The Barn
2020
The Barn 3521, Sheridan, NY
— Designed and Painted in Collaboration with Alisia Augustine Glasier
On this project, I collaborated with artist Alisia Augustine Glasier painting two triangular peaks of the barn’s vaulted ceiling with each mural measuring 8ft x 30ft long. The acrylic murals featured vintage illustrations of local landmarks in sepia tones framed by vibrant garden imagery. The designs transformed the unique shape of the windows into compasses with East and West indications. We conducted research through the Darwin Barker Historical Museum to make informed creative decisions.
The Barn mural project pays homage to local history by reimagining illustrations of the house and original barn drawn by Enoch A. Curtis for the 1881 Chautauqua County Atlas, as well as early depictions of the Fredonia Opera House and Baptist Church.
The East (Top) and West (Bottom) triangular peaks of The Barn.
The East Wall
The East Wall features the house and original barn at The Barn 3521 Route 20 property. The architecture is framed by an apple tree to reference the small orchard at the back of the property, and a blooming magnolia tree to represent the one centered in the circle driveway. Along the length of the mural in the foreground is a whimsical bush row filled with various flowers to appreciate the property’s lush garden stretching between the barn and house. This wall includes a bluebird to reference the site’s own state-monitored blue birdhouse, a pair of gnomes sporting rainbow hats, and one of several original stone horse hitching posts also found on the property. Other elements on this wall include an engineer’s compass as a weathervane on the barn, a golfer by the barn’s entrance, and a monarch butterfly perched on a not-quite-yet-open poppy flower.
The West Wall
On the West Wall are illustrations of the Fredonia Opera House, the Baptist Church, and a view of Barker Commons. Enoch Curtis, who drew the house and barn illustrations in the 1881 Atlas also developed the architectural plans in 1889 that later became the Fredonia Opera House as depicted in the West Wall. The West Wall also includes a hedgerow to represent the shrubs and flowers planted in Barker Commons. As a nod to green energy and inclusivity, there are windmills in the background of the mural, and a rainbow flag flutters from the peak of the Opera House.
Both the East and West Wall are designed to utilize the unique triangular shape of the peaks’ custom windows by turning them into compass roses for a rising/setting sun motif. The font for the “E” and the “W” to represent East and West was influenced by initial letters at the beginning of paragraphs seen in the 1881 Atlas.
The look of the mural was inspired by historical illustrations and etchings with sepia (brown) tones used for the architecture and background and subdued colors used in the foreground to make the flowers vibrant and stand out.
We are so grateful to be able to create this project for The Barn and to local history museums for preserving this region’s rich history.
