Thursday, April 25, 2019

Discover WILD NH Day: The Legacy of the Outdoors on New Hampshire’s Living Cultural Heritage



Photo (L-R): Heritage & Traditional Arts Coordinator Kayla Schweitzer, Traditional Bamboo Fly Rod Maker Fred Kretchman, Black Ash Basket Maker Alice Ogden and Decoy Carver Fred Dolan. Photo by Shelly Angers.
This past Saturday, the Heritage and Traditional Arts Program (HTAP) participated in New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Discover WILD NH Day. As this annual community event explores New Hampshire's wildlife resources and legacy of outdoor traditions, this aligns with the mission of the HTAP Program "to identify, document, preserve, and promote traditional arts and artists in New Hampshire so they continue to be a visible and vital aspect of the state’s living cultural heritage."



New Hampshire has a strong legacy of stewardship of our natural and cultural resources so they will be available for future generations to benefit from.

 
Through this legacy and abundance of diverse natural resources, a wide array of traditional arts and folklife traditions have grown out of the love and relationship with our landscape- including decoy carving, timber framing, fishing, basket making, snow shoeing, stone wall building and dog sledding.



Attendees had the opportunity to learn about the NH State Council on the Arts and meet with traditional artists who were demonstrating their art forms: traditional bamboo fly rod maker Fred Kretchman, black ash basket maker Alice Ogden and decoy carver Fred Dolan.

Photo: Fred Kretchman  talking with attendees about
the design process for his bamboo fly rods. Photo by Kayla Schweitzer


Photo: Fred Dolan explaining the original
use and design of decoys to attendees. Photo by Kayla Schweitzer.
Photo: Alice Ogden showing
attendees her black ash baskets. Photo by Kayla Schweitzer