Rokeby Museum’s 2015 exhibit – The Farm: Drawings of Rowland Evans Robinson, 1850-1880 – opens on Sunday, June 14. It features nearly forty pictures of farm life 150 years ago drawn by Rowland Evans Robinson. Born to abolitionist parents at Rokeby, then a thriving Merino sheep farm, Robinson ventured to New York City as a young man to pursue his career. After years of struggle and rejection, he found a market for his work in the agricultural papers of the day. This association left a rich archive of images, including casual sketches, finished drawings, and published engravings of the very farm work Robinson had hoped to leave behind. Organized by the farm’s output, the pictures feature wool, apples, butter, and field crops along with several barns. The Farm will be on view at Rokeby Museum’s Education Center until October 25, 2015.

Gregory Sharrow of the Vermont Folklife Center will be on hand on June 14 to celebrate the exhibit opening with his presentation, Sense of Place: Vermont’s Farm Legacy, at 3:00 pm. He’ll explore the fabric of Vermont’s farm culture and distinctive traditions from the early 20th century as he probes its relationship to today’s farms and farmers. Sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council Speakers’ Bureau, the program is free.

Published in association with the exhibit and covering the same decades (1850-1880), Farming and Feasting with the Robinsons serves as an exhibition catalog and short exploration of Robinson family foodways. In fours essays tied to the seasons, author Jesse Natha checks in with the Robinsons to see what’s on their minds, on their plates, and on their chore lists. The book is richly illustrated with Robinson’s drawings and features a Robinson family recipe for each season. Farming and Feasting is for sale in the Museum gift shop, $15.

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