Cow Unveiling at the Art Barn

Wins
1. Our little town and another little town 3 miles away make up the Colton Consolidated School District which has one K-12 school. Artisans at the Dahmen Barn had a grant last year to bring creative experiences to the students. We began with each class having a field trip to the Dahmen Barn and ended the year with an exhibit of the student work in the Barn’s Hay Loft Hall the month of May. I became known as the “Barn Lady” when seen by the kids in the communities. This summer a 2^nd grader came running up to me and excitedly reported that her family was moving from Colton to Uniontown. She said she was so happy because she could go to the art barn more often.

2. The Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute has a summer kids’ camp. Using the quilt block concept like the one now on the barn next door to ours, the kids were charged with designing a block that reflected the Palouse area, painting it on the two sheets of plywood themselves, then finding a barn on which to hang it. The group visited the Dahmen Barn and was inspired by some of the images in our photography exhibit that were aerial shots of regional farm fields. The gal leading the class is now at work producing a brochure that will show where barns with quilt blocks are located in the area. We connected her with the head of 2DNW, who publishes a regional trail guide of art and culture locations, so the network is growing!

3. The Director of the Washington State Arts Commission visited the Barn for the first time in late August. She spent the afternoon learning about the history of the Barn and our programs. After returning to her office she received an email from the National Park Service asking her to identify an artist somewhere in the state of Washington who would be willing to work with a group of children to create outdoor ornaments for their Christmas display in Washington D.C. She thought of us immediately! Artisans at the Dahmen Barn is pleased to announce that we will be working with the local school district on October 9th.

4. A person from Washington State University’s performing arts department called and asked if they could bring a free performance of African music to the Barn on Friday, October 4 during the school day. They had scheduled it at one of the Pullman schools where WSU is located, but it turns out there is no school scheduled for that day in Pullman. So, they thought of the Barn. They are promoting the event along with a performance we have at the Barn the following day as part of their first annual “Humanitas Worldwide Music” program. The local school district will be bussing their K-6 students over for the performance, so lots of people win with this one.

Dahmen Barn Facility Updates:
Our design steering committee met with RGU Architects and did some brainstorming about our dreams for the site on which the Dahmen Barn sits, plus an adjacent 2 acre area which we are now leasing with an option to buy. Based on this meeting, the architect has sent a proposed site plan by email for our review and comment then we will meet again later this month to see their refined plan. Before the next blog writing, we will have met with the resource person for our culinary arts program. Our goal is to finalize the structure of our program so we can proceed with the design of the teaching kitchen in the addition 

Public Art Updates:
Doggone it, as of the first draft of this blog the public art is not yet installed. The artist has poured the two slabs, but wants to be sure they are well cured before bolting the large metal pieces to them. We have our annual fall event on September 15, and our hope is to have the cow and the tractor in place by then. We have begun our Name the Cow Sculpture contest anyway, using posters and a sign that has the artist’s sketch in addition to press releases. The contest will run through September 30, and Junette Dahmen, donor of the Barn will select the name she prefers. The prize will be ice cream, of course.

The tractor and wagon are now in place.
Yay!

It was a real compliment to the artist that when he was transporting the pieces to our site, someone flagged him down and asked him what year the tractor was; it looks that authentic! The cow is nearly finished, so she will be on site for our 7^th annual fall event on Sunday, September 15. Then she will go back to the shop to get her shoes put on. We are held an unveiling party on September 13th.