Bill Stamats

Why barn paintings?

The Barn Series: Immortalizing an Icon

No other structure symbolizes the American Midwest quite as powerfully as the family barn. For those of us who grew up here, barns were as perennial as the trees. The heart of every homestead, barns were no less than church steeples — sublime, time-worn landmarks that charted our journeys along winding streets and gravel roads.

But today, these structures are being lost. Many were destroyed by the derecho of 2020 and others are threatened by new development and high preservation costs. My barn series is an attempt to celebrate the survivors and pay visual tribute to those that are gone.

1988 MFA, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
1986 MA, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
1983 BFA, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

2023 "The Barn Series: Immortalizing an Icon" solo exhibit, Sanford Museum, Cherokee, IA
2023 "Thunderdomesticity: Damsels vs. Distress", juried online and wheat paste exhibit, Vermillion, SD
2022 "Two of a Kind", solo exhibit, Cherry Building Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2018 "One trail. Many paths. Work inspired by the Sac & Fox Trail", solo exhibit, Black Earth Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2017 "Of the Earth" exhibit, Polk County Heritage Gallery, Des Moines, IA
2016 "Peep Show" exhibit, Black Earth Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2015 "Midwest Summer: Light and Warmth" exhibit, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA

Collections
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
University of Iowa