Folk Art and Heritage in Massachusetts
Santos, literally “saints” in Spanish, represent a centuries-old tradition of religious devotion practiced by Latino artisans. Here are three, handcarved and painted by Puerto Rican native, Carlos Santiago Arroyo of Amherst. You can see them by visiting the “Sacred Expressions” room of the exhibition, Keepers of Tradition: Art and Folk Heritage in Massachusetts at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington.
We first wrote about Nicholas Lonborg back in September, but it’s worth repeating, since he will be doing an artist demonstration a few days after Christmas at the National Heritage Museum. Lonborg has mastered the art of hand carved signs featuring V-cut letters and the application of gold leaf. He specializes in highly finished quarterboards, like the one he is working on here. Once associated with ships, quarterboards now mark personal property, especially on the seafaring island of Nantucket and other coastal communities.”
Come watch Lonborg work, ask questions, and hear him talk about his craft on Sunday, December 28th from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
The National Heritage Museum, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), is pleased to announce it is extending “Keepers of Tradition: Art and Folk Heritage in Massachusetts” through June 7, 2009. ” The exhibition has been hugely popular with visitors,” said Hilary Anderson Stelling, Director of Collections and Exhibitions, “and when the opportunity to extend the show presented itself, we didn’t hesitate. We are very grateful to the artists for allowing us to display these treasures a bit longer.”
“Keepers of Tradition” features more than 100 works by 70 Massachusetts artists who preserve and revitalize deeply rooted traditions. Reflecting the populace of Massachusetts, their art takes many expressive forms-from Native American basketry to Yankee wooden boats, Armenian lace, Chinese seals, Puerto Rican santos, and Irish music and dance. Passed down from person to person within both long-settled and new immigrant communities, traditional art involves the shaping of deeply held cultural values into meaningful artistic forms. These keepers of tradition are recognized in their communities as outstanding practitioners of craft, music, dance, and sacred arts. Yet much of this work is hidden to the public at large, remaining essentially unknown beyond the local community in which it flourishes.
More information about the exhibition, including an audio tour, can be found at the Museum’s web site. The official MCC web site for the show can be found at www.massfolkarts.org.
A nice crowd gathered recently to watch and hear Harold A. Burnham talk about the tradition of using half hull models as design tools from Harold A. Burnham at the National Heritage Museum. He explained the process of sketching the model out on a block of wood, which is made of lifts. These lifts come apart and represent sections of the hull. “The shape of the model is the shape of the boat.”
Once chiseled and sanded to perfection, the lifts are taken apart and used to express a three-dimensional shape on a two-dimensional piece of paper. These lines are eventually scaled up to size on the moulding loft floor. Harold notes, “If you are an accomplished boat designer or have the experience studying these lines, you can read the lines plan and know what the lines are saying.” (Sort of like a composer reading a score and hearing the piece of music in her head.) He goes on to say, “But the alternative is to just hold up a block of wood and say, “This is what it looks like.”
“What we’ve developed here is a series of points for the widths at the correct height. Then by connecting the dots, in a fair line, you can see the shape of the model. If you scale that up full scale, that shape is what you use to make the moulds to build the frames for the boat. Basically, we do what I just did when we’re lofting the boat, we do that full scale on what they call a mould loft floor. That’s how you use the half model.”
Photos by Maggie Holtzberg
This soft sculpture was made by Jeanne Fallier, whose nimble fingers have produced hundreds of magnificent hooked rugs and soft sculptures. Happy Thanksgiving!
Photo by Jason Dowdle
Ever wonder how shipwrights with little or no drafting skills designed large sailing vessels, like the one pictured above? A key tool was the half-hull model and it is still used today. It’s basically a model that, once perfected, can be taken apart and used to draw full-scale lines on the lofting floor.
Come hear wooden boat builder Harold A. Burnham explain this tradition which developed in Essex shipyards over 200 years ago. Burnham will be giving an artist demonstration Saturday November 22 from 1:00 ;.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the National Heritage Museum. (Free event)
When most people hear the word “typecast,” they probably think of acting. But in fact, type was (and is still) cast in metal for use in printing. This centuries-old technology is alive and well at Firefly Press in Brighton, Massachusetts thanks to printer John Kristensen. Clients that come to Firefly Press are fans of traditional craft. John explains, “They like the look of letterpress printing, which is not only the bite into the paper, but also the typographic sensibility that comes from using actual metal type rather than plastic printing plates.”
At Firefly, the majority of type used in printing is generated using Monotype and Linotype typecasters — wondrous, complicated, mechanical devices perfected in the late 1880s. Once the industry standard, they have been largely replaced by computer typesetting — also known as “cold type.” In “hot lead” typesetting, molten lead is formed into individual or lines of type on these machines. Below we see Jesse Marsolais working at the keyboard of a Linotype. Near the bottom left, you can see the “lines” of metal type that the machine has cast.
