Decatur Poets To Collaborate With Barn Colony Artists

The Barn Colony Artists recently had a plein air contest in which they all painted a Decatur landmark or landscape. They met at the James Millikin Homestead on October 5th for a short demonstration from artist, Jessica Disbrow. Then they had a week to do their paintings.

On Friday, October 11, they met at the Madden Arts Center and Jessica judged them.

There were three winners:

1st Place - Barbara Dove

2nd Place - Betty Moser

3rd Place - George Virgil

There were seven paintings in total. Decatur Area Poets will now take one painting each, and let it inspire them to write a poem. At a later date, the Decatur Area Poets and the Barn Colony Artists will gather for an art show/poetry reading. Below are the paintings that will be on display during the poetry reading:

Barbara Dove (Two paintings of the Scovill Garden Pond - 1st one won 1st place)

Betty Moser - Beautiful Church Towers (2nd Place Winner)

George Virgil - The Powers Mansion (3rd Place Winner)

Betty Moser - Finding Lincoln Collage

Elizabeth Holder - N. Water Street Country School House

Mike Delaney - Pavillion in Fairview Park

The last photo below is a watercolor by Jessica Stricklin-Disbro, who conducted the demonstration at the James Millikin Homestead for the Barn Colony Artists. Jessica was the judge who picked the top three winners above.