Northern Daughters is excited to present “Rooted,” a solo exhibit of new work from Hannah Sessions. The exhibition is on view by appointment at the gallery’s 221 Main Street location in Vergennes through April 30. NoDa also offers multi-faceted digital tours so you can have a personalized gallery viewing experience from home.
In addition to being a professional artist, Hannah Sessions owns a farm and cheese business (Blue Ledge Farm) with her husband Greg Bernhardt, in Salisbury. The animals and barns that she paints are not only lovely specimens and interesting compositions, but her friends and her livelihood.
From Hannah:
I’ve always been drawn to barns. Their practical nature. The smells, the nuances. Rope swings, hay bales. In our barn I love the life that teems there: goats, cats, chickens, all with a life and social structure of their own. For this show, however, I focused on the external side of barns. How they look and interact with the landscape. Whether empty or full, barns say something about our culture; our past, present and future. Barns contain stories and carry the hopes and struggles of generations. It was remarkable to paint a barn which seems in the reclamation process, slowly being overtaken by nature, and to reflect on the lives once lived there. It was a joy to paint an active barn and a farmer we know, as they lead their cows in for afternoon milking on a gorgeous late summer day. Other barns show sign of change, adjusting to current agricultural needs in order to stay relevant as part of the landscape. We farm in an old barn, and though we make tweaks to fit current demands and practices, I love the history that we get to interact with every day. We may take our working landscape for granted at times, but if the current global pandemic has taught us anything it has shown us the value of sustenance, plain and simple. Hay in a field, animals on pasture, or a full, busy barn represents security and ultimately the continuation of life as we know it; it roots us in the now and in this place.
I am thrilled to work with Northern Daughters to collectively donate 10% of sales from this show to the Vermont Land Trust. The VLT was critical to the launch of my husband and my farm and cheese business back in 2001, and I currently serve on their board. Funds raised will go specifically to their Farmland Access Program which places new and underrepresented farmers on land with the hope that we will continue to see barns and fields such as these teeming with diverse life for generations to come.
Northern Daughters is open by appointment. Contact [email protected] or (802) 877-2173 to schedule a visit or more information.