Installation and Paintings Explore the Landscape and History of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House
August 8 through October 13

The Corn Barn of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House was added in 1797 to store the corn and other grains grown on the farm known as “Forty Acres.” The store of grain harvested in the fall fed the family and their livestock throughout the winter. Today the barn no longer houses corn and wheat, filled instead with museum objects and art. An upcoming art exhibit in the Corn Barn will explore the past and present of Forty Acres, from farmstead to museum. The exhibit will feature paintings done on the grounds of the museum by the Hilltown Plein Air painting club as well as an installation piece by Northampton artist and designer Adele Mattern.

The works by the Hilltown Plein Air painting club depict the buildings, gardens and grounds at Forty Acres. The group’s twelve members work in pastels, oil and acrylic, painting outdoor scenes. They paint in a different location every week in the Hilltowns and the Pioneer Valley, and paint regularly at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum. Their studies include the 18th-century house and barn, the North Garden, the fields surrounding the house, and the 1930 Sunken Garden, the foundation of the barn built in 1782.

Adele Mattern’s site-specific installation explores the past use of the barn, evoking the process of piling up the corn harvest. One wall of the barn will be covered with charcoal drawings, creating a sense of corn filling the barn. According to Mattern the corn in the drawings almost looks in motion, as if it is being tossed into the barn. Mattern created the piece in response to the barn’s history and its current use. “My intention is not to recreate the barn as it once was,” said Mattern, “but conjure the presence of the now absent corn- to allow these traces of the past to layer into how we experience the site in the present.” The installation will remind visitors of the property’s history as a working farm, and of the work done in the barn.

Both the paintings and the installation will be on display in the corn barn starting Sunday, August 8 through the museum season. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is an historic house museum located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47 North. The Museum is open for guided tours Saturday through Wednesday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. for a cost of $5 for adults and $1 for children 12 and under. There is no fee to view the art exhibit, which will be on display during the museum’s open hours. For further information about the museum and the Corn Barn art exhibit, call (413) 584-4699 or visit our website at www