the journal of new york folklore · albany city school’s esl classes. it was also an opportunity...

Scissor Dance:The Danzaq of Southern Peru in New York

Stephen Alcorn on Drawing by Hand in a Digital Age

Craft Revisited:A Consumer Revolution

In Memoriam: Hilt Kelly, Catskills Fiddler and Caller

Spring–Summer 2015Volume 41: 1–2

The Journal ofNew York Folklore

An explosion of pol-len sent us to the hospi-tal one May morning. A seemingly extraordinarily long winter ended sud-denly with 80-degree temperatures and soak-ing showers! Spring flow-ers responded immedi-

ately, enthusiastically casting pollen into the air, covering porches and cars in a fine yel-low dust. Heaven for those awaiting spring. Hell for those suffering from allergies and asthma.

Many years ago, my wife’s difficulties were with all those cherry blossoms, azaleas, and other warm weather exotics in Washington, DC. “Up North,” we wait for winter’s end as crocuses and daffodils, more often than not, poke up through snow.

That morning the fruit trees, suddenly in bloom, were quite a sight, but the small flowers of oaks and maples especially caught my attention. “Tree flowers?” You remember the acorns you used in fights as a kid, and maple seeds you’d break in half, peel open, and stick to your nose—the fruits of these small flowers. Millions of blossoms softened the once bare trees on distant hills. Poor Nancy, her eyes almost swollen shut, could not appreciate the view.

Flowers of my childhood in the mid-Hudson Valley included forsythia, its golden flowers bursting forth before its new leaves opened. It grew like a weed in our yard, generating a new bush wherever a weep-ing branch touched the ground. Shadblow, or serviceberry, another early bloomer, was said to mark “the shad run”—the migratory fish swimming up the Hudson to spawn. I often picked daisies, buttercups, black-eyed

In the past few weeks, I have been strongly reminded of the value of traditional arts and culture and their im-portance to the fabric of our everyday life. As executive direc-tor of the New York

Folklore Society, I consider traditional arts and culture to be an important aspect of one’s sense of self, and a source of pride for a community. It seems to me, without question, that one’s knowledge of one’s own heritage provides grounding, which is essen-tial for the development of a whole person. In making the argument for the importance of traditional arts, I frequently like to point to the importance of culture and the arts for personal and community development. How-ever, in the last two days, two illustrations of the generational aspect of culture and the arts, and their importance to individual and com-munity economies, came strikingly into view. The first illustration came about as the result of my attending a celebration of the life of the late Yacub Addy, a traditional Ghanaian drummer whose obituary appeared in Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore, Fall–Winter 2014. Honored by the National Endowment for the Arts as a National Heri-tage Fellow, Yacub Addy died in December 2014, at the age of 83. On May 30, 2015, there was a private celebration on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, organized by Yacub’s wife Amina Addy and other members of his family. While this was a wonderful event due to the outpouring of love and admiration expressed and the celebratory nature of honoring Yacub, I was also struck by the important economic role that Yacub

Addy had played in the lives of his family and band members. As the family patriarch, Yacub Addy was the senior “tradition bearer” of a family legacy of the renowned Addy family of drummers, singers, and dancers from the Avenor neighborhood in Accra, Ghana. This role as the elder statesman of the tradition of drumming by the Ga people held great cultural importance. However, it was also important from an economic viewpoint. Throughout the decades of his involvement with Ghanaian drumming, (from before the independence of Ghana in 1957 to the pres-ent), Yacub Addy involved at least 62 band members in his ensemble, many of whom followed him to the United States and became citizens and permanent US residents. As pres-ent and former members of Yacub Addy’s ensembles were introduced at the celebration, as part of honoring of his life, the numbers on stage grew and grew—not only with mu-sicians but also with their spouses, children, grandchildren, and other members of their extended families. As their ranks ballooned, it was a poignant recognition of the incredible role of traditional arts in the founding and maintenance of community. The second, less dramatic illustration followed a few days later on June 2, when I attended a Refugee Art Exhibit, organized by the English as a Second Language (ESL) program of the Albany City Schools and the Refugee Roundtable of Albany, NY—a group of volunteers who work with new-comers to the Albany area. Hosted by the Honorable Kathy Sheehan, Mayor of Albany, at Albany City Hall, the exhibition showcased artistic productions of children within the Albany City School’s ESL classes. It was also an opportunity to recognize the work of adult

VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore

From the Director

“I never believed that spring had really come until I saw the first dandelion in bloom” —Stalking the Wild Asparagus, by Euell Gibbons (1962)

continued on page 2

From the Editor

continued on page 48

1Spring–Summer 2015, Volume 41:1–2Spring–Summer 2015, Volume 41: 1–2 1

Features 3 The Danzaq of Southern Peru in New York Crossed Scissors at the Crossroads of Immigration by Tom van Buren

16 DrawingTheLine:Reflectionsontheimportanceof drawingby hand in an increasingly digital age

by Stephen Alcorn

28 Craft Revisited: Moving toward a Consumer Revolution by Jeromy McFarren

42 In Memoriam: Hilt Kelly: Catskills Fiddler and Caller by Jim Kimball

Departments and Columns 12 GoodSpirits by Libby Tucker

13 Upstate by Dan Berggren

14 Downstate by Steve Zeitlin 38 ALN8BAL8MO: A Native Voice by Joseph Bruchac

40 ArtistSpotlight:JoeCrookston

41 Good Read by Chris Linendoll

46 From the Waterfront by Nancy Solomon

48 NYFS News and Notes

ContentsSpring–Summer 2015

Cover: “Self-portrait” by Stephen Alcorn. Pen and ink and gouache on tinted paper; 22” x 17”. Read Stephen Alcorn’s article beginning on p. 16: “Drawing the Line: Reflections on the importance of drawing by hand in an increasingly digital age.”

3

16

28

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2 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore

green calyx. I cut most of the green base awayasIpick,agreeingwithsomethatabitof green adds to thefinalproduct. It alsofills the bucket faster. Sliced oranges, lem-ons,andfreshgingergointothedandelionflowerteathatsteepsforfivedays,coveredwith a cloth to keepbugsout.Mydaugh-ter laughs at childhood memories of Dad’s stinky concoctions in buckets in the kitchen. Nowadays,sheandhercollegefriendsenjoythe wine.The dandelion tea is then strained, the

liquidboiledwith10–15poundsof sugar,dependingonwhetherdryorsweeterwineis desired.When cooled, yeast is added tostart the conversion of much of the sugar to alcohol.Foroneof myfirstbatches,IusedEuell Gibbons’ recipe in Stalking the Wild Asparagus that called for cake yeast spreadontoasttobefloatedonthetea.NowIusechampagneyeast,butnottheadditivessomewinemakers use to kill wild yeast, stabilizethewine,andhurrytheprocess.Thegoldenliquidisthensiphonedintoa5-gallonglasscarboy with an airlock for an oxygen-free environment that allows the fermentation gasestoescape.Morepatience.Leaveitaloneinthecool

dark of my stone cellar. Transfer to another carboy to help clarify the wine. Transferagain into cleaned, recycled wine bottles.Seal with new corks. By fall, this cottagewineisdrinkable,butfarbetterif agedlon-ger,evenafewyears.Anhourof driving, anotherhouror so

in the ER that May morning. The swelling subsided.Heart ratewasnormal.Thepol-lencountthisspringwasoff thecharts,thedoctor agreed. All too soon the snow will return,andaglassof dandelionwinebythefirewillremindusthatspringwillalsocomeagain. We hope that perhaps the flowerswill bloom with less exuberance next year. Meanwhile,let’shaveanotherglassof dan-delion wine.

Spring–Summer 2015 · Volume 41: 1–2

Acquisitions Editor Todd DeGarmo Copy Editor Patricia MasonAdministrative Manager LaurieLongfieldDesign Mary Beth MalmsheimerPrinter Eastwood Litho

Editorial BoardVarickChittenden,LydiaFish,HannaGriff-Sleven,NancyGroce,LeeHaring,BruceJackson,ChristopherMulé,LibbyTucker,KayTurner,DanWard,SteveZeitlin

Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore ispublishedtwiceayearbytheNewYorkFolkloreSociety,Inc.129JayStreetSchenectady,NY12305

New York Folklore Society, Inc.Executive Director Ellen McHaleProgram Manager, NYC Region Eileen CondonAdministration and GalleryLaurieLongfieldWeb Administrator Patti MasonVoice (518) 346-7008 Fax (518) 346-6617Web Site www.nyfolklore.org

Board of DirectorsPresident Tom van BurenVice President/Secretary ChristopherMuléTreasurer JohnBraungardPast President Gabrielle HamiltonGabrielleBerlinger,GregoryS.Shatan, NaomiSturm,KayTurner

Advertisers:Toinquire,pleasecalltheNYFS(518) 346-7008 or fax (518) 346-6617.

