Camp Verde resident Don Eberle repurposes vintage and antique farm and ranch items into decorative art and functional items under the name Barn Art Creations.
A former fire chief of the Verde Rural Fire District, and a board member for its successor, the Verde Valley Fire District, Eberle started creating his repurposed barn crafts about six years ago after his retirement. He was living in Colorado at the time and had found a number of old objects on his property. Stuck inside during the winter weather, Eberle couldn’t spend time outdoors with his horses, so he started creating things. He took his work to a craft fair and ended up selling all of it.
Eberle now works out of his garage in Camp Verde and works primarily with six basic tools. Everything he uses is repurposed, even the wooden bases for his pieces. He turns original farm and ranch objects either into something static and decorative or something functional, such as a clock or coat rack.
“Each item has a tremendous amount of history to it and that I really enjoy,” Eberle said. He talked about the story of one item that he repurposed, the saddle tree from a pack saddle used by an old local cowboy while herding cattle in Northern Arizona. Among other things, he used it to carry an elk that he had killed back to his camp. Eberle described how he was able to share this story with the person who bought the repurposed item and that made it much more special.
Other items in Eberle’s studio include coat racks made from antique fire extinguishers, mirrors with rope around them that are used at local arenas, coasters made from horseshoes, clocks dangling from stirrups, a plaque listing the cowboy commandments and coat hangers that use door knobs and rolling pins as hooks. Items he reuses have included shovels, hay forks and hames. Eberle said the hames, which are curved pieces of harness used for draft horses, are themselves beautiful artworks from a bygone era. He said he gets his materials from all over Camp Verde, going to every garage sale he can. He even acquired horseshoes from a farrier.
One of Eberle’s coat hangers used old white door knobs as hooks. He told a story about how farmers would put old, broken white door knobs in their hen houses. Snakes would think the knobs were eggs and try to eat them, which would ultimately kill the snakes.
Getting ready for the holiday season, Eberle has been making Christmas decorations with ornaments dangling from stirrups. He will be selling them at the Camp Verde Christmas Craft Bazaar on Dec. 9. He also sells his crafts during the Corn Festival, Fort Verde Days and the Pecan and Wine Festival and has items available at Udderly Divine in Camp Verde.
“I got started and I can’t stop,” Eberle said “I’m constantly looking for new things to create.”
At the moment, he has a collection of old metal meat grinders that he plans to clean up, mount to a piece of wood and turn into a flower display. He even came across a grinder that had the company name “Eberle” on it, which he plans to keep and mount in his house.
Looking at the meat grinders, Eberle said that they made him think of all the grandparents and children who used them to make things at Christmas. He feels the same way about most of the ranching items, which make him think of where the cowboys rode and what they did with each item.
“It transcends all cultures and life experiences,” Eberle said. He remarked that it remains important to think about the farming and ranching life and know what that lifestyle was like in the past and in the current day.
Eberle’s barn art creations will be available for sale at the Camp Verde Christmas Craft Bazaar on Saturday, Dec. 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Community Center Gym located at 51 E. Hollamon St.
