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2007 recap:
sharing their passion for tradition
For the artisans who demonstrated their skills at the 2007 Heritage
Festival, the past is very much present, and there's nothing they
like better than sharing their passion for tradition with
festival-goers.
These demonstrations are supported, in part, by a
grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.
View descriptions of 2007 festival artisans:
BASKETMAKER
BEEKEEPER
COOPER
POTTER
PRINTER
TIMBER FRAMER
VIOLIN MAKER
WILDFOWL CARVER
BasketmakeR
Shaker enthusiast Robert Gelinas preserves the art of basket
making perfected by the Canterbury Shakers. While most basket makers
today buy their weaving materials, Bob makes his own basket splint
from black ash using traditional Shaker techniques. Most of his
baskets are woven on Shaker (reproduced) molds so that each style
can be reproduced to perfection every time. His basket rims and
handles are crafted from birch, cherry, or black ash, using handmade
molds to ensure uniformity. "My goal," he says, "is not only to
preserve the art of black ash basket making, but also to get people
thinking—in the midst of our throw-away society—about the value of
making something from start to finish. 'Hand made' means more than a
higher price. It means value, quality and longevity."
more
BEEKEEPER
Dick Dionne, a Nashua native, started beekeeping more than a
decade ago, after getting caught up in massive layoffs at Nashua
Corporation, where he was a long-time employee. Today he is a member
of the New Hampshire Bee Keepers Association, and he and his wife
Jackie run Bee Rich Apiary. Watching over dozens of bee colonies at
once, he handles about 2,000 pounds of honey a year. Dionne’s
immaculate garage is his sugarhouse. His honey extraction equipment
stretches from the garage to his basement, connected by a pipe
running across a walkway. “I think they are excellent insects,” he
says of the bees. “They are very hard workers. You develop not a
liking, but a respect for them.” (Reprinted from the Nashua
Telegraph)
COOPER
Craftsmen who make wooden barrels are called “coopers.” The word is
most likely derived from the Latin word for vat, "cupa." In New
England, coopers arrived with the first English settlers in the
1620s. Their work was essential to commerce and daily life. The
fishing industry used barrels for shipping pickled and dried fish.
Farmers used them for storing grains, butter and putting up cider.
Merchants used them for storing hardware and dried goods of every
kind. The whaling industry used barrels to store tools and
provisions, and of course whale oil. Ron Raiselis, a cooper
at Strawbery Banke Musuem in Portsmouth, makes his living
demonstrating the traditional art of barrel making.
more
POTTER
Tim Christensen started Muddy Bird Pottery in 1999, about six
months after his first pottery lesson. It began with a wheel in the
corner of a bedroom in a small apartment in Newmarket, NH.
Eventually the pottery took over the room, overflowed into the
kitchen, and eventually displaced the living room furniture, too.
When Tim moved to Milton, NH, a small barn became his studio.
Recently, he has turned his attention from production pottery to
developing his black and white drawings on porcelain, as well as
honing his skills as a metal worker and sculptor. Christensen
returns to the festival with his pottery wheel and samples of his
award-winning work, which has been recognized by the Levy Gallery,
the Currier Museum of Art and the National Prize Show at the
Cambridge Art Association. Tim has been an Artist-in-Residence,
demonstrated in schools, fairs and Exeter Fine Crafts, and taught at
the NH Institute of Art.
more
18th-CENTURY printer
R. P. Hale demonstrates printing and engraving. Wearing
period costume, Hale will set up his 18th-century printing press for
the weekend and create original engravings of Newmarket’s historic
Engine House. Designed especially for the Heritage Festival, these
prints will be the third in a series of engravings of Newmarket’s
historic buildings. Previous prints of the Newmarket Library (2005)
and the Community Church (2006) will also be on display. All prints
are available for purchase. Hale is an interdisciplinary artist and
musician from a Mexican family that is noted for its long
involvement in the arts. Born in Tucson, Arizona, he is a
sixth-generation master calligrapher and illustrator,
fifth-generation musician and third-generation wood engraver,
printer and gilder. Hale is a harpsichordist, organist, and builder
of early keyboard instruments and period-design hammer dulcimers. He
also makes and supplies marbleized papers for bookbinders, other
artists and of course harpsichords.
more
and
more
Check out R.P. Hale’s harpsichord concert in the Community Church
sanctuary (Sat., 7:00–8:00 pm).
TIMBER FRAMER
Alan Smith of ATIMBERSMITH in Newmarket, New Hampshire, has
been building custom timber frames for over 15 years. His homes and
barns combine the strength and beauty of wood with the age-old
techniques of traditional, hand-crafted joinery. All purlins and
joists are dovetailed and load-bearing timbers are shouldered for
strength. Braces are fully housed and pegged. Bolts and metal plates
are never used. “A post and beam frame is like a prayer or a
mountain—you just have to be there.”
more
VIOLIN MAKER
Jim Robinson has been a woodworker by trade for over 20
years. He started his violin making studies in 1995. Formal training
began in 1999, at the Violin Craftsmanship Institute under Master
Violin Maker Karl Roy. Jim is the assistant to Karl at the Violin
Craftsmanship Institute, and dedicates the remainder of his time to
making and repairing bowed instruments. In his spare time, he holds
demonstrations on violin making at schools and violin camps, and
fiddles with the Strathspey and Reel Society of New Hampshire. Jim’s
violin-making demonstration will include his colleague, bow-maker
Lydia Frewen.
more
WILDFOWL CARVER
Fred Dolan grew up next door to a bird carver. During stints
in construction, school teaching and family business, Fred pursued
his own passion for carving, eventually turning his hobby into a
full-time profession in 1989. Fred was among the New Hampshire
craftspeople featured at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in
Washington, DC. “Decoy carving is my life,” says Fred, who has
studied through the years with a number of master carvers. “It
embraces issues of conservation, form, function, and art. It is an
important traditional art form to preserve because it represents an
unbroken link to the past.” Fred passes on his craft to apprentices
through the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts’ Traditional
Arts Apprenticeship Program.
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Robert Gelinas,
Basketmaker
Beekeeping
with Dick Dionne
Ron Raiselis,
Cooper
R.P. Hale,
18th Century Printer
Timber Framing
with Alan Smith
Fred Dolan,
Wildfowl Carver
Jim Robinson,
Violin Maker
Tim Christenson
Potter
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