The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan is featured in The Barn Raisers.
The Barn Raisers, a new documentary by Mid-America Emmy® nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, will have its Michigan premiere at the Michigan Barn Preservation Network’s Annual Conference and Barn Tour on Friday, May 5th at 6:00 p.m. at Niko’s Landing in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Registration is required at mibarn.net.
The Barn Raisers tells the story of barns in the Midwest by examining them through the lens of architecture. The film explores what building methods, barn styles, and materials tell us about the people who built them, the life they lived, and the role these “country cathedrals” played in the settling and building of the Nation. The Barn Raisers is a companion film to the Rundles’ Emmy® nominated historical documentary Country School: One Room – One Nation.
“How could we create something from practically nothing with just a handful of tools and no drawings? The answer is in the barns,” said Rudy Christian, a traditional timber framer and barn preservationist from Burbank, Ohio.
Barns were constructed by farmer-craftsmen, professional builders who traveled from job to job and even architects like Frank Lloyd Wright. The Barn Raisers paints a cinematic portrait of barns and builders, an important way of life that has been largely forgotten, and the film reminds us that these remnants from America’s rural past are still here to be interpreted and experienced.
“It’s a different space because it’s indoors and yet it’s indoors,” said Steve Stier, barn builder and preservationist. “When you walk in a barn especially that is empty, there’s a completely different feel about that space.”
Filmmakers Tammy & Kelly Rundle with the magnificent D.H. Day Barn behind them.
Numerous Michigan barns and barn experts appear in the film, as well as a segment from the 2015 Michigan Barn Preservation Networks' barn tour.
“These barns are a part of the history of American immigration,” said artist Jeremy Marlow who owns the Marlow-Saak Barn located in Waukon, Iowa. The barn is featured on the film’s poster. “It’s really sad to see these things fall down at an alarming rate.”
In addition to Michigan, The Barn Raisers features stories from Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin.
For information about the MBPN's Annual Meeting & Conference and to register for the barn tour, dinner/film, meeting and other activities visit www.mibarn.net.
The Barn Raisers was partially funded by grants from the Michigan Barn Preservation Network, the National Barn Alliance/Russ & LuAnn Mawby, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, Humanities Iowa, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Ohio Humanities Council, and the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the Moline Foundation, and the Community Foundation of Jackson County. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this documentary film and program do not necessarily reflect those of these organizations.
The Rundles are the producers of the regional Emmy® nominated historical documentaries Country School: One Room – One Nation, River to River: Iowa’s Forgotten Highway 6, and Letters Home to Hero Street (co-produced with WQPT-PBS).
The Michigan Barn Preservation Network (MBPN) was founded at Michigan State University in March 1995, and at the First Annual Meeting on March 2, 1996 there were 149 members. The Object of MBPN according to the By-Laws is “to promote appreciation, preservation and rehabilitation of Michigan barns, related farmsteads, and rural communities." Membership is open to all individuals, groups, or organizations interested in furthering the object of the Network. Promoting public awareness of the value of barns to individuals, families, businesses, communities and our society in general is important. Doing so will preserve a part of our past and assure a link between the generations.