Weir Celebrates New Art Studio

There has been a lot going on at the Weir Farm National Historic Site these past few years. The Weir House and other buildings on the property are currently heading into phase two of a four part restoration.

The Artist-in-Residence studio's renovations at the farm—which began in October 2008—are now completed, and the farm held a reception last week to celebrate.

The invitation-only event was attended by those who have helped with everything from the inception of the program years ago right up to the last-minute legal matters and finalization of the studio.

"We have all discovered this is a very special place," said studio architect Robert Faesy of Faesy-Smith Architects. 

During the 1960s, Faesy said, his father would walk his dog over to the Weir place, and Faesy got to know J. Alden Weir grandson Charlie Burlingham, who spoke at the Saturday event. Faesy said he was pleased to be so involved in the transformation of the place.

"Out of this deteriorated shed came this studio," Faesy said. It was built with grant money, funds from a decade of fundraising and some stimulus funds.

The shed that was replaced by the new studio was deemed to have no value early on in the project, but that wasn't acceptable to those wanting to preserve the original buildings on the property. Now it is a beautiful, naturally lit creative utopia. 

The AIR program has been in existence since 1998 and has housed 135 artists to date. Current Artist-in-Residence Paul Balmer, the second to stay in the new space, finds it to be a studio conducive to getting creative ideas flowing. The studio's back windows and door look out into the woods and open out to a patio amidst the trees.

"The colors reflect what's around me," said Balmer of the works he has created while living at Weir Farm.   

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