Byrd House
Byrd House Gallery by INabstracto
Northumberland County
3565 Hickerson Road,
Baltimore, ON KOK1CO
416-254-2877
Hours:
We are open most weekends 11-4 and by appointment.
Shop online, where we will be gradually adding all the pieces featured in our summer collection.
Purchased works can be picked up in Toronto or Northumberland County. Delivery options available, inquire about rates.
INabstracto's new country location "Byrd House" (next door to Legacy Vintage at Home) sits on 98 rolling acres in The Northumberland Hills. An early 1800s timber frame building owned by The Byrd family in Colborne was lovingly deconstructed and constructed by Legacy Vintage on their family property.
At BHG, Kate Eisen and Julie Jenkinson showcase a dynamic collection of contemporary, folk, outsider and outsider art.
Our 2026 summer art collection includes work by Byron Hodgins, Julie Jenkinson, Janet Macpherson, Lee Towndrow and Balint Zsako.
Upcoming Exhibition
Ralph Fasanella (1914–1997) was a working-class New Yorker and renowned painter of “social reality.” Through his colorful and dense compositions, he depicted complex themes of social and political unrest, historic events, the importance of leisure, and the unique energy of New York City and its citizens.
Born in the Bronx and raised in New York City’s Little Italy, Fasanella was the son of Italian immigrants who, like so many others, left their country in search of a better life. Fasanella’s working-class identity, formed during those early years, was one that endured throughout his life. Raised by a mother who was involved in labor rights and anti-fascist activism, Fasanella himself became an advocate for unionism and worked as an organizer—most notably for the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of
America. Immediately prior to his union organizing, he fought against Franco’s army in the Spanish Civil War, as a member of the all-volunteer Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
Fasanella’s early activities as a light industry worker and labor organizer gave way to his burgeoning interest in painting. In 1945, at the age of thirty-one, Fasanella began to draw as a way to alleviate pain in his hands. He attended some art classes, but he felt self-conscious about the pretensions of being an “Artist”; he came to terms with it by using his art as a tool to agitate for social change. He eventually transitioned out of his role with the union and devoted himself full time to his painting. Drawing upon the people, places, and social matters that surrounded him, Fasanella quickly developed a body of work and was offered exhibitions at the prominent ACA Galleries in New York in 1946 and 1947. However, after this brief period of art world recognition, Fasanella was blacklisted during the McCarthy era because of his leftist profile, and gallery interest ended abruptly. Through these and ensuing years, he maintained an earnest and consistent effort with his painting, while working at a family-owned gas station in the Bronx to earn an income.
In 1972 Fasanella was “discovered” and featured on the cover of New York Magazine. Although he had been producing and showing his work on a regular basis at venues such as union halls, churches, and a variety of public spaces, the feature framed Fasanella as a “primitive” artist—a label he roundly dismissed. Nevertheless, it was this media attention that led to a turning point for Fasanella, who, at the age of fifty-eight, became able to focus his full attention on his artmaking. His incisive visual narratives continue to resonate with contemporary audiences, proclaiming social engagement and action as a primary effect of artistic expression. — Folk Art Museum, NYC.
Julie Jenkinson
Julie Jenkinson is a British-born, self-taught multi-disciplinary artist and designer living in Toronto and Northumberland Hills.
Her artistic practice spans a diverse range of disciplines, including large-scale, site-specific installations, sculpture, assemblage, and self-expressive paintings and drawings. At the core of her creative process lies the habitual impulse to collect and salvage objects.
Julie has exhibited internationally in group and solo exhibitions. In 2018 she held her first solo sculpture exhibition Continued Existence in Toronto at VERSO Gallery @Inabstracto. Her work is included in public, corporate and private collections and commissions including: Douglas Coupland, Cutler and Gross, Hanabi Art & Artists, Netflix, The Gladstone Hotel, Taylor Hazell Architects, RH Gallery, TAP Art Projects and Yabu Pushelberg.
Julie began drawing and painting in the 1990s. Her hybrid animals have been applied to surface and pattern design including her Animaze pattern (pajamas, textiles, wallpaper) cards and silkscreen prints. Her drawings were included in The Drawing Centre’s (NYC) Viewing Program in the early 2000s. Her work is available through Byrd House Gallery and INabstracto.
"My drawings evolve from memory and imagination rather than direct observation or preliminary sketches. I'm interested in expressing the raw space of my emotion. I love the subversive reality in vintage cartoons as much as the complexity in primitive renderings of animals. I feel a connection to the eccentricity in certain animals. In my work the creatures act out the absurdity and vulnerability in the underbelly of humanity". — Julie Jenkinson
@juliejenkinson @jaj_draws