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At the Case-Barlow Farm Fall Harvest Fest on Sunday October 5, "itinerant" or traveling portrait artist Shannon Casey will paint Tom Vince, who'll pose as Hudson benefactor James W. Ellsworth. Vince is the archivist and historian at Western Reserve Academy. Casey is a member of the Hudson Society of Artists, Akron Society of Artists and Portrait Society of America. She can be reached at Caseystudio@aol.com and her work is on display at Peninsula Art Academy.

Hudson resident Sarah Williams posed for two three-hour sittings for this 16" x 20" oil portrait.

Itinerant artists or "limners" made their living traveling from town to town in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in America. Prior to photography, painting was the only way to create images of family members for posterity. Upon arrival, they would often advertise via newspaper ads or handbills distributed door to door. They would supplement their skills with sign and coach painting, decorative painting, framing, and teaching. While most leading early American portrait artists were European-trained, most itinerant artists were self taught.

Ohio was a good market for aspiring artists. The founders were not rough, illiterate frontiersman — rather they were New Englanders of good educational background and means who were accustomed to well-designed furniture and craftsmanship. They were also provincial enough to patronize local, untutored artists as well as European-trained artists. According to "The Itinerant Artists in the Western Reserve" by Ohio History, the scholarly journal of the Ohio Historical Society, more than 360 professional artists worked in Ohio prior to the Civil War.

The invention of the daguerreotype and its rapid spread in the late 1840s almost entirely eliminated the role of the itinerant portrait painter in the United States by the 1850s.

Itinerant artist James H. Beard (1812-1893) painted the portraits of David Hudson and Mrs. Hudson on display at the Hudson Library and Historical Society. He trained with itinerant painter, Jarvis Frary Hanks (1799-1853) and was so inspired by his example, he set out on his own at age 16. The library has his journal which includes an entry about the time Beard spent in Hudson.

The Hudson Library also owns several portraits by John O. Osborne who worked in Cleveland from 1850-1852. The Brewster portraits — Mrs. Anson Brewster, (Aurelia Alvord), Anson A. Brewster and Mrs. Anson A. Brewster (Sarah Porter White) — are on display in the Archive room.

The Fall Harvest Fest is held annually from 1:00 to 5:00 at the farm located at 1931 Barlow Road in Hudson. Admission and all activities is only $3.00 per child and $5.00 per adult with toddlers under 2 free.

Favorites activities and demonstrations will include making butter, decorating horseshoes for picture frame, decorating a grapevine wreath, making a checker board set, button spinner. Traditional games will include a scavenger hunt, bobbing for apples, sack races, 3-legged race, cakewalk, and horseshoes. ACT will provide face painting. Pumpkins decorate and "grub" may be purchased.

Live entertainment will include magician Bill Boaz and juggler Cooper Goeke. Music will be provided by dulcimer player Ruth Hulthen, Antique Sounds of rare antique music boxes shown by Emery Prior and Crazy Rhythms with John Mosey and Barb Wither, along with square dancing by the Western Whirlers Square Dance Group. "Johnny Appleseed" and the Young Actors Studio will attend as well. Antique cars and tractors will be on display.

In the historic farm house, several "old time crafts" such as quilting, lace making, weaving, and rug hooking will be demonstrated. The CBF Garden Group will be showcasing the heirloom garden and crafts. There will be hay wagon rides everyone given by Jack Grace, pony rides for the children and farm animals to pet.

Case-Barlow Farm, Inc. is an independent nonprofit corporation formed to restore the Case-Barlow Homestead and to foster for future generations an appreciation of the spirit and heritage of its builders. For more information, contact casebarlow@aol.com or 330-650-0591. Information can also be found at www.casebarlowfarm.com.

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