I'd like to thank these people for assisting me in my quest for
unique barns & one-room schools to photograph for my preservation collection
throughout the midwestern farming states.
Mary Keithan is a professional photographer
living in Ray, Michigan. Her previous books include Michigan's Heritage Barns and
A Time in Michigan: A Photographic Series. New York Times critic Vicki Goldberg
selected Keithan's 1995 image "Desert Storm Barn" for the Light Impression
Biennial.
What Keithan has captured with her camera and presented in Michigan's
Heritage Barns is enriched with her own narrative, often including interesting
histories from the barn owners themselves. Photographs from most of Michigan's eighty
counties are included to create a collection that celebrates Michigan's rural heritage as
no other does. To use Theodore Roethke's words, it is a visual hymn to "nobility of
soul at odds with circumstance.
 ..  ..
Book 1 Description...During her time as an art student in New York
City, Mary Keithan never imagined that one day she would
drive the state of Michigan's labyrinthine back roads in search of architectural subjects
for her photographs. But, in 1990, shortly after acquiring an 8" x 10" view
camera, she began just such an odyssey. In the process she captured on film and preserved
images of the rural landscape's most endangered visual treasures, its aging, historic
barns.
Many of her "subjects" are in poor condition; many no longer stand.
And while we might expect a photographic series on aging barns to be a sad chronicle of
America's rural decline, instead Keithan gives us a visual story of endurance and
perseverance, of a way of life that in our modern times continues to thrive.
What Keithan has captured with her camera and presented in Michigan's
Heritage Barns is enriched with her own narrative, often including interesting
histories from the barn owners themselves. Photographs from most of Michigan's eighty
counties are included to create a collection that celebrates Michigan's rural heritage as
no other does." |
Credits are given to these organizations for
their vast help:
The Michigan State University Museum in East Lansing;
Pierce Street Gallery, Birmingham; Belen Gallery in The Women's Hall of Fame, Lansing;
VanHoosen Museum, Rochester Hills; Macomb Community College, Center Campus; McCune Art
Center, Petoskey. Her work has been in numerous publications including STYLE magazine, The
Romeo Observer, Michigan Monthly, Lansing State Journal, The Eccentric, George Town
Magazine, The Macomb Daily, and Folklife Annual 1998. Artist interview and exhibition
reviews were aired on Channel 55, and WTRY TV Channel 53.
NEW: The best of Contributor listings will be posted here!! Send
in some of your favorite photos for evaluation and display as I'll plan a field trip to
take photos with my old fashion field camera.
Please e-mail me! You may send me Barn or school photos with a profile
on the history, current owner and contact information and I'll see about posting it here
on my gallery contributors page.
Got a great subject for me to
Photograph?
I do professional photos for businesses, individuals, events and
communities too. Just call (586) 749-9941 to discuss your needs or order finished
photos. In 2005 we will start a online photo album and e-mail forum where anyone can post
Old Barn, One Room Schoolhouses, and rural american pictures.
 online discounts at  click to order
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