2018-2019 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grants Announced

The NH State Council on the Arts is thrilled to announce the awarding of Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grants to 5 Master and Apprentice teams. Apprenticeship grants help communities preserve their cultural heritage through traditional crafts, music, and dance so that future generations can continue to benefit from them. Apprenticeship grants fund a master traditional artist to teach an experienced apprentice in one-to-one sessions over a period of six to ten months. Nearly every state in the US has an apprenticeship program that is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Here are the 2018-2019 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Teams:

Photo: Sylvia and Anne practicing accordion music at Sylvia's home in Concord.
Photo by Kayla Schweitzer.







Accordion Music of New England and Scotland

Master Artist: Sylvia Miskoe (Concord, NH)

Apprentice: Anne Baier (Bow, NH)



Photo: Cinnamon Teal Decoy by Fred Dolan.
Photo submitted by Fred Dolan.







Decoy Carving & Painting

Master Artist: Fred Dolan (Strafford, NH)

Apprentice: Paul Spencer (Rochester, NH)



Photo: Sarah May and R.P. at press – "Field printing," Hillsboro 2016.

Photo submitted by R.P. Hale. 

Letterpress Printing

Master Artist: R.P. Hale (Concord, NH)

Apprentice: Sarah May Schultz (Epsom, NH)

Photo: St. Nicholas, Miracle Worker Icon by Marina Forbes, 2016.
Photo submitted by Marina Forbes.

Russian Iconography Painting



Master Artist: Marina Forbes (Rochester, NH)

Apprentice: Sister Fran DeMers (Manchester, NH)





Photo: German "Masterpiece" padlock with key
by Kevin Moreau, 2013. Photo submitted by Kevin Moreau.





Blacksmithing (focus on pre-industrial handmade locks)



Master Artist: Kevin Moreau (Brattleboro, VT)

Apprentice: Thomas Boucher (Northwood, NH)



2016 League of NH Craftsmen Fair- Guest Blog post by Mikael Pluhar

Out of all 83 years the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair has been running, I have witnessed exactly one day. 

One day of a nine-day event, the oldest craft fair in the country boasting over 200 booths of fine craft goods, over 350 artists, workshops demonstrations, and exhibits. I was just one of thousands of people coming to see the fair, many of whom have been coming for decades, and some who, like me, had just stepped on the fairgrounds for the first time.

My first day at the League Fair was phenomenal. The second I walked in I was a lost in a sea of beautiful things, and even though I spent most of my day trying to find my parents, who were equally lost, I enjoyed every second of the fair. As I wandered into the booths I was pleased to discover that all of the craftsmen were eager and happy to talk about their work. I met some of the most funny and interesting people and learned about a range of crafts from leather stitching to silk screening. To top it all off I turned a corner and discovered a long lost friend of mine manning one of the booths! There couldn’t have been a more perfect reunion, plus I went home with a lovely ring made out of an 1890’s spoon.

When I finally found my father he was still by the entrance, having walked directly into the blacksmithing tent and become captivated with the demonstration. Master blacksmith Garry Kalajian had been slowly replacing the safety rope around his exhibit with a chain he was fastening on site. All day long people wandered through his tent and pumped his bellows via a converted bicycle. What I didn’t personally witness I learned secondhand from my father, who had become so enamored with the traditional art of blacksmithing he was thinking about taking classes.

The League Fair has a wealth of traditional and contemporary arts on display. There were demonstrations on pottery, traditional woodworking without power tools, beading, and much more. I spent a while learning about painted canvas floor cloths, a traditionally colonial mat. The painted cloths shed water and protect your floors from grease, and can be easily made at home. My family and I were encouraged to try and design our own cloth for our home.

Because that’s what the fair does: it encourages the love of crafts. There wasn’t one booth I didn’t want to buy something from, and there wasn’t one workshop I didn’t want to take. I tried craft cheese and wool coats. My dad learned about steam engines, and my mom won tickets to ride the Mount Washington Cog Railway. All I can say is that I can’t wait for the Fair to come back next year!

___________________________________


The League of NH Craftsmen is a 2016/2017 recipient of a Public Value Partnership grant from the NH State Council on the Arts.

Mikael Pluhar is an intern at the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. He is currently a student at Vassar College where he studies Studio Art and Architecture.

Live Free and Dance, Blog Salon week 6: Evolving Traditions

What is one thing that remains constant in the world? Change.

There is a long tradition of contra dancing in New Hampshire and like many traditions, things change. Today, you can swing and pulse at techno contras under black lights to loud electronic renditions of traditional music. You can attend hot contras that spin dancers so fast that it rivals the toughest gym workouts. And most likely, the dance that you attend will be run a little differently than the dance that took place in your town 20, 30, or 50 years ago.

 Techno Contra in Peterborough, NH. Organized by Monadnock Folklore Society.