The New York Folklore Society is committed to providing serviceswith integrity, in amanner thatconveysrespectforthedignityof theindividualsandcommunities theNYFS serves, aswell as for theircultures,includingethnic,religious,occupational,andregional traditions. Theprogramsandactivitiesof theNewYorkFolk-loreSociety,andthepublicationof Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore,aremadepossibleinpartbyfundsfrom the New York State Council on the Arts. Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is indexed in Arts & Humanities Citation Index and Music Index and abstracted in Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. Reprintsof articlesanditemsfromVoices: The Journal of New York Folklore are available from the NYFS. www.nyfolklore.org/gallery/store/books.html#back or call (518) 346-7008 or fax (518) 346-6617.

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Susans,andotherwildflowersforbouquetsfor my mother.

An elderly neighbor gave my dad a va-riety of young lilac plants with blossomsof purple,white, and a deepFrench blue,that grew to become a hedge alongside the yard.Whatasweet,heavenlyscent!Thestillyoung lilac bushes offered only few blos-soms,though,sowekidshadtofindothersto make bouquets for Mother’s Day. After Sunday School, we’d walk the mile homefrom church, crossing neighbors’ yards of thevillage.Abouthalfway,we’dpassthroughanarchwayof atremendouslilachedge,soloadedwithpurpleandwhiteblossomsthatthe branches almost touched the ground. Tolerant neighbors smiled from behind their curtains,aswebrokeoff armloadsof scent-edbloomstoproudlycarryhome,wherewefilledlargevasesforourgrandbouquets.Thesedays,vasesof lilacs arenotgood

formywife’sallergies.Wefindcommonin-terest in another flower of earlyMay. Justwhen yards and fields begin to green, insome places vast swaths of gold overtakethe green. The dandelions have bloomed!Openingforonlyaweekorso,thishumbleflowerprovidesforourspringtimeritual—dandelion wine-making.

Nancy’s dad made dandelion wine north of Syracuse years ago, and when we firstmovedbacktotheupperHudsonValley,aneighborservedussomeatadinnerparty.Alocalwine-makingstoresponsorsanannualcontest.Still,it’snotacommonactivity.Farmfieldswithacresof flowersarethe

best picking.Early inmywine-making ca-reer, I receivedpermission topickflowersfrom the matriarch of a farm. While I was fillingmybucket,herangrysonconfrontedme, a perceived trespasser: “Just what doyouthinkyou’redoing?”Ihumblyreplied,“Picking dandelions, sir.” We became fastfriends, though he refused my offer of abottle of the future product. Now eachspringNancyandIreceiveheartywavesandsmilesfrompassingvehicles.

Patience is necessary. Some say to gather the entire yellow blossom head; others say useonlytheyellowpetalspulledoutof the

From the Editor (continued)

Todd DeGarmoVoices Acquisitions Editor

Founding Director of the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

[email protected]

3Spring–Summer 2015, Volume 41:1–2

T hescissorsdanceof SouthernPeru,which was inscribed in 2010 on

theUNESCORepresentativeList of theIntangibleCulturalHeritageof Humanity,is rooted in a distinct local culture and yet has evolved into a transnational practice(UNESCO 2010). Widely regarded as a manifestation of pre-ColumbianAndeanculture,thedancehassurvivedcolonialism,religiouspersecution,Peruviannationhood,andmigration.Basedinapracticeof ritualcompetitionwithinthefiesta patronal system of Andean cultural sponsorship in thesouth central Peruvian Chankas region,dancers evoke spiritual forces and bringcommunities together around a common ancestralidentity.Thisarticlediscusses,fromthe perspective of transnational culturalstudiesof performance-based symbolism,the practice of NewYork-based dancers,who learned the tradition in urban migrant communitiesinLimaandhavepracticedthedancethere,aswellasintheruralsettingsof their origin and now abroad in the US.

Walter Velille and Luis Aguilar are Peruvian scissors dancers who live and practice in theUnited States. For almosta decade, they have lived inWhitePlainsandPortChester,NY—townswith largePeruvian populations—and perform atfestivals and community events for the Peruvian and general audiences in the New

