On Saturday, June 30, 2007, the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society will open De Boerderij, an exhibit of sculpture and paintings assembled by guest curators Brenda Bradley and Mark Mulholland in collaboration with Arthur Kirmss and Ellen Brody-Kirmss of the Onderdonk House.

Titled after the Dutch word for farm, De Boerderij was inspired by agrarian life and features the work of more than a dozen artists including Diane Apostolacus, Pooja Bakri, Karen Beckhardt, Brenda Bradley, Cindy Gato, Rachel Jacobs, Paul Jacobson, Arthur Kirmss, Niki Lederer, Miranda Lloyd, Bettina Magi, Valessa Monk, Mark Mulholland, Georgina Queruel, Ellen Rand, Farah Salehi, Rosario Varela, Fotini Vurgaropulou and Brett Wintle. The opening reception will also be on Saturday, June 30, 2007, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., and the exhibit will continue through September 2007.

According to Ms Bradley, “Many of the participating artists visited the Onderdonk House for the first time during the past year and, like me, were inspired by its charm, history, age and endurance. We decided to extend the exhibit beyond just the interior of the house to include sculpture placed in the garden in celebration of the existence and survival of this oasis of green space and history that has survived in such an unlikely place.”

The Onderdonk House is a New York City Landmark, and is listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places. Dutch farmers built the house around 1709, and it remained a farmstead through the 1920s. Commercial business took over until the 1970s, when the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society was founded to restore, maintain and operate the Onderdonk House as a historic site and museum.