New generations of community members want to partake in local traditions, but also want to evolve practices so they are fun and relevant among friends. There's a balance between wanting to participate in activities of our parents and grandparents, and helping to shape a new form of community entertainment.

Most dances in New Hampshire have seen attendance highs and lows with organizers changing hands every few years. Eighteen dances are featured on the NH Folklife website, all with their own unique history and place within the cultural fabric of their communities. Some dances have been taking place regularly for over 100 years, some have just started up when a neighboring town dance failed to attract an audience. The stories of these dances, and the stories of eighteen New Hampshire communities can be found on the Folklife website through interviews Elizabeth Faiella conducted with local dance organizers in the spring of 2015.

After 35 years Northern Spy, an Upper Valley contra dance band has decided to stop being the lead organizer for contras at Tracy Hall in Norwich, VT. David Millstone, Northern Spy's dance caller,  recently wrote on his blog,

"Last spring, when Cuckoo's Nest announced the end of its dances and when Northern Spy decided that it, too, was tired or organizing its own series, we were concerned that this might spell the end of Norwich dances. As we had hoped, though, many community members stepped forward and the dancing will go forward. There's now a new website promoting dances on 2nd and 4th Saturdays, as well as an active Facebook page. The organizers are interested in presenting a mix of programs, some featuring local musicians and callers and some the bigger-name traveling bands and callers. I'll still be calling locally from time to time, including some summer dances at the Pavilion, and the various musicians from Northern Spy may appear in different configurations. In the meantime, support your local dances!"

Video highlights of Northern Spy's 35th anniversary party at Tracy Hall in Norwich, VT. 

November 14, 2015.

The tradition of social dancing in NH has been vibrant since the colonial era with different styles of dancing coming into fashion. In the mid 1800s English Country Dancing was popular, the first 4 decades of the 20th century fancied square dancing with young couples courting each other at dances. Contra dancing has only been the social dance flavor of choice since the 1960s. Styles change, musicians add slight variations to tunes, venues rotate. The dance goes on.

________________________________________________________________________________

The Live Free and Dance Blog Salon is published weekly from October 12- November 25, 2015. Each week a different NH Traditional Dance will be highlighted. The Blog Salon is in conjunction with the exhibit: Traditional Dance in New Hampshire 1750-present, at the NH State Library.  To read more about traditional dances across the state, visit the NH Folklife website.
  

Live Free and Dance Blog Salon Week 3: Milford, NH Contra Dance

Milford, NH Contra dance

Researched and written by Elizabeth Faiella, July 2015

Location: Milford Town Hall 3rd Floor Auditorium, 52 Main Street, Milford, NH

Schedule: 8-11 p.m., fourth Friday of every month year round

Website: None

Cost: $7, $3.50 ages 6-12, free ages 5 and under

Current organizer: Frank Woodward (retiring in 2015)

Contact information: (603) 487-2480, nhdancecaller@aol.com

Frank Woodward, the current organizer of the Milford contra dance, says that contra dancing is a family tradition for him. “My dad was a caller, my grandfather owned a dance hall, so technically I’m third generation doing this,” he says.

The Milford dance began in December of 1989, founded by David Bateman. It took place monthly year round in the Milford Town Hall, where it remains to this day. At the time, the town was restoring the Town Hall’s auditorium, which had fallen into disrepair. A portion of the money that came in each month from the dance was donated to the Town Hall restoration efforts.

Dance organizers David Bateman and John Redemski ran the dance from when it began until September 2001, when Woodward became the sole organizer.

            The dance quickly became a favorite for beginners. “They’re great fun and have a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” says Woodward. “People have to start someplace, and this is a great place for it.” Families and homeschool groups have been regulars at the dance over the years, and the dance is friendly to all ages, from the very young to seniors. The dance typically draws up to 30 people, and occasionally more.

At the start, the dance organizers hired musicians, but after a while they developed a “house band” of regular sit-in musicians. “You never knew who was going to show up,” says Woodward. He says the dance often averages 10-12 musicians per night. The musicians started out using the New England Fiddler’s Repertoire, a collection of traditional New England contradance tunes edited by fiddler Randy Miller. Since then they have added the Portland Collections. The band typically plays a mix of traditional Canadian, Celtic, and New England music on a variety of instruments including the fiddle, accordion, banjo, guitar, and bodhran.

Dances called in Milford tend to be traditional. Woodward often begins the evening with simpler dances, and calls more difficult ones as the evening goes on. Woodward often calls dances with singing calls later in the evening, and he sometimes calls Gay Gordons, a Scottish circle dance. There is a waltz to introduce the break, and a waltz to end the evening.

While Woodward is the primary caller at the Milford dance, “sit-in” callers are also welcome. Some locally in-demand callers have called their first dances at the Milford contradance, including musician and caller Sandy Lafleur. “We give everyone an opportunity,” says Woodward. “If it’s a beginning musician or caller, they’re welcome to join in.”