Yorkmetropolitan area andbeforewideraudiences across the US. The scissors dance is a hybrid folk tradition that has roots in a 16th-century movement of indigenous resistance to Spanish colonialism. Thedance embodies Andean cosmology and spirituality, but in its outward forms of costume,performancepractice,andsetting,drawsfrommanySpanishinfluencesaswell.Known as danzaqintheQuechualanguage,the dancers are mainly descended from a hereditarycasteof professionalperformerswhotraditionallycompetedduringsummerfestivalsinsouthcentralPeru,aswellasinrural-to-urban migrant communities in the capital city of Lima.Dressed in carnival-inspired costumes, the danzaq take turns performingsequencesof acrobaticdancestotheaccompanimentof duetsof violinsandAndeanfolkharps.Theperformance,whichhasevolvedtoappealtourbanandglobal audiences as an exotic spectacle,traditionally served a higher spiritualpurpose of restoring, through the danceritual, the order andbalance between thehuman and natural worlds. IfirstmetWalterandLuisinthecourse

of fieldwork fora folkartsproject at theWestchester Arts Council, for which Iproducedfive events.They performed intheseproductionsbetween2008and2014.Inthespringof 2014,Iinterviewedthem

toexplorethesubjectof theirexperiencesof bringing this dance to the US. I was interestednotonly in theirexperienceof maintainingtheirpracticeof thistraditionandtheirphysicalconditiontobeable toperform it, but also their experience of recognizingthesignificanceof thepracticeto audiences in new contexts. Although both dancers had some involvement with cultural institutionsininternationalcontexts,theirpracticeintheUSwasmainlycommunity-baseduntil2012,whentheywereinvitedtojointherosterof theNationalCouncilof TraditionalArts.Sincethen,theyperformedat the American Folk Festivals in Maine and Virginia in 2013 and in Montana in 2014. Thus,theyhaveassumedarolethattouchesuponwhattheateranddanceethnographerJasonBushhasdescribedas“commodifiedobjects of multicultural spectacle…of indigeneity” (Bush 2013, 124).Despitethis characterization, I found in them acompellingsenseof devotionandintegrity,as they have followed a trajectory fromancestralPeruvianrootsinLima,throughthePeruviancommunityinNewYork,tofestival stages around the US.

On the Origins of the Dance Walter and Luis perform under the

title Los Chankas del Peru,namedafterthe

The Danzaq of Southern

Peru in New York

BY TOM VAN BUREN, PhD

Crossed Scissors at the Crossroads of Immigration


Walter Velille and Luis Aguilar performing at the Emelin Theater in Mamaroneck, October 8, 2006, shortly after they had arrived to settle in New York. Photo by the author.

Chankasethnicgroupthathaveinhabited,sincebefore theIncaEmpire, thesouthcentral area of Peru between the modern capitalof LimaandCusco,includingthedepartmentsof Huancavelica,AyacuchoandApurimac. The danzaq are said to serve as a ritual bridge between the upper,middle,andlowerspiritualforces,embodiedinthemountains,wildanimals,human agrarian areas, and underworldrealms. Their dance is thought to restore orderandbalancetotheworld—anorderoften symbolized by the flowof water(seeNunez Rebaza [1990] and Strong[2013]). The spirits of the earth arecalled hua’cas and include Pachacamac,alsoknown as Pachamama or ‘MotherEarth,’andotherspiritsembodiedinthenatural

environment. This ritual function of the dance has been traced to the beginning of the colonial period, as a response tothecatastrophicdisruptionof indigenoussociety and of the natural order itself. Followingtheconquest,Andeanpeoples

were forced to convert to Christianity and made to work in gold and silver mines in a colonial slave labor system that disrupted native agrarian economic andsocial structures. Following centuries of exploitation,theprevailingviewincolonialand post-colonial Peruwas of a societybound by a race- and language-based class hierarchy that left little room for alternative narratives. Native Andeans were relegated to the bottom rung of society and thought to havehadnovalidcultureof theirown,nor

aliteratureorreligionof significancetothepost-colonialPeruvianstate.For centuries, the primary historical

record of native resistance, other thanthe better-known 30-year Incan rebel movement1, appeared in thewritings of SpanishpriestCristóbaldeMolina(1494–1580). Molina had learned the Quechua language and preached in it during themid-16thcentury.In1574,hewroteRelación de las fábulas y ritas de los incas, a treatise on Andeanbeliefs,catalogingindigenousspiritsandreligiouspractices.Attheendof thiswork,hedescribes“theapostasyof 1565,”amovementintheregioneastof Cuzco,andnotedthatadancecalled“Taqui hongo,” that waspracticedbymembersof thisresistancemovement(Molina[1574]2010).Thisdanceis more commonly known as Taki Unquy,whichinQuechuatranslatesto“danceof sickness.” Like the Ghost Dance of the 19th-century Native Americans on the GreatPlains,itmayhaveinvolvedaformof trance to counter the trauma of conquest (Strong 2013). The sickness of the dance mayalsohavereferredtotheepidemicsof smallpox,measles,andinfluenzathatragