Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Over the last three years colourful works of art known as barn quilts have been popping up throughout Greater Napanee, showing up in parks, on storefornts and people’s homes.
Napanee’s Pat Dubyk is the artist behind the designs, who has been working behind the scenes to establish a Greater Napanee Area Barn Quilt Trail. Through the help of funding from Lennox and Addington County, the outdoor art gallery aims to become a tourist attraction, drawing visitors from all over who will make the trip to see the 20-plus designs spread throughout the region.
Despite its moniker a barn quilt isn’t made of wool, but rather its a large wooden painting, up to 8×8 square feet, traditionally found affixed to the side of a barn. The art form originates back to the 1820s in Pennsylvania, when farmers of Dutch origin displayed barn stars or hex symbols on their barns as a form of self expression. Each had a unique design, typically abstract shapes, with different colours. Each colour was said to have a meaning-purple was royal, blue is peace and calm, yellow is health in body and orange representing harvest and abundance, to name a few.
“It’s not just putting something up on the wall, there’s a story to it,” said Dubyk. “All about the families or what they grew or what was important in their lives. There’s lots of great stories with them.”
Dubyk helped to found a barn quilt trail in Prince Edward County and wanted to bring the same idea to this side of the bridge. In 2020 the trail began to form, starting with a barn quilt installed at the North Fred Lifestyle Centre.
“Having seen the success in PEC along with creating some barn quilts for the Napanee area, I thought a barn quilt trail would be a beautiful way to showcase the town and the surrounding areas,” Dubyk said. “This outdoor art panel gallery is open 365 days a year and is ideal to enjoy while on a drive and can be like a search and find travelling adventure.”
Last year Dubyk secured funding from L&A County, which led to the creation of 10 more quilts that have been installed throughout the county, including the side of Santorini Mediterranean Grill in Napanee.
“There are many barn quilt trails all over Ontario, and now Greater Napanee will join the tradition. Barn quilts are the history of our agricultural communities,” Dubyk added.
For further information and a map to the location of the barn quilts, check out the website gnabarnquilttrails.ca.