The Berlin Limner

Matthew McKeeby, “The Berlin Limner,” will present “The Life of a Limner: Folk Art Painting, Portraits and Decorations in Upstate New York,” to the Stephentown Historical Society on Monday, February 1. The meeting is at 7:30 pm at the Heritage Center on Garfield Road (County Route 26) in Stephentown. It is free and open to the public. The building is handicapped accessible.  For directions, telephone 518-733-5675.
In the nineteenth century, traveling folk painters, or limners, recorded the faces and places of America. They brightened homes with painted murals and embellished all manner of household objects. McKeeby will tell of their ways and work, their techniques, how they traveled and how they fit into society, focusing on the 1820-1850s period. Some of the well known limners from upstate New York were Ammi Phillips, Rufus Porter, Joseph Hidley and Moses Eaton.  He will illustrate his talk with some of their paintings.
McKeeby is a self-taught folk artist in this tradition, painting oil-on-canvas reproductions of the works of Edward Hicks, murals and stenciling and creating commissioned portraits and scenic paintings in the style of Hicks and Porter.  He is listed in the 2009 Directory of Traditional American Crafts published by Early American Life Magazine.  He will bring some examples of his own work, and others can be seen at berlinlimner.com.  A Berlin resident, he teaches English and theater arts at Averill Park High School.