SLIDE SHOW: Xiomáro’s Weir Farm

“Weir Was Here—Secret Rooms, Doors and Windows” is the first artistic photographic collection documenting the interiors of the key historical structures at Weir Farm National Historic Site, located in Wilton and Ridgefield, Connecticut, which have never been seen by the general public. The homestead was continuously occupied by artists starting with Julian Alden Weir, one of the founders of American Impressionism, and including Mahonri Young, a sculptor and painter of the Ashcan School. The photographs reinforce the personal connection of Weir to the spaces, which are unadorned yet stark, rustic and ethereal. This fall the buildings will open to the public with the interiors fully furnished and significantly changed from how they appear now. So the photographs offer a rare peek of what lies within these vacant rooms. Portions of the collection have been exhibited at Brigham Young University in Utah as well as the Washington, DC, offices of Senator Joe Lieberman, the Stamford and Bridgeport offices of Congressman Jim Himes and Mayor Michael Pavia’s Stamford office. Xiomáro (pronounced SEE-oh-MAH-ro), a New York artist, was tasked by Weir Farm to create this body of work to share with the public. He was accepted by the park’s Weir Farm Art Center to participate in its internationally respected Artist-in-Residence program and continues his relationship with Weir Farm as a Visiting Artist. Xio uses photography to draw attention to historical sites where American figures lived and worked to pursue their vision. Other projects with the National Parks Service include President Theodore Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill mansion — to be exhibited at Harvard College next year — and Old Mastic House at Fire Island National Seashore, which is the home of William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Learn more about Weir Farm in the March/April 2013 issue of Yankee Magazine and visit their website nps.gov/wefa/index.htm. See more of Xiomáro’s work on his website xiomaro.com