Cincinnati-based artist Robert Kroeger returned to Portage County to see the fall foliage and scout out potential subjects for future works. No stranger to the area, Kroeger has visited multiple times in recent years to tour local barns with the help of local barn scout and Mantua resident Heather Paisley.
For this season’s tour, Paisley set up a full day of barns for Kroeger, giving him the opportunity to see new-to-him historic structures and meet the folks who maintain them. Among the stops was the CR Howard Cobblestone House as well as the 1817 barn owned by Ken Kessler in Aurora. In Hiram, they visited Dan van Voorhis to see his barn built in 1836.
In Mantua, the barn aficionados stopped on Goodell Road to check out Ray Harper’s barn, and to check out the sophisticated milking system installed there. In Ravenna, they met Craig and Cara Norris and toured their Hannah Hills Mansion. They also stopped off at Ravenna’s original Tavern, then met Thomas and Chris Hopes at Harlen Dale Farm to see the structure that was featured in HGTV’s ‘If Walls Could Talk’ program. “We started at 8 am and didn’t end our day until 7:30 that night,” Paisley shared. “It was a full day!”
The next day, Kroeger hosted a barn talk and artist demo at R44 in Mantua, painting and talking about one of his favorite topics. He provided a collection of paintings to be auctioned off, with proceeds to benefit the Mantua, Shalersville, Freedom, and Portage County Historical Societies. Before the event was over, Paisley and Kroeger began making plans for a return visit and tour next fall.
Kroeger is a second-generation artist whose painting career blossomed after retiring from dentistry in the early 2000s. His first piece, a deteriorating barn in Licking County, set Kroeger on his mission to paint historic barns and record their history. The paintings and essays were compiled into a book entitled ‘Barns of Ohio’ was published in 2021. His second book, Round Barns of America, took him to 32 states across the country, and was published in 2022. Kroeger is currently working on his third book about cobblestone barns. For more information on Kroeger’s work and latest events, visit RobertKroeger.com.
