Submitted by Max Himsl
I excused myself to the van der Breggen bathroom immediately after meeting Abraham and spent several excruciating minutes rubbing the life crushed from my fingers by his enthusiastically amiable handshake. Here then is the muscle behind the Art Farm throne. As husband and far from silent partner of the afore-mentioned Heather, he is the co-owner of the van der Breggen farm and co-host of the Art Farm event.
When not building stages, outhouses, gazeebos and other such typical farm buildings he uses his leisure hours, as so many do, carving field stone. A typical person would naturally want to know who would ever do something like that? What is it supposed to be anyway? When are you going to make something useful? Where do you find rocks or why don’t you try adding sparkles? However, this is not a typical investigation. This interview calls for bold, original, penetrating questions. Fingers restored and tears dried, I returned to confront the mighty Art Farm patriarch.
“So tell me, Mister van der Breggen, who is your target audience?”
He barks out a laugh, slaps my shoulder spilling my coffee and knocking my glasses askew, and says “It’s Abraham. Ha! But I like you and besides I’m a Dutchman. Call me Bram. I make my art for people with an odd sense of humour. Me, I don’t have one and so I don’t know much about it. I look about myself and see people laughing and pointing. At what? I don’t know. So when a nice lady looks at my carvings and says ‘Oh, interesting’ and smiles, I know I have succeeded in my task.”
I consider the figure before me; tall, bearded, wearing fresh from the corral rubber boots and, I kid you not, a sombrero, and fight a brief, intense, interior battle to keep my features arrayed in polite interest. “What is your favorite subject matter?”
“Organic Forms.”
There is a long pause as I tap my pen and look expectantly at Bram while he examines the ceiling of his dining room. I cough, discretely, for emphasis.
“Alright!” He looks a little put out. “Look, the fact of the matter is this. I spend a lot of time with the horses, cleaning the corral, you see? After a while you can tell if a horse is healthy and well from the shape, texture and smell of its’ leavings and after a while you begin to appreciate the beauty of the perfectly symmetrical ovoid shape that good equine health produces, you see? And so it is that field stone has a somewhat similar aspect so that the inspiration and the material from my farm came together to create my art.”
“Where do you show it?” He laughs, long and loud. “In the bathroom. Somehow it seems to belong there.”
“Why do you keep doing it?”
“Why? Well it’s a biological need, you see, like breathing and eating. Personally, I try to be regular, making it a matter of daily routine so as to avoid the dissatisfaction that failure to find relief produces.”
Somehow, the question seems to have been misperceived. “I meant your rock-carving.”
“That’s what I was talking about. What do you mean?”
“Well, I umm, well yes let’s just carry on then. Last question. When do you talk about it?”
He smiles. “Have I mentioned that I’m Dutch? It is a good topic of discussion at the supper table with my wife, family and friends.”
Art Farm V will be held on Saturday, June 10 at the van der Breggan farm from noon until 7 p.m. Admission is $4, with children ages six and under free.