In a letterpress shop like this one, the design of a printed piece develops through the maniputaion of physical materials. John elucidates why working with tangible letterforms can be so gratifying, “. . . it is just that it is so satisfying to do. It is so direct, it is so hands on, it is so immediate. You learn so much and you communicate so much through your fingers: the wisdom of hands.”
Firefly has earned the reputation of printing finely designed work that is always appropriate for its purpose — broadsides, business cards, certificates, stationery, and what John calls special occasion printing. By this he means printing that is celebratory and purposeful — like announcing the birth of a child or thanking the people who have just given millions of dollars to your museum.
In addition to being a talented printer, John is a wonderful speaker. He will be giving a lecture (free & open to the public) next March. For a link to that event, visit the American Printing History Association.
Have a comment? Send me an email: maggie.holtzberg@state.ma.us
Photos by Maggie Holtzberg
Last week we headed out to Worcester County to meet Joseph Johns, a.k.a. Cayoni, a Muscogee Indian who is reputed to be the last practicing, (if not last surviving) traditional Muscogee Creek woodcarver in the United States today. Here you see him holding one of his carvings — a green corn mask which is used in the Muscogee Green Corn Ceremony. Johns explains that the festival is usually held around the first of June because the corn is beginning to ripen.
“[The greencorn masks] are carried in your hand and rested on your shoulder. See? And you kind of dance in a procession of people. It’s a very festive time of year because the fires are all extinguised in the village — every fire goes out. They pour water on them. And they start the festival. No fire is lit until it’s over. And all things are forgiven.”
Though Joseph Johns has lived in Massachusetts for nearly 60 years, he was raised on an island in Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp. It was there he learned traditional carving from his grandfather, Tahoma. It is important to Johns that you know his Indian name, “Cayoni” which means bad weather. On the night he was born, a freak storm brought high winds and snow — an unusual weather pattern for southeast Georgia.
Below is a traditional woodcarving Johns created around thirty years ago. Made of cypress wood with elkhorn eyes, the carving symbolizes the trials of the Trail of Tears.
“When the army removed the people from the Okefenokee Swamp [forcing them to march] to Oklahoma, they were told there would be buffalo, antelope, all kinds of animals out there for them to eat when they got there. That was during the Trail of Tears March. When the people got to Oklahoma, the only thing out there was a few poor jack rabbits and an antelope or two, and no buffalo. So the people wound up eating their horses and their dogs and their cats, and every damn thing that had followed them out there to Oklahoma. And somebody created this design; instead of it having the buffalo horns come up, they turned down because it was a sad occasion and they had been lied to . . . it’s an old design.”
As if being the last in a line of Muscogee woodcarvers isn’t rare enough, Johns also has a singular military history. When he was only fifteen years old, the navy came around looking to recruit Muscogee men to serve in World War II. Johns’ exceptional marksmanship was too good for the Navy to pass up. A career military man and Native Veteran, Johns went on to serve in the Normandy Invasion and Korean War, and did two tours in Vietnam, before retiring from the military. He then spent six years in the Delta Force. As if that weren’t enough, he survived being bitten by a venomous snake (which blinded him for four days) and he chain smokes. Clearly, a man with nine lives.
Now enjoying his retirement, Joseph Johns and his wife live in bucolic New Salem, Massachusetts.
Have a comment? Send me an email: maggie.holtzberg@state.ma.us
Gneal Widett has been making handcarved signs since 1975. He just let me know that the third generation Gary Drug sign is “swinging in the breeze” so I went to take a peak. The gold leaf work is done by Gneal’s wife Janet Lomartire. Store employee Eileen Fitzpatrick has been working at Gary Drug since 1976 — she says Gneal’s craftmanship and independent business [in an age of chains] are the same idea as their business, which was established in 1939. “We’ve known Gneal since his business was across the street.” Widett has since moved his shop from Charles Street, but an impressive number of his handwrought signs grace this Beacon Hill street.
Many of us have family heirlooms — but how many have ones that were made in a far away country and date back to the mid-1800s? When Anahid Kazazian’s family fled their home during the Armenian massacre, and eventually made it to the United States, they brought with them treasured pieces of needlework with them. Including, this piece, which was made nearly 150 years ago by Anahid’s paternal grandmother, Lucia Dakessian, for her daughter’s trousseau. Anahid says, “We refer to it as gaghtnaker or “secret needlework,” because you can’t tell how the pattern is made by looking at it — you have to be taught.”
Anahid Kazazian will share her knowledge of Marash with visitors at the National Heritage Museum on Saturday October 11th from 1-3 p.m. She is a natural storyteller as well. Come learn about this sturdy and colorful needlework used to adorn textiles in the home for generations.
Listen to Kazazian’s audio stop from the Keepers of Tradition exhibition.
