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| American Folk Artist |
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The unique three dimensional line and form of Don Stevenson's hand sculpted birdhouses and bird feeders, all scaled replicas of old buildings from our vanishing rural roadside scene, are skillfully crafted with Stevenson's knowledge of early rural construction methods and his study of applied primitive hand tools. Each of these works of contemporary American folk art present the visual effects of those hand tools together with the hand painted effect of decades of weather and decay as evidenced on the exposed surface of each building's exterior; an artistic visual accomplishment in miniature detail
Don Stevenson's work is a preservation of these treasured rural icons: barns, farm outbuildings, rural churches, country stores, law offices, old wells and spring houses, all true representations of generations past and heirlooms for generations to come that can be found in valued collections throughout America. |
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| Mail Pouch Ad Barn |
Original once stood near the North Carolina – Tennesse state line in the Blue Ridge
Mountains west of Boone, North Carolina.
Circa 1889
A One Bay Bird Feeder for Small Song Birds ©
by
Don Stevenson
North Carolina Folk Artist
Dimensions: 13” W x 14˝” D x 12” H
Medium: Structure: Wood; Roof: Aluminum; Golden Artist’s Acrylic paint.
Price: $995.
This 1889 Mail Pouch roadside barn is an outstanding example of the first uses of late 19th Century farm buildings as the featured location for early American outdoor advertising originated by Block Brother’s Tobacco Company of Wheeling, West Virginia. Other commercial uses of rural roadside barns later advertised such products and places as Maxwell Coffee, Jefferson Island Salt, Rock City Gardens, Ruby Falls, and Merrimac Caverns. While not a commercial use, another similar use of outdoor signage proclaimed, “Jesus is Coming!”
This classic example of contemporary American folk art has been vertically sided using resawn native Appalachian oak. Stevenson has used eight different colors and a special brush technique to achieve the rich weathered gray patina, “a color as if grown with age.”
If the farm home was the place where the living was done, certainly the barn was where the living was made. In addition to being important shelter to large farm animals, it too was haven for the free running chickens and their brood, stray hen nests, the cats and kittens, the dawn proclaiming Dominecker Rooster, as well as the king black snake. Often the barn was also the center for family and neighborhood socials during the early October evenings around corn shucking time. The family would gather with neighbors to prepare the corn harvest for winter storage. On occasion it was custom to hide a red ear of corn among the many hundreds of bushels of yellow corn on the chance it would be found by a young neighbor lad, who having found it “could come calling” on the farmer’s daughter. These were simpler, less hurried days of our tradition and heritage.
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