Farm Art Event at Missouri Farm Gaining Popularity

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Even the cattle enjoy the art displayed around the Harrills' farm in Lebanon, Missouri, although the bovines have been known to disturb the paintings wired to the fence. Victoria Cox

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Still life paintings decorate the woven wire fence separating the yard and pasture owned by Bill and Vera Harrill. Paintings of flowers nestle among the hibiscus near the back porch; portraits of tomatoes stand in the garden between pole beans and beets; animal portraits hang outside the hay barn and stack against hay bales inside.

Art at the Farm, a two-day event near Lebanon, Missouri, was Vera’s idea. Rather than organizing a street festival to benefit the local art guild she helped found, she suggested using the Harrill farm and the Ozark Hills beyond it as a festival backdrop.

“I wanted people to have a deeper appreciation of how art can enrich your life,” says Vera, 76. “That, combined with the natural beauty here, was a nice mix.”

Visitors who bump down the Harrills’ gravel lane June 6 or 7 will find paintings, pottery, crafts, photography, fiber art, jewelry and quilts displayed under canopies or on the gazebo and sun porch, and in the milk and hay barns. They can visit with the 40 artists from Kansas and Missouri, chow down on barbecue sandwiches, or lounge in lawn chairs circling the Harrills’ 300-year-old Osage Orange tree. Guild members conduct painting demonstrations; poets read their work; a bluegrass band performs in the front yard; volunteers help children paint pictures and operate the pottery wheel set up in the barnyard.

“It’s the whole package,” says Vera. “The singing, visiting and viewing art. The object is to enjoy the day.”

Visitors agree. “I’d never been to an art festival on a farm,” says Virginia Applegate, 50, from Rolla, Missouri. “The view. The garden. Having no traffic or loud music. It’s lovely.”

When Bill retired in 1985 from working in the Alaskan oil industry, the Harrills returned to run a small cattle operation on the 260-acre farm that had been in his family since 1919. Always interested in the arts, Vera set up a studio in an empty milk barn. “I tend to paint what's in season,” she says. “If we have apples, I paint apples. If we pull beets, I paint beets. I like to do sunflowers and morning glories.”

“Whenever I lose her, I can find her out there painting,” says Bill, 79.

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