled with dairy cattle, the farmers can transition to crop farming or beef. With the way the weather has been out west in the plane states this spring and early summer they may be needed.
This is a project that I intend to keep after because it has meaning and I think it bears remembering where we came from. What is currently on display at The Hive Taproom is just farms from Walworth Co. Wisconsin as I have more time to travel an explore, I intend to capture more and more of these farms before they are lost.
I want to thank Tim and Ayla owners of The Hive Taproom and M-Jai (manager) for giving me a place to showcase the more artistic side of my business which I feel I don’t get to show enough. The Hive Taproom is a great place to hang out at, meet new people and enjoy a cool alcoholic beverage made with honey(mead). They are open Thursday through Sundays and the art on the wall changes regularly with other local artists showcasing their work.