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*NEW BOOK* Meet & Greet with Round Barns of America author Robert Kroeger
May 31, 2023 @ 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Free – $7.00Meet & Greet with Round Barns of America & Historic Barns of Ohio author Robert Kroeger
9AM – 1 PM
Free for Members/$7 Non-Member
“Round Barns of America”, this book features 75 round barns in 32 states – from the east coast to the Wild West – along with their paintings and stories. There are 11 Ohio round barns in the book (published by Acclaim Press in late 2022).
Join the author as he documents these curious barns—from the east coast to the west coast—and enjoy the colorful stories, some of them intriguing rags to riches tales such as Absalom Jennings and his Nutwood, the brick round barn, built in 1858 in Ohio, and Schandor Herz, born in Slovakia in the 19th century and raised in Chicago, finishing his years on a sumptuous Kentucky horse farm in Bourbon County and its rare tetradecagonal barn.
Together, these 75 round barns represent a cross section of American pioneers, dating from years before the American Revolution to the glory decades of round barns—1870s to 1920s. It’s quintessential Americana.
The presentation by author Dr. Robert Kroeger will tell his story to preserve these historic barn history. Dr. Kroeger will also be doing a book signing and painting demonstration while at the Wood County Museum. Both of Dr. Kroegers books will be available for sale in the Museum Gift Shop.
Painting demo starts at 9:00AM
Presentation around 11:00AM
About the Author: Dr. Robert Kroeger
“Barns represent the heart of America, and the old ones are bleeding. So many barns, so little time.” – RF Kroeger, artist and writer
Robert Kroeger is a second generation artist, though, unlike his father Francis, his professional art career blossomed later in life. A hint of what was to come began at the age of four when young Robert, fascinated by his dad’s oils, mischievously opened the tubes one day and started painting on his palette while dad was away at work. After finishing the masterpiece, Robert neatly placed the tubes, still opened, and the beautiful sable-haired brushes wet with oil paint, together with the palette, back into his father’s treasured wooden art box, shut tight. A few days later, Francis, who earned his BFA from the University of Notre Dame in 1938, discovered his son’s “work.”
Though he did not immediately follow in his father’s footsteps, Robert’s career as a dentist allowed him to study color values and facial esthetic principles in smile design. Then, in the early 2000s while staying in a rural bed and breakfast in Licking County, Ohio, a lonely deteriorating barn, “Granville Gray,” called out to him. With roof sagging, boards missing, corners slightly tilted, and in obvious disrepair it captivated his eye. Suddenly a voice whispered, “Paint it and write about it.” The message was like a lightning bolt that hit him between the eyes. Almost immediately, it ignited his Ohio Barn Project, which has taken Robert to about two dozen Ohio counties – from north to south and east to west – where he’s painted barns, talked with owners, and written stories about each structure. The stories can be found at www.barnart.weebly.com. Hundreds of his paintings have raised funds for the local 4-H, historical societies, or other non-profits in the county where he works.