Until recently, the dance had an annual tradition of a “Mad Hatter’s Ball” every March. Dancers were encouraged to wear “their fine hats or their funny hats.” A prize (raspberry preserves) was awarded to the dancer with the best hat.

            Proceeds from the dance go to the Milford Recreation Committee, which sponsors the dance and provides custodial services. The hall has air conditioning for the hot summer months.

            “It’s pretty simple, it’s pretty straightforward, and it’s pretty fun,” says Woodward.

Source: Frank Woodward, interview by Elizabeth Faiella, April 2015
________________________
The Live Free and Dance Blog Salon is published weekly from October 12- November 25, 2015. Each week a different NH Traditional Dance will be highlighted. The Blog Salon is in conjunction with the exhibit: Traditional Dance in New Hampshire 1750-present, at the NH State Library.  To read more about traditional dances across the state, visit the NH Folklife website.

Live Free & Dance Blog Salon Week 2: Ossipee, NH GALA Contra Dance

Written and researched by Elizabeth Faiella

Location: Ossipee Town Hall Gym, 55 Main St.

Schedule: 7pm, monthly January-April or May

Website: https://galacommunity.org/

Cost: $7, $5 students and seniors, $3 under age 12

Current organizer: Josh Arnold,              GALA

Contact information: josh@galacommunity.org

           

For Josh Arnold, organizer of the Ossipee contra dance, community social dance is an environmentally sustainable tradition. “I think this kind of dance, cultivating that sense of place and sense of community, is really what the sustainability movement is all about: community resilience. Strengthening relationships, so we know our neighbors and build trust with them. We know who needs what—equipment, time, knowledge, and skills—and we create a space where those things can be exchanged in a fun, recreational atmosphere.”

The Ossipee contra dance is put together by Global Awareness Local Action, or GALA, an environmentally-focused, Ossipee-based nonprofit, whose mission is based on building sustainable community. Other GALA programs include homesteading workshops and sustainable home and yard makeovers, also known as “Sustain-A-Raisers.” “We’re coming to find that the work is as much, if not more, about strengthening community, and relationships in that community, as it is about protecting watershed,” says Arnold, one of the organization’s founders.

Contradances fit in well with that goal. A former GALA board member, Mike Haeger, was a contradancer, who had attended the Tamworth contradances in summer and winter, and suggested that GALA sponsor one to fill in some of the months when there were no Tamworth dances.  “At first there was a bit of confusion—is this mission drift?” says Arnold. “But when we started it, we saw how it brought the community together. It was an intergenerational crowd and a wholesome and healthy activity. People would bring eggs that they’d exchange, and they’d be meeting new people.”

            The first dance was held in 2011. The dance started out at the Todaro Center in Tuftonboro, but soon moved to the Ossipee Town Hall, where it’s been held ever since. Dances are held monthly, January through April or May.

            The dance has a different caller and band each month, mostly drawn from the local area. Bands have included the Fiddling Thomsons, String Equinox, and Puckerbrush. A house band called Briar Hill, that GALA co-founder Michael Haeger plays in, always opens the season and donates the proceeds back to GALA. Arnold says that having a different band each month helps build interest. “And for people who come just to watch the band, that keeps it new,” he says.

            The music played at the dance is usually traditional New England contradance fiddle tunes. There is usually a break with potluck refreshments about midway through the evening, and the dance always ends with a waltz.

            About 35 people attend the dance on average, though the range is 20-60 dancers. The dance is geared toward beginners—and includes a beginners’ session from 7:00-7:30pm—though a few dedicated, experienced dancers come. “It’s great, because the experienced dancers are interspersed on the dance floor, to help others who are getting the moves down, which is always really helpful—to have a mix of experience on the dance floor,” says Arnold. Dancers of all ages attend, including some families with children. “Some of these young kids know the moves in and out,” he says. Dancers come from the local community and from farther afield; Arnold says that some Ossipee residents walk to the dance, while others drive up from the Seacoast Area of New Hampshire.

            Every year, GALA’s annual seed swap is held right before the dance. The community is invited to come and bring any seeds they want to share. Many people who come for the seed swap stay for the dance.

            One of the benefits of having the dance organized by GALA, says Arnold, is that the infrastructure for publicizing it is already there, in the form of GALA’s organizing committee, mailing list, and existing presence in the community and online. The dance relies solely on what comes in at the door for funding.

            Though he didn’t grow up contradancing, Arnold says that organizing these dances has really gotten him hooked. “Now I love it, and I seek other dances,” he says.

Source: Josh Arnold, interview by Elizabeth Faiella, July 2015.

