42
—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. October 22,
Weathervanes are works of
art to craftsman Ivan Barnett
By SALLY BAIR
Feature Writer
STEVENS - When Ivan Barnett looks at
a weathervane he does not see an in
strument for telling wind direction - he
sees art. Barnett makes his living by
creating workable weathervanes in early
American folk art style.
Barnett lives at Stevens Rl, on Girl
Scout Road, and has been in the
weathervane making business for just two
years. Weatervanes, as art, are enjoying a
tremendous amount of popularity these
days, so finding customers is not a great
problem.
Barnett says, “I can’t pinpoint how I
decided to do weathervanes, but I was
looking to create something which a lot of
other people weren’t already making.” He
adds that his four years of art college
pointed him in that direction, and his
candlemaking business was no longer a
challenge to him.
To leam as much as he could about
weathervanes, Barnett said he read all the
books which were available on the subject,
and he visited museum collections. These,
he said, “are my biggest source of in
spiration and learning.” He added that the
Pennsylvania Farm Museum of Landis
Valley has an extensive weathervane
collection, and the Heritage Center in
Lancaster recently had an interesting
show on weathervanes.
About his work Barnett said, “I have
stuck to traditional weathervane designs.
Basically I do farm animals.”
He said he begins his work l?y
photographing farm animals, to help him
get details right. Having grown up in
suburbia, Barnett recalls an early
disastrous mistake when he located a
cow’s udder at the wrong place. “I use my
photographs as a source for design, as a
point of reference for details” he says.
Normally, he said, he will spend one
month of the year, usually in the Winter,
designing weathervanes. “I do
thumbnail sketches of animals which are
then scaled to the large pieces of wood.”
He added thoughtfully, “I don’t think I will
run out of ideas - there is so much variety
mammals.”
Barnett makes two kmds of weather
vanes. One is a large wooden animal in
varying sizes, but larger enough to look
good on a barn or other outbuilding. He
also creates metal weathervanes for
outdoor use. Along with weathervanes, he
makes smaller decorative metal animals
in the style of weathervanes which can be
used on a desk or other piece of furniture.
Barnett estimates that probably half of his
weathervanes are purchased for
decoration, never making it to the rooftop.
Coming upon the basic materials is not
easy. Ivan presently is using 100-year-old
barn siding from Berks County for his
wooden weathervanes. For his metal ones
he visits salvage yards. The weathervanes
in his showroom stand on large sturdy
blocks of wood which he purchased from
saw mills. Half of his material is waste
after cutting out the animals, but he puts
the waste to use as kindling in his wood
stove.
Barnett uses no power tools for his
wooden animals, preferring to craft them
by hand. He does use metal clippers for his
metal vanes and decorative items, but
often demonstrates at shows how early
weathervanes were made using a hammer
and chisel.
Barnett said he enjoys animals, and the
flat shape of weathervanes and so has
come to enjoy his new craft. “It was dif
ficult getting started,” he acknowledged.
“Having a business at home is twice as
much work as gomg away to a place of
business. It is all-encompassing, and I
often work a 12-hour day. Discipline is
definitely required.” He admits there are
advantages to working for oneself, like
being able to adjust ones schedule and take
a day off if necessary, but basically, he
says, it’s a lot of hard work. “I like
working for myself - I don’t find it easy
A weathervane on a fence post will assure you of knowing just what the
weather may bring. The traditional rooster is on display at Ivan Barnett's home.
Homestead Notes I
Several wooden weathervanes give an example of some of Ivan Barnett’s fold
art designs.
working under somebody. I function better
independently.
He said he has found that the
bookkeeping and business end of his work
is as important as making the item. He
credits his wife Donna with helping to
carry out that part of a business and make
it work. She too is an artist, and creates
patchwork pillows for local businesses and
for mail order catalogues.
Barnett says he does a lot of shows,
usually within a 150 mile radius of Lan
caster, Next year, however, he hopes to
expand his areas and possibly go to New
England, the South, and to the Washington
suburban area. He said locally, “this area
is full of artisans and craftsmen and you
tend to reach a saturation point.”
Therefore, he’d like to get his products in
areas where people have no access to
them.
As an instrument of telling wind
directions, Barnett said the weathervane
is extremely old, probably pre-dating the
Greeks and the Romans who used
primitive weathervanes. He pointed out
that in early American life weathervanes
were most commonly seen perched high on
a bam. Often, the weathervane would
depict whatever kind of livestock was
raised on the farm. The horse and the
rooster are most commonly seen, he said,
adding that the rooster has religious
connotations as does the fish, and could be
found on churches.
In Lancaster County, Barnett said, it
was commmon to find a single arrow, with
the extremely thrifty Pennsylvania Dutch
sticking to the basics.
He also noted that directionals were not
common on farm weathervanes, because
farmers knew their directions without the
aid of the instrument. He doesn’t use them
on his weathervanes, and many people
inquire why they are missing. Direc
tionals, he said, were much more common
among urban dwellers who purchased the
weathervanes for use on carriage houses
and the like.
Early American weathervanes were
usually a silhouette, with three dimen
sional ones coming along later. Many
times, Barnett pointed out, a farmer used
a weathervane simply to show that he was
proud of his homestead. Weathervanes
also became a means of giving directions,
as a point of reference.
Most farmers would have made their
own weathervanes and wood was the
primary material since it was easily ac
cessible in this area. Also, relatively
simple and few hand tools were required to
make them. Barnett said, “There are very
few examples of early wooden weather
vanes around because they rotted. ”
To preserve his wooden weathervanes,
Barnett treats them. Also to protect them
from a battering Barnett will strengthen
areas of possible weakness with pieces of
iron. Legs are always supported with iron
and other stress points may be as well.
Barnett said other early materials used
in weathervane making might have in
cluded tin, or sheet iron or copper. The
blacksmith was the most obvious person to
create a weathervane if the farmer didn’t
do it himself. Because early weathervanes
were not considered works of art, very few
have been signed, Barnett said.
When the industrial revolution came
along, Barnett said weathervanes became
machine-made and more sophisticated.
Mail order catalogues made them
available to all and relatively inexpensive,
so hand made weathervanes were vir
tually put out of existence, Barnett said.
Barnett’s wife grew up in Lancaster
County, just eight miles from where they
now live. Barnett said he has been coming
to Lancaster since he was a child to visit
relatives and the couple decided to move
here permanently because, “We liked the
rural atmosphere.”
After searching for an appropriate
property for two years, the Barnetts are
looking forward to restoring the 150-year
old log home they are living in. Fur
thermore, while the living room is
presently serving as a showroom, Bamett
has plans to convert the bank bam into a
studio-showroom. In the meantime, his
creative work is done in a very cozy
chicken house - barely recognizable in its
present state.
He. said he and his wife are enjoying the
relative privacy, especially since their
hours tend to be somewhat irregular. He a-
Iso feels the rural area makes people enjoy
the trip to visit and purchase his work.
Presently most of his work is purchased
through private customers or through
interior decorators who specialize in
antiques and early American design.
Barnett keeps a “catalogue” of eai
design he has made and sold to gr
potential customers an idea of tl
possibilities. He is also working on a bo«
of his work, and has photographed many
his weathervanes in appropriate rur
settings.
A short visit to Barnett’s home ai
workroom makes it clear that 1
thoroughly enjoys creating this ear
American folk art for people to use ar
enjoy today. In the conversation he nob
that today, most items of this nature ai
being made by a “new generation" <
craftsmen. Barnett the craftsman is al
sorbed with his work - and the pleasure 1
receives in working with the weathervani
is repeated many times over for those wl
see or purchase these simple, hom<
works of art.