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 sharing their passion for traditionFor the artisans who demonstrate their skills at the 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 2008 festival artisans:
BASKETMAKER BasketmakeRShaker 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 BLACKSMITHGarry Kalajian was born in 1956 in Jersey City, N.J., and has degrees in music and education. He became interested in blacksmithing in the early 1980s while teaching at an outdoor school, and in 1993 switched to full-time blacksmithing. Kalajian operates Ararat Forge in Concord, N.H., where he produces functional pieces based on both historic and original designs. The common denominator is the nearly exclusive use of traditional tools and techniques. “In fashioning work in iron my intent is neither a personal expression of my politics, hopes, or lofty aspirations, nor to portray a particular concept of beauty,” he says. “Rather, I aspire to the expression of something intuitive, something beyond ideas perceived directly, an expression of a universal aesthetic.” In 2005 Kalajian helped establish a blacksmithing teaching studio at Sanborn Mills Farm in Loudon, N.H., where he currently teaches. Past teaching activities include training an apprentice with the help of a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, a residency at the Holderness School in Plymouth, N.H., a “New England Door Hardware” workshop given to a group of Swedish blacksmiths near Lerum, Sweden, and many public demonstrations. Kalajian has been a juried member of the League of N.H. Craftsmen since 1995. He is a metal juror and former chairman of both the Standards and the Gallery 205 Committees, and served on the Board of Trustees. He lives in Bradford with his dog. more COOPERCraftsmen 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 18th-CENTURY printerR. 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). letterpress printerNewmarket resident Tom Johnson has worked as a millwright and as a first mate on a Maine schooner. He has built wooden boats, made Windsor chairs, and worked as a finish carpenter. After beginning to make woodcut prints, he became obsessed with letterpress printing. “I saw something in letterpress printing that I hadn’t seen in other arts I had pursued,” he says, “and it’s a lot easier on the back.” Tom feels it’s important for artisans striving to perfect their craft to keep in mind the purpose and end result of their efforts. “A boat is a pointy box that keeps people on the inside and water on the outside. A chair is a place to put your bottom. Printing is putting ink on paper. The point,” says Tom, “is to do all these things with one eye to beauty, the other to purpose.” TIMBER FRAMERAlan 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 MAKERJim 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 weaverCraig Evans has been weaving for over 30 years, specializing in spining, dying and traditional weaves of the late 1700s to early 1800s. He apprenticed with master weaver Norman Kennedy (2003 recipient of a National Heritage Award) from Vermont. Craig has worked as an artist in residence in Vermont schools, weaving instructor at Goddard College and given many slide lectures and hands on demonstrations in New England. Craig works in wool, cotton and flax and uses historic looms and patterns for a large bed coverings, garments and other textile products. WILDFOWL CARVERFred 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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