FREE for MEMBERS!
Farm Art Tour — “AWE GOATS” AT BEEKMAN 1802 FARM
Thursdays, July 7, 14, and 21 • 9:15am

Beekman 1802 presents a commissioned work by acclaimed artist and muralist John Cerney that will bring world class art to the rural community. The piece, entitled “Awe Goats”, features large scale murals of Nigerian Dwarf baby goats and is installed at Beekman Farm where a resident herd of the goats has become a beloved symbol of the beauty brand. Not only does the art piece call back to the phrase everyone says when seeing the kid goats, it also evokes the awe-inspiring scale and scope of Mr. Cerney’s work.

By special arrangement with Beekman Farm, Museum Members have a chance to visit the Farm and see the artwork on a hearty hike up to view the larger-than-life art! (Please note this visit includes walking a distance on the Farm, so please be dressed for it and be prepared to walk a bit!)

A limited number of tickets are available for July 7, 14, and 21 so please email neighborservices@beekman1802.com soon to sign up. We will meet at 9:15 at the Sharon Springs Kindness Shop and then caravan in our own vehicles to the Beekman 1802 Farm just 4 miles up the road!

Can’t make these dates please note: more guided tours of the installation will be offered to Beekman 1802 Farm throughout the summer at $15.00 per tour.

Register Now! Interested Museum Members can email neighborservices@beekman1802.com with a picture of Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmers’ Museum membership card, the quantity of tickets you’re interested in and the date you would like to attend the tour. If you require extra paid passes, Beekman 1802 will happily assist.

Members will also be asked to show your proof of membership for admission on the day of the tour, please bring your membership card with you. When you visit the Sharon Springs Kindness Shop on the Awe Goat Thursday Farm Tour Days, you will also receive 15% off their Kindness Shop purchase with that proof of membership.

More about the Artist
After earning an art degree from Cal State Long Beach in 1984, Cerney worked in Southern California as a portrait artist, rendering finely detailed pencil drawings. His patrons were television producers and writers, as well as such clients as the late comedian John Candy and hockey star Wayne Gretzky.

Wanting to reach a larger audience, Cerney would relocate to Central California periodically and convince a farmer to allow him to paint a mural on his barn, just for practice. This ultimately led to commissions from local business owners to paint their walls. Finally realizing that he could earn a living painting murals and gain a wider audience, he moved back to Salinas in 1991 to concentrate on his wall paintings.

The evolution of the cut-out paintings was slow, with a hand sticking out above a fence line as a start, then trying a complete automobile in front of a wall, and finally to the feeling that the wall was unnecessary and that the cut-outs could stand on their own. The landscape behind the figures became the background.

As more of his work was being displayed alongside highways and busy streets, Cerney realized that he had to start painting the figures and scenes larger, so that they could be ‘taken in’ from a greater distance before coming upon them. In 1995, he created a series of 10 large fieldworkers (18 feet tall) for a local farmer who wanted to pay tribute to the agricultural labor force. Cerney found his ‘blueprint’ and was soon branching out and putting together group scenes, often telling a story while using a Norman Rockwell-like sense of humor.

With all of his work now maintaining a “giant” status, the artist’s installations are almost exclusively found alongside the highways of California and the Midwest. Cerney splits his time now working on commissions, either private or with businesses, and his own personal projects. He will conceive the idea first, and then search out a home for it someplace in the U.S. Sometimes it’s a perfect match, and sometimes a community has no idea what it’s getting into by accepting one of his installations, but they are usually a gift to the city. It is Cerney’s way of experimenting with his unusual form of public art.

From their very beginnings, Beekman 1802 has always found ways to collaborate and promote art and artists. From glass blowers, to ceramicists, sculptors, and textile and culinary artists, company founders Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell have embraced the importance of the aesthetic and how it can enhance the brand and the community.