News Release

Weir Farm NHP Year in Review - 2022

Visitors had the chance to experience Weir Pond up close during BioBlitz.

NPS Photo

News Release Date: January 31, 2023

Contact: Kristin Lessard, [phone], x13

2022 By the Numbers

•  37,977 Park visitors
•  9,301 followers on Instagram
•  6,506 viewed exhibits in the visitor center 
•  5,634 followers on Facebook
•  4,949 visited the Weir & Young Studios
•  4,256 hours contributed by volunteers
•  3,792 toured the Weir House
•  2,439 Junior Rangers were sworn in
•  2,319 created art with Take Part in Art supplies
•  1,479 visitors attended an art class, wellness program, or special event
•  1,044 K-12 students participated in education programs
•  321 plein air painters brought their field easels and were inspired by the landscape
•  150 works of art were submitted to the virtual Art in the Park Contest
•  69 group visits, including scouts, schools, painting groups, and more!
•  11 projects invested in resource conservation and historic preservation 
•  7 major works were added to the museum collection, including paintings by Julian Alden Weir, and a watercolor and drawing by Sperry Andrews
•  6 Artists-in-Residence continued the artistic tradition and created art in the Park
•  2 youth interns gained hands-on job experience through paid internships
•  1 new virtual program premiered - the Virtual Impressionist Painting Workshop Series with Master Impressionist Dmitri Wright - logging 529 video views during the premiere week in March

Highlights From 2022

Visitor Center Opening

The 2022 season had an unprecedented start with new permanent exhibits, including a new accessible entrance, a mural designed by a local artist, a touchable 3D printed copy of a Julian Alden Weir painting, a new 5-minute video, and an en plein air corner where visitors can learn about the tools and techniques used by contemporary artists.

Historic Furnishing of the Weir House Kitchen

Period furnishings, including a coal cookstove, a farmhouse sink, and metal cabinets illustrate how the kitchen was used in the 1940s. To appropriately refinish the metal cabinets to the historically correct Ming Green color, the park partnered with American Dry Stripping and the Automotive Collision Repair and Refinishing program at Platt Technical High School in Milford, CT. The high school students primed and painted the cabinets with color-matched automotive paint!

Art Bears Outdoor Installation 

Friends of Weir Farm was proud to present Art Bears, 
a new outdoor art installation to inspire connections between art and the environment. The exhibit includes eight life-size black bear silhouettes featuring paintings by contemporary artists and important facts about black bears in Connecticut. Art Bears will remain on view in the landscape through the 2023 season!

Acquisition of Major Weir Paintings 

Five oil paintings by the Impressionist painter, Julian Alden Weir, were transferred to the Park thanks to the William B. Carlin Trust in 2022: Portrait of a Lady (Anna Dwight Weir in White), The Open Barway, Foggy Morning or Sunrise in Fog, Branchville, Connecticut Birches, and Ella Sewing.

Volunteers-in-Parks Program

WEFA recruited, onboarded, and trained 44 new recurring volunteers in 2022 – a record number! Volunteers were invaluable this year. The Garden Crew maintained the historic gardens and grounds; Tour Guides provided tours of the historic artists’ studios; volunteers monitored phenology and the trails in the park and helped with school groups, art programs, and special events; and Volunteer John McCarthy received the Ridgefield Arts Council Behind-the-Scenes Honors award for his efforts as Lead Trail Monitor!

 

Community Program Highlights

Teacher-Ranger-Teacher

Sharon Bunyan, 6th & 7th grade and Special Education teacher at Tisdale Middle School - an arts-integrated school in Bridgeport, CT, created new curriculum in partnership with the Park in 2022 through the NPS Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program. Her project highlights lesser-known stories and lesser-heard voices of Weir Farm via an arts-integrated distance curriculum that will be available on the Park's website following a pilot in 2023.

Groundwork Bridgeport Youth Program with Coltsville NHP

This summer, youth from Groundwork Bridgeport participated in service and art projects at Connecticut’s National Parks. The youth helped restore and maintain the Weir Pond trail, cleaned up litter in Colt Park, and created works of art. Learn more and view the virtual exhibit on Weir Farm's website.

BioBlitz

Organized in partnership with the Woodcock Nature Center and the Town of Ridgefield Conservation Commission, Weir Farm hosted a BioBlitz citizen science event. The event included species observations, activity stations, and surveys including dragonfly monitoring. Weir Farm NHP is the only site in Connecticut that monitors mercury levels as part of a nationwide dragonfly larvae study administered by the National Park Service. 
 

Thank You Park Supporters and Partners!

Thank you to all park supporters, with special recognition to the dedicated corps of Weir Farm NHP Volunteers, the Friends of Weir Farm, the Weir Farm Art Alliance, and the Weir Preserve Stewardship Committee. To learn more about the many partners of the park, or how you can support Weir Farm NHP, please visit www.nps.gov/wefa/getinvolved.
 

www.nps.gov

About Weir Farm National Historical Park: Visit the home and studio of America's most beloved Impressionist, J. Alden Weir, and walk in the footsteps of a world-class artist. Set against a rural Connecticut landscape that has been painted by thousands of artists from 1882 to the present, Weir Farm is a national legacy of American Impressionism, the creative spirit, and historic preservation. Explore this National Park for Art and experience what Weir described as "The Great Good Place." Learn more at www.nps.gov/wefa and visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/WeirFarmNPS, YouTube www.youtube.com/WeirFarmNHS, and Instagram @WeirFarmNPS.

About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 424 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.