_______________________________________________________________________________
The Live Free and Dance Blog Salon is published weekly from October 12- November 25, 2015. Each week a different NH Traditional Dance will be highlighted. The Blog Salon is in conjunction with the exhibit: Traditional Dance in New Hampshire 1750-present, at the NH State Library.  To read more about traditional dances across the state, visit the NH Folklife website. 

Live Free and Dance Blog Salon Week 1: Concord, NH Contra Dance

Researched and written by Elizabeth Faiella, July 2015

Location: East Concord Community Center, 18 Eastman Street, Concord, NH

Schedule: 8-11 p.m., third Saturday of each month except July and August

Website: http://homepage.nhvt.net/dwh/contra.htm

Cost: $7, $5 ages 15-25, free under age 15

Current organizer: David Harris

Contact information: (603) 225-4917, dwh@nhvt.net

 David Harris, organizer of the Concord contra dance, took on his role at a difficult time—in September of 2001. In the wake of the events of September 11, he wasn’t sure whether they should hold the first dance of the season. “I got in my rowboat,” he recalls, “and went out and did some thinking, and decided, ‘We have this tradition that goes back a couple of hundred years, and I don’t want anybody to destroy that…. We had the dance and carried on the tradition in spite of what was going on in the rest of the world.” Since Harris began organizing the dance, only one dance has been cancelled.

             

The Concord contra dance began as a monthly series in West Concord, New Hampshire with its first dance on September 24, 1988 at the West Concord Community Center. The hall had a sprung wooden floor and had been built by Scandinavian immigrants who had moved to the area to work in the nearby quarries. “And they knew how to build a dance floor!” says David Harris.

Dance founder and organizer Eve Kitchen did the calling each month, bringing in a guest caller from time to time. The house band, the Hotcakes, consisted of a fiddler, mandolin player, and keyboard player. Two members of the Hotcakes, Mark Doughty and Bob Shanahan, still make occasional appearances at the dance. The dance was a favorite for local families.
 

Eve Kitchen ran the Concord dance from September 1988 to January 1994. By then, she was living in Massachusetts, so the dance took a several month hiatus before dancer Chris Derby (then Chris Glover), who missed the dance, took the reins and brought it back in November 1994.

           

Just a few months after the dance had resumed, the City of Concord closed down the West Concord Community Center for financial reasons. The dance moved to the East Concord Community Center in April 1995, where it has remained ever since.

            

Chris Derby continued to run the dance from November 1994 until June 2001. She met her husband, Jim Derby, at the dance. “She was sitting at the desk collecting money,” said David Harris, “and he walked in the door. She said, ‘I’m going to get that guy!’” 

In September 2001, David Harris became the organizer of the dance. The September dance inaugurated a new tradition: the monthly sing-along. At the end of the evening, the band began to play America the Beautiful, and the dancers sang along. A few months later, in December, caller and fiddler Dudley Laufman led another sing-along. The idea stuck, and today the sing-along takes place at the end of the mid-evening break. “There are some parallels between the singing and the dancing,” says Harris. “You’re in a group, and you’re all striving to make this thing work. Everybody does their little part to make it happen.”

Another monthly tradition in Concord is the dancing of Chorus Jig. This “chestnut” (as historic contra dances are sometimes called) has a history that dates back over 200 years.

In the dance’s earlier years, dancer Donna Maglin attended regularly. Maglin, who was blind, was an excellent dancer, Harris recalls.

Pianist and contra dance legend Bob McQuillen played at the Concord contradance several times. Harris remembers one night when McQuillen, well into his 80s, hefted his keyboard onto his shoulder and climbed up the stairs to the hall. “He scared me so much,” Harris says. “I didn’t want him to meet his end at our contra dance.”

The crowd at the Concord contra dance is diverse in age and experience level. In addition to long-time dancers, the dance has recently begun to draw a young adult demographic, including high school students, college students, and twenty-somethings. Harris says that the environment at the dance is relaxed and fun. Contra dancing in Concord is not a “competitive sport.”

The dance brings in a different band and caller each month. All dances are taught. Most dances called in Concord are contra dances, with some circle dances and square dances. All kinds of contradances are called, from traditional dances to modern dances, and the music is diverse as well. As is traditional at many New England contra dances, there is a waltz before the break and at the end of the evening.

Dancers of all ages and levels of experience are welcome. “I always tell people, ‘Don’t just sit and watch. Get in there and do it. As long as you can walk, you can do this,’” says Harris.

Source: David Harris, interview by Elizabeth Faiella, April 2015.

________________________
The Live Free and Dance Blog Salon is published weekly from October 12- November 25, 2015. Each week a different NH Traditional Dance will be highlighted. The Blog Salon is in conjunction with the exhibit: Traditional Dance in New Hampshire 1750-present, at the NH State Library.  A public reception is being held Wednesday, October 14 5:3-6:30pm. To read more about traditional dances across the state, visit the NH Folklife website.