It is pivotal moment for a writer or an artist to sell their work for the first time, and this weekend at our Open House was Ed Gulley’s moment. He sold five or six pieces of his farm art sculptures within the first few hours of the Open House: two of his sculpted turtles, a beautiful wind chime made out of tractor parts and wheels and several of his wooden painted flower creations.

He did not sell any of his Mr. Blockhead’s, but they were the talk and focus of many people. It seems that Ed, a long-time dairy farmer, is coming into his own. He gave an impassioned talk about the plight of American farmers, and also about his art. He is a confident and charismatic speaker.
Ed has the confidence to be anything he wants, and it seems, the talent as well. Not too many sculptures sell $200 wind chimes first time out of the gate. And then, there is his blog, which he publishes with his wife Carol: the instantly successful Bejosh Farm Journal. It was offline for a few days with technical issues, it is back online.

A couple of months ago, Ed had never heard of a blog, and Carol had no cell phone. Now they have both and a computer and a blog to boot. They are moving their feet.

Carol Gulley and Ed alternate writing, and both are clear and natural writers. Their stories come from the heart, they speak of the truth of farm life.

Ed and Carol call his art “junk art,” but I hope to talk them out of that term. It is not junk art, people don’t pay hundreds of dollars for junk. It is just art, Ed’s work comes right out of his life on the farm, that is his art. But to me, this weekend marked Ed’s time, he is rising as an artist and a blogger. He will always, I think, be a farmer, but something else as well. Gratifying to see.