The Barn Show

John Robson created the Barn Show 29 years ago when he bought his big old barn along the north branch of the Shenandoah River. The first year, his beautiful wood work was the only art there. Now, each October, John and his wife, Sue Rippy, disrupt their home to make room for 14 skillful vendors. Sue’s gardens are worth the trip in themselves! Well known fine artist, Margot Bergman, lives right next door and opens her home and studio for the weekend. And best of all, old crafts – baskets, brooms, silversmithing, pottery, artistic blacksmithing—join other wood art, paintings, fused and stained glass art, leather, and textile arts in a charming setting for a wonderful celebration of art, art, art and community! It’s time to start thinking about the holidays and to join us for the Barn Show this coming weekend, October 18 and 19, Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 10-4. There is plenty of parking at John and Sue’s, 16912 Evergreen Valley Road (Route 617) between Timberville and New Market, Virginia. See you there!

“A sensitive being, a creative soul” (Wordsworth)

People ask why I keep making pots and writing. Apparently, people my age don’t haul around 50 pound boxes of clay. Being retired, to me, is the chance to be creative. I have always been driven by two values: learning and creativity. The learning part is easy to explain. School was a good experience for me, and when I was ten, my father drove home my great, great Aunt Lillian’s Model T Ford. He had to take it “as is,” which meant with the back stuffed full of National Geographic magazines going back to 1918. Over time, I read them all. I pretty much just kept going to school. Creativity was hard to express in my health care career until I learned to combine it with learning, which is why I loved teaching all those years. Creativity involves being engaged, enthusiastic, imaginative, resourceful, and inventive. Being an artisan, I don’t want to know how something “should be” done; being retired means I can do it my way. I love it when the muse takes over. I love watching a chunk of clay and a few leaves turn themselves into lovely celebrations of nature!