Burchfield Homestead Society

08/23/2026

As I sit in arbor writing an amateur violinist commences to play. At first I hear only its squeaking wiry sound and it jars. Then he commences to play “Over the waves Waltz”, and I become rapt as tho hearing grand opera. It was at this season when several years ago, when I commenced making my first collection of butterflies. At the time some people on the corner had a phonograph and this was one of their records, which was a favorite one as they played it oftener than any other. Thus my summer pursuit + this composition have become so woven together that when I hear it, I see the sunny clover-fields + white dusty roads I roamed I was amazed how tense I was when it stopped. Thus had my memories converted this poorly rendered song into music of the rarest sort. I always contrive to view the setting sun thru a tree, to see the gold sparkle.

Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, August 22, 1914

Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Scattering Rain (Rain Drops), July 13, 1916; watercolor, gouache, and pencil on paper, 18 x 13 1/2 inches; Private collection; Image from the Burchfield Penney Art Center Archives (details)

08/16/2026

🎨 CALL FOR ART — 87TH AREA ARTIST ANNUAL

Calling all artists within a 75-mile radius of the Butler Institute of American Art! Ready to see your work on the walls of the museum? This is your chance to enter the 87th Area Artist Annual.
 
Eligible media includes oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel, photography, ceramics, sculpture, drawing/illustration, and printmaking.
 
This year’s juror—Michael Gill 🏆 Co-founder of Collective Arts Network and founding editor/publisher of CAN Journal. An award-winning arts writer, administrator, and artist.

✨ Exhibition opens December 13th from 1-3pm with an awards ceremony at 2pm.

📣 ENTER ONLINE TODAY!
$30 entry fee • Deadline: September 27th

🔗 Full details & prospectus: https://butlerart.com/exhibits/87th-area-artist-annual/
 

08/12/2026

Idabelle Firestone Fine Art Exhibition & Sale

08/12/2026

A path grows more interesting in August; more worn and used-looking, and the bleached grasses fringing its borders gives (sic) it an ancient look.

Evening – with children up to the dam and beyond on other side of creek. Half-grown boys and one or two men swimming and diving by the dam. In what is ordinarily a little bay off the stream (now dry with white mud-covered pebbles, jig-saw puzzle flakes of mud, and a host of dead snails) the children find a giant fallen poplar tree which delights them.

Charles Burchfield, Journals, August 11, 1933

Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), August Evening, 1916; watercolor and graphite pencil on paper, 19 1516 × 14 inches; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lesley G. Sheafer (detail)

08/07/2026

On the morning of June 23 at 7:30 mother died, just nine days after Frances. Evening of fading hope had merged into a night of black despair. At four o’clock, as I sat holding her hand and wrist in which the pulse was steadily growing weaker, all the robins seemed to go mad with singing at the same moment; a little later a red-bird came and sang from a wire out front clear and strong—

It is Sunday evening. We are standing in the cemetery by the newly disturbed ground. Some friend has arranged the flowers on both graves, a thought that is like the pressure of a hand. The mournful churchbells that used in childhood to frighten me, have died away into silence, and a soft gentle rain began to fall. They are gone; and even now, the vain regrets out-weigh the pleasant memories.

Charles Burchfield, Journals, August 7, 1933

Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Rainy Night, 1918; Watercolor and black chalk heightened with white (gouache) on wove paper, 18 x 12 inches; The Phillips Collection (detail)

08/07/2026

Always one of my favorites💖🧠🎨

It seems I cannot bear to leave my work alone any longer —

In my day-dreaming I see all kinds of strange lands & hear strange music. This season is new to me again — The cricket chorus is strong —

Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, August 3, 1916

Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Cricket Chorus in the Arbor, 1917; Transparent and opaque watercolor, brush and ink, and wax crayon on paper mounted on board, 22 1/16 x 17 15/16 inches; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Gift of Anne and John Straus 2009

07/31/2026

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07/31/2026