Weir Artists Now Have a Real Residence

The thunder rumbled and torrential rains poured down from the sky.  Trees were ripped up from the roots and then…blue skies appeared, the sun came out and the festivities began. 

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 are now completed and a joyous reception was held last week to celebrate its opening.

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's father would walk his dog over to the Weir place where Sperry Andrews was living.  Faesy got to know Andrews as well as grandson of J. Alden Weir, Charlie Burlingham.  He was quite pleased to be so involved in the transformation of the place and was recognized with a Certificate of Honor. 

"Out of this deteriorated shed came this studio," said Faesy.  

The shed that stood on the spot where everyone celebrated Saturday 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 those 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.   

Superintendent Linda Cook also presented a Certificate of Honor to Land Use Attorney Charlie Janson for his involvement with the project. Janson, who frequents Weir Farm with his family, is also a board member. 

"I represented the Weir Farm Trust, now known as the Weir Farm Art Center, on a pro-bono basis, when the Nature Conservancy of Connecticut deeded the Weir Preserve to the Weir Farm Trust," said Janson.   

With grant money and ten years of fundraising endeavors, added together with government stimulus money, the studio was finally able to start taking a physical shape.

Faesy-Smith Architects designed a model of the studio and broke ground in October of 2008. Now completed, the studio will move forward and continue the tradition of making art on the farm, just as Weir would have wanted it.

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