A Profile of the Bovina Farmer

BOVINA — The formative years of Mr. Steve Burnett get off to a colorful start with his unusual sense of humor and provocative creativity, as Burnett describes “Young, weird kids generally shy out in social situations. I was that kid but like all kids I wanted to be seen and called out…quietly. At five years old in kindergarten, this came together around an art experience. An easel was set up in the class with big paper, fat brushes, and some primary colors. I drew out an unremarkable house…just an outline. Some kids watched, but most didn’t. I took the red paint and began setting it on fire (figuratively) and more kids came over and more. The teacher had to break it up. I was onto something.” 

In getting to know Burnett more intimately over the past week through several conversations, he is a person who cares deeply.  He picks up on the subtleties by reading about people with extraordinary abilities. This is a person who engages in conversations that I’ve rarely experienced in my years of journalism interviewing hundreds of people since starting out twenty years ago. 

“I was colorful and had great fun basically taking advantage of white privilege and being tall.”

For the second meeting of interviews for this story, Burnett and I got into a conversation with the proprietor of a local breakfast place. She spoke about how she wondered about the country picking up lessons along the way before settling into a career. Here Burnett describes a similar journey that guided him into opening an ad agency in NYC, “For the next 25 years I wandered about, in and out of educating myself. I only survived myself by the grace of natural-born ignorance and curiosity. Then I started a business in NYC to help companies tell their stories. All I did was convince prospective clients that we could do what they were incapable of. It was all pretty much bullshitting in an Armani suit. But I was colorful and had great fun basically taking advantage of white privilege and being tall.” I hired really, really smart talented people to make it real. And I loved them and took really, really good care of them. I communicated with my clients with water-colored messages. Many still have these framed in their bathrooms. The corporate branding and sales tools we created were important, stressful and had consequences. 

Burnett explains how he decided to retire from the corporate world. He and his wife chose the country life of Bovina. This being eighteen years ago right around when farms began to close in the area, he decided to try his hand at farming. Burnett quickly discovered that it wasn’t as easy as plopping a plow in the dirt and dropping seeds. He found that the land was filled with rocks. He laughingly recalls the locals calling him the cittiod (City Idiot). The local farmers asked Burnett, ‘Why are you getting into farming when everyone is getting out of it? After some time passed he says, “Eventually, they referred to me as their idiot” as a term of endearment that was more accepting and possibly admiration of his determination. Burnett has found his way as he nears two decades on the farm by scaling back the livestock and planting in a way that’s more manageable for him. 

Burnett the Artist

“My personal messaging let off some of the pressure. Today I continue the tradition and post on Instagram. Now it’s the absurdity, joys, and mysteries of life I let steam off on. The game hasn’t changed. Neither has our need to ponder, laugh, and share.”

As with any artist, Burnett has continued to practice his creative inclinations by participating in the Figure Drawing groups at the Andes Academy of Art and at Art Up. In addition, Burnett creates drawings and stop motion clips on Instagram that are pure genius dealing with death, love, and politics. Yet it’s the sort of presentation that is both deeply thought out and not in-your-face preaching. He allows the viewers to discover the meaning for themselves.  Here he explains the nature of his creative messaging, “My work is rough. I’m quick and intuitive with my lines and stories. I don’t labor with fine finish… I get to the idea without much fanfare or craft. Think of me as a 20,000-year-old hunter coming out of a cave with a handmade spear. While crude…my weapon is sharp but I have to get close to my prey…the idea…to bring it in. It’s mostly the process of creeping up on the idea and thrusting my spear intuitively, quickly…at the heart of it. So, I have to know the habitat I move in and the behavior of what I’m going after.  I’m more the rock ape moving quietly through the wilderness. My old age and sense of the human condition are my brushes and pens. “ Burnett has such a sharp mind for creating these stories and images, it’s the sort of perfect interlude for a short film, as suggested in our last interview. Burnett isn’t opposed to this sort of collaboration with a filmmaker.

In closing, Burnett and I chatted about how much respect we share for the myriad of talented artists who have found their way to this corner of the Catskills, “The Catskills are a topography made for the artist. Our mountains and cloves fold in the same ways we do. We can hide. We can be our insular, private selves but rise up and see our fellows there…just over the hill…and share some time and ideas. As a kid there was a toy called a ‘surprise ball’. It was a strip of paper that rolled into a ball. As you unrolled it little Crackerjack-like toys would fall out. The Catskills is that. The gifts that are wrapped into it are us.” You can find Steve Burnett on Instagram @bovinafarmer.  Burnett will be attending the Margaretville Hospital Preview Reception second showing.