The Barn Series
While travelllng around rural parts of the Bay Area, I've found my eye drawn to the iconic old barns dotting the landscape. Returning to photograph a favorite, I discovered it had been plowed under and the land cleared. That was a shocking as well as a galvanizing moment. I realized just how much we all take for granted that small farms with their picturesque old barns will always be a part of our landscape. I decided to paint this series to bring attention what we are losing.
When I began the Barn Series, I wasn't thinking politically, but I now see community support of local farming as imperative on so many levels. Shopping at farmers' markets, joining a CSA, patronizing restaurants that source ingredients locally are choices that support our farmers. A collateral benefit is that the survival of the small family farm is the best hope that beautiful old barns will endure to become icons for future generations.