Ann Winterling Awarded 2015 Governor's Arts Award for Folk Arts

The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts is pleased to announce Ann Winterling as the recipient of the 2015 Governor’s Arts Award in Folk Arts. 

Ann Winterling is a master of the traditional art of New England rug hooking, a craft that dates to the early 1800s. A history of the craft shares the efforts of ordinary women to bring beauty, comfort, and warmth into their homes. 

Ann has been hooking rugs for over 40 years beginning as a young mother when she took classes from the late Hallie Hall. She hooked with Hallie, who had learned from her own grandmother, for over twenty years. In reflecting on her years with Hallie, Ann recalled that, “It was so inspiring and uplifting to go there for class . . . After a while we had all learned to hook but we just couldn’t stop meeting together and doing things together.” Ann also studied with other well known traditional fiber artists including Mary Sheppard Buron, and Mary Anne Wise. She in turn has generously shared her cumulative knowledge with countless others throughout New England and the east coast.

Today, Ann's work is well respected throughout New Hampshire, New England, and nationally.  Her fine craftsmanship is noted for her ability to create personal, yet iconic, images of the New England life. Her work has been included in shows at the Museum of Folk Art in New York City, the Cahoon Museum of Folk Art in Massachusetts, the Worcester Center for Craft, the League of NH Craftsmen, and she was one of three featured traditional artists at a recent exhibit at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.  Ann has been featured for her artistry and leadership in New Hampshire Magazine, Rug Hooking Magazine, the newsletter for the Association of Traditional Hooking Artists (ATHA), as well as numerous articles and publications featuring the tradition of hooked rugs.

A total of 6 awards will be presented by Governor Maggie Hassan at a celebration on October 21 from 5-7pm at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester.

• Arts Education Award: Calvin Herst, Concord and Anna Nuttall, Portsmouth
• Distinguished Arts Leadership Award: Melissa Richmond, Director, West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts
• Folk Heritage Award: Ann Winterling, Concord
• Individual Arts Patron Award: Meri Goyette, Nashua
• Lotte Jacobi Living Treasure Award: Jere Osgood, Wilton

The Value of a Handmade Gift

I have been thinking about my own handmade gift giving and choices to buy handmade this holiday season. There have been many years where I commit myself to a project only to realize the artwork will take three times the amount of time and resources predicted. For an artist to choose to invest time and energy into a project, it is never about being fast. It is about sharing the skills honed, the joy experienced in creating, and the distillation of thoughtful choices that go into a project. I now try to be honest with myself about how much time it will take to craft something by hand, and have more frequently budgeted for and enjoy purchasing handmade items that others have created.

Candlelight stroll during Christmas at Canterbury

In the December newsletter of Canterbury Shaker Village, Executive Director Funi Burdick writes, “But as with so many things Shaker, it turns out that mindfulness and intentionality was, and still is, the secret to cultivating and living the simple life no matter what the season, no matter how long the list.” She quotes a 1907 Shaker publication, "the true meaning of Christmas goes deeper than gift-giving...the gift is most truly a part of Christmas that has been prompted by love, respect, gratitude or charity.”

Matryoshka dolls painted by Master Artist, Marina Forbes

Many cultures have traditions of creating handmade items in groups or as a family. Marina Forbes is a Master Traditional Artist in Russian Icon Painting, and often teaches workshops throughout New England in the folk tradition of Russian Matryoshka (wooden nesting doll). Marina says that in Russian families, painting a set of Matryoshka dolls is, “about quality time together working on a family heirloom…Many times, I have had more than four generations of families come. Everyone signs their name on the bottom of the doll.”

Jeanne Brink is a Western Abenaki Master basket maker who has passed on her skills to several apprentices. During a 2005 interview discussing teaching her then current apprentice, Sherry Gould, Jeanne said “basket making to me, is it’s not that you just sit and make baskets. You’re teaching someone but you don’t say, okay, this is how you’re going to do this, so watch. It’s also a time when you talk, when we share things about our families, what we’ve been doing; we really get to know each other better. That’s part of it. Making baskets alone, it’s almost like quilting. You can quilt alone, but it’s better with a quilting bee; with someone else.”

Master Abenaki Basket maker Jeanne Brink with then Apprentice Sherry Gould. In 2010 Sherry Gould was juried as a Master Abenaki Basket maker.

I do admit to a secret hidden agenda when buying handmade items. The work of artisans are the products of labors of love, and I sometimes question whether or not the recipient will be able to appreciate the deep value that has been invested in the object, if they are not artists themselves. I then expose my hidden agenda of wanting to share with others how much handmade objects can enhance quality of life, by using the gift as an opportunity to share the story of the artisan or art form.

Ann Winterling (right) and Julie Robinson (left)

Julie Robinson, a marine biologist, has completed two apprenticeships with master rug hooker, Ann Winterling. Ann shared with Julie many fine arts principals that she used in her hooking. “I look at everything different now. I wasn’t raised with an artist’s background. I never took formal art classes. I never did any of that. And when I met Ann, I remember at first I was a little intimidated because she’s so artistic and her ability just flows out of her with no effort. She taught me to understand that we all have that within us, that if you work on it and you look at things differently than you ever have, you can see things. Like one of my favorite things… I think about it now all the time is in the winter, when the light is on the snow, you can see the pinks and the purples that Anne described to me when I did a piece that was a winter piece. And now I see it all the time. Not only has she given me a beautiful gift by teaching me to rug hook but she’s opened my eyes to look at everything differently and I think that’s through an artist’s eyes and I wouldn’t have had that experience without her.”

Whether you make, purchase, or receive a handmade gift, the thoughtful and careful skill, time, choices, and resources embodied in the work by the artisan will continually show the recipient your own gratitude.

Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Showcase at the 80th Annual League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair, Newbury, NH

Fred Dolan would tell you the League Fair is all about connecting with people- sharing stories of your craft with new listeners or seeing old friends and fellow craftsmen. Dolan, an accomplished decoy carver and painter from Strafford, NH, knows a thing or two about what to expect at the League Fair, and what it means to share the beauty and knowledge of a craft form with others. For many years Fred demonstrated at the League Fair for the entire nine-day run, mainly to see other fine craftsmen in New Hampshire. Of course, he was also there to share with new appreciating audiences a skill he has  honed over the years.

Fred Dolan (right) & David Horan demonstrating sharpening 

tools at the 80th annual League of New Hampshire Craftsmen

fair

This year, as part of the NH State Council on the Arts Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Showcase tent, Fred demonstrated decoy carving and displayed many examples of his birds alongside his current apprentice, David Horan. The recently crafted decoy by Horan, completed during their apprenticeship, was remarkable for a newcomer to the craft, and he attributes the progression of his skill all to Fred. The decoy was carved of Northern White Cedar and painted with acrylics. The painting process incorporated traditional combing techniques on the side pockets and scapulars, all skills that Fred passed on to David, but took him many years to perfect.  Many participants in the apprenticeship program seek to work with master artists that are not only known for their individual skill in the art form, but also 

Fred Dolan (left) & David Horan showing off their decoys.

for their skills as teachers. 

There was a steady flow of traffic into the Apprenticeship Showcase tent, with fair-goers stopping along the way to talk with and watch demonstrations by the other featured master and apprentice teams.

Pam Bartlett

Lynda Hadlock, apprentice to master rug hooker and White Mountain Woolen Magic president Pam Bartlett, switched multiple projects on and off her stand throughout the day. Some areas were difficult and required concentration, and she wanted Pam’s undistracted attention to help her figure out the best way to tackle the rug hooking project. Lynda said, “It’s too distracting here. All I want to do is talk with people.” Pam and Lynda set up a public rug hooking project and had many visitors try their hand at rug hooking. The artists had many examples of hooked rugs on display, from rugs illustrating family stories, sections of rugs that were created for collaborative community projects, and rugs that celebrated Celtic design patterns. A quote from Pam was displayed on the table, “The wool is stronger than your problems.”

Pam Bartlett helping a visitor practice hooking.

Lynda Hadlock, hooking a rug.

Debbie Dostie, a master Native American bead weaver from Bristol, NH, had a tension loom set up with examples of moccasins, bead weavings, and other projects that she and apprentice Vicki Blanchard worked on during their past apprenticeship together. If you spent time with Debbie, she would tell you that bringing beauty to an object through beading, for some Native Americans, is a spiritual process that reflects the artisan’s appreciation for the gift of beauty in the natural world. Patterns including flowers, vegetation, animals, geometric and curved designs all help the artist weave a story of community, tradition, and a connection to place. In a recent interview with Lynn Martin Graton, Acting Director of the NH State Council on the Arts, Debbie discussed passing on the tradition of Native American beadwork through the apprenticeship program, “There are some people who learn to bead, and there others who bead to learn.”

The Apprenticeship showcase was right at home among the many other demonstrations, workshops, and fine crafts at the League Fair, which holds the distinction of being the oldest fine craft fair in the country. The NH State Council on the Arts Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program helps to preserve 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. As a complementary venue to the program, the 80th annual League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair was filled with inspiring examples of traditional arts and music being celebrated and preserved across the state.

Debbie Dostie, weaving on the loom.

Vicki Blanchard, weaving with seed beads.