Courses

An Artisanal Legacy: Early New England functional design

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New England’s rich cultural heritage spans many centuries, beginning with indigenous tribal crafts and extending into the 19th-century, with its colonial homesteads, revealing gravestone inscriptions, and at once practical and creative quilting techniques and patterns. Four instructors will share their expertise, analyzing representative examples in a course designed to shed light on the beauty and genius of artisanal craft traditions far removed from our age of mass production.

Four areas of creative design will be explored in a mix of Zoom, field, and classroom experiences:

  1. Indigenous American crafts (Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington Depot, CT, Monday, Oct. 10, 7:00–8:30 (on Zoom)
  2. Quilt traditions (Lowell, MA New England Quilt Museum, Monday, Oct. 17, 6:30–8:30 on Zoom)
  3. Colonial architecture and life Monday, Oct. 24, 4:30–6:30 (Wetmore House [1741], Middletown)
  4. New England gravestones Monday, Oct. 31, 6:30–8:30 pm (Wasch Center)

 

Instructors:

  1. Native American: Darlene Kascak, Educator and Traditional Native American Storyteller, Schaghticoke Tribal Nation
  2. Quilting: Pamela Weeks, Binney Family Curator, New England QuiltMuseum, Lowell, MA
  3. New England architecture and life: Brandy S. Culp, Richard Koopman Curator of American Decorative Arts, Wadsworth Atheneum
  4. Colonial Gravestones: Richard J. Friswell

Instructor: Darlene Kascak, Richard J. Friswell, Pamela Weeks, Brandy S. Culp, Richard Koopman

Date: Mondays September 26, October 3, 17, 24

Time: varied evenings (see description)

Cost: $150