A little known corner of Connecticut contains a beautiful unit of National Park system and with it a superb opportunity for artists.  The Weir Farm Trust, private partner of the Weir Farm National Historic Site in Wilton runs an artist in residence program which I discovered through the listings in this magazine.  Weir Farm is Connecticut’s only National Park and the only park in the country devoted exclusively to a painter.

Gifted American painter Julian Alden Weir (1852-1919) is best known for helping to introduce Impressionism to the United States.  Weir was well on his way to success in 1882 when he acquired a 153-acre farm in Branchville as a summer house.  Over the next thirty-seven years J. Alden Weir renovated the house, built a studio, bought adjoining parcels of land, created a pond and lovingly landscaped the property.  At the farm he hosted a number of notable American artists, including Child Hassam, John Twatchman, Fredrick Remington, John Singer Sargent and Albert Pinkham Ryder.  Most importantly, Weir painted many of his best landscapes on the property, working there each summer throughout the rest of his life.

This well cared for property stayed in the hands of artists all through the Twentieth Century.   But by the late 1970s people in the region became concerned that this historic farm and its surrounding landscape would disappear through subdivision and “development”.  A collaboration of neighbors, the Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land and state government all fought to protect Weir Farm by having it designated a National Historic Site.

The momentum that was created by the twenty-seven year campaign to establish the Park continued after the 1990 success.  The Weir Farm Trust has made a commitment to keep living artists working at the site.   Executive Director Constance Evans says that equally important with preservation of the historic legacy is the continuation of the artist’s spirit.   The Artist-in-Residence Program was launched in May 1998.  It is currently sited in a rented facility about a mile and a quarter from Weir Farm.  Artists are hosted in a well-furnished two-story house on forested land.    Attached to the house is a 25 foot x 40 foot artist’s studio.  From this strong base, it is a fifteen-minute walk through forest to Weir Farm site or five minutes by car.

I had the great good fortune to be selected as artist in residence for the fall of 1999.   Weir Farm impressed me immediately as an island of New England farmland surviving amid large suburban houses.  The site is replete with massive aged oaks, stone walls and vistas that open only as far as the next field.   The land felt to me like it had been lived on and loved for generations.  Since the Park’s creation, the National Park Service has been carefully working with historians and landscape architects to restore the land to its appearance at the time when Weir was alive.  When I got to the farm my first paintings were out in the fields, but over time I was drawn ever deeper into the remaining forests.   The days were short, but sunny and the foliage ever more glorious and fiery.  Work has its rhythms-- for me in that late September it was only possible to paint outside from about nine AM to four PM and even then I usually needed an hour to warm up at midday.  Nights in that vast studio were another story.  What an exhilarating experience to have a private quiet work space larger than my Brooklyn apartment!  Many paintings were brought to completion in that studio during late nights at the Farm.

 In my opinion a good residence program is a total luxury for a committed artist.  It is a place that allows you to work unencumbered by other concerns.  Weir Farm is one of the best of its kind.  The reasons are varied--  Access to the landscapes is extremely easy, a drive or a walk to any portion of the site, even laden with art supplies, is a matter of minutes.   The facilities are superb—a comfortable house and an excellent studio.   One of the best supermarkets I have ever seen is five minutes by foot down the dirt road.   Support from the staff is at just the right level.  Park Service personel are available and helpful, but low key and circumspect.  The organizers of the program Executive Director Constance Evans and Program Manager Meghan Scanlon are sympathetic and supportive.   The packet of materials they handed me covered nearly every question I could think of.  Another important consideration for some people is that this residence would work for a person who doesn’t drive.  There is a nearby train station and all destinations are walkable.  An excellent feature of the program is that Weir Farm pays artists a five hundred dollar monthly stipend (prorated for shorter stays).  The payment, made in two parts, is intended to help defray the costs of food and materials while on site.  A stipend of this kind is exceptional for an artist-in-residence program and very welcome.  Of course, most important is the physical beauty on the site.  The gentle strength of the landscape made me feel calm and joyous.  And clearly, many other artists have found inspiration here.

My wife, Janet Morgan was artist in residence in October 2001.   She also responded to the land directly with swirling bent-horizon panoramas and oceans of orange and yellow paint.   Janet spoke passionately about the experience. “One of the wonderful things about the National Park residencies is when the park staff comes to see the artwork you have produced. The staff of our parks are amazing people who are married to the land, they live it and breathe it and travel it every day. When they look at your artwork and are excited and moved, you know you have done something right, that the land has spoken to you too.  At Weir Farm I painted outside during the day, trees, water, meadows.  At night I worked on my dancer paintings and expanded on images painted of the land, taking them further into motion and color and wildness.  After two weeks of painting at Weir Farm during the fall colors I was saturated with yellows and oranges and the blues of the sky.  I felt like the colors entered straight into me as I gazed at the trees, and as the leaves came down it seemed a fitting time to end my blissful time
there. I could not have asked for a better time of year, nor a more healing experience so soon after 9/11. It was wonderful.”

 The secret of Weir Farm is that to date the chances of being selected for this program are relatively good.   While the program receives hundreds of inquires annually it typically gets only 50-60 applicants.  Of these around sixteen will be selected each year.   According to the Trust’s literature, “Decisions [regarding selection] are based on quality of the work, record of artistic achievement, and recommendations reflecting high motivation and ability to function well in this kind of program.”  I would add the usual advice that artist submit excellent quality slides only and that the materials selected display a consistent and cohesive vision.  Director Evans adds that the program seeks to make the program available to diverse types of artist, from traditional to experimental; and to individuals from different economic backgrounds and geographic locations.
Applications are accepted twice annually, in mid January and mid July.   Artist must submit three copies of the application, current resume, two letters of recommendation, six slides and a twenty-five dollar application fee.  Applications may be obtained from The Weir Farm Trust, Weir Farm National Historic Site, 735 Nod Hill Road, Wilton, CT 06897 or online at www.nps.gov/wefa

 Great as the Weir Farm artist in residence program is today, it is slated to get better.   The Trust has the ambition to build a residence for artists on site.  Their goal is to provide on-site studios and housing for three artists at a time, serving at least 42 artist annually.  Current plans call for artists to live in the Burlingham House, a historic farmhouse that serves as the current visitor’s center and to work in new studio building.  The Trust hopes open the building in Fall 2003.