The Heritage Barn Project

The Heritage Barn Project was started in 2004. Gwen embarked on a self-prescribed project to document on canvas in oil paint, historic barns throughout her home state of Indiana. Gwen had several motivations and goals. First, she felt the need and desire to hone her talents. Second, Gwen has a love of old barns stemming from her childhood. She was concerned about the demise of these historic barns and wanted to preserve these structures. She hoped her painting project would spotlight and help save these rural treasures.

The project took more than 12 years of travel and painting to complete 186 historic barn paintings. Why paint? Why not just photograph? Gwen believes our eyes see differently than a camera’s lens. Our eyes can see the delicate nuances of color within shadows and soft hues within reflected light. Our eyes see subtle variations in values.

Therefore, she chose to paint on location as much as possible. She often spent many hours and even days standing quietly observing a barn. Time to see and feel all the subtleties mentioned, but also the character of each barn to, in essence, capture the barn’s portrait.

Below are the 186 barns featured in Gwen’s published gallery book, “Heritage Barns of Indiana.” The paintings are searchable by county and each painting features a bit of history of the structure.

You can find “Heritage Barns of Indiana” online by clicking here or at various galleries and shops in Indiana. For more information about the book or Gwen’s work, please click here to contact Gwen.

All the barn paintings are for sale.  Please contact Gwen to find out if the painting(s) you are interested in are sold or available.