By Kellen Olshefski
Staff Writer
Easing into the holiday season, an area farm is taking an Elkhorn Christmas tradition to new grounds.
The Stallman Farmstead, located off of Highway ES, will be the first of the Elkhorn Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas Cards to feature a scene located outside of the traditional City of Elkhorn setting.
“I am just a fan of barns, where you can see the rock foundation … it’s a true old-country barn,” said Chamber of Commerce Director Chris Clapper. “To me, personally, that’s a huge draw and it just has great character.”
With the cards historically featuring buildings and events within the proximity of downtown, according to Clapper, the property fit in with the rural Elkhorn theme the Chamber wanted to pursue this year.
“There are other scenic things other than just our downtown,” she said. “We wanted to show there’s a little more variety, or diversity, to Elkhorn.”
Clapper said the owner of the property submitted a summertime photo of the farm, which the Chamber has used previously in their banner and as a depiction of scenic Elkhorn.
“We wanted to do one in a winter scene and his property is beautiful,” she said. “It’s a very picturesque and well manicured area.”
The watercolor painting by Delavan artist Tim Carson was unveiled Oct. 19 during Oktoberfest celebrations.
Carson is the third painter to carry on the Elkhorn tradition since the Christmas Cards were introduced several decades ago.
Beginning in 1958, Cecile Johnson, an artist from New York, was commissioned by the Ford Motor Company to create a series of six watercolor paintings to illustrate an article for the “Ford Times,” a monthly publication from the company.
Using the City of Elkhorn as inspiration, five of Johnson’s watercolor paintings were later used as artwork for Christmas Cards by a major publisher, distributing a little piece of Elkhorn Christmas cheer to thousands around the globe.
Five of Johnson’s paintings are displayed in Elkhorn City Hall at 9 S. Broad St.
Three decades later, the tradition was revived, with Jan Castle Reed being selected to paint 14 different winter scenes from around the city. Painting with oils, Reed was commissioned annually until she retired in 2010.
Reed donated all of her oil paintings to Matheson Memorial Library where they will remain on display permanently.
Carson, whose painting of Elkhorn’s 1887 building was selected among four other competitors last year, is a full-time architect at Angus Young in Janesville.
In addition to capturing a scene outside of the city, Carson after discussion with the Chamber, he opted to go for a more tranquil, less-animated scene this year, portraying a wintery scene absent of people or children.
“This year we were just trying to create a serene country setting for our Christmas Card,” he said.
Carson said the Chamber will likely return to having people in their cards next year, as children are such an “important part of Christmas.”
According to Clapper, after the work submitted by Carson last year, the Chamber was very comfortable working with him again this year.
Giving him a few different ideas to run with, Clapper said Carson picked the rural farm as the subject of his watercolor depiction for this year’s Christmas Card.
According to Carson, the Stallman Farmstead, which originated in the early 1900s, stood out in his mind as a subject for this year’s Card.
“It’s beautiful, just a beautiful farmstead,” he said. “For an artist there’d be countless paintings someone could come up with for this particular scene.”
Clapper said this year’s Christmas Card has had a lot of positive feedback from the Elkhorn Community.
“People have said they really liked it, that they like the variety,” she said.
“So far the two that Tim have done have been very warmly received.”
Clapper said the Chamber hopes to continue to work with Carson on the annual Christmas Card in the future, something she said Carson is very interested in.
“He said he would not do any other ones close by as long as we wanted to continue with him, but that would be his main Christmas card type of thing,” she said.
Carson’s paintings will join Reed’s works on display at Matheson Memorial Library, 101 N. Wisconsin St., Elkhorn, in the near future.
In addition, Clapper said though it is only Carson’s second year executing the annual card, they hope to do a variety pack like they have done with Reed’s cards.
This year’s cards, as well as those from the past, are available for purchase at the office for $10 for 10. Cards can also be purchased at the Pharmacy Station, 3 E. Geneva St., Friends on the Square, 41 N. Wisconsin St., and Perk Up, 27 N. Wisconsin St. Individual cards are also available upon request.
Correspondent Tom Ganser contributed to this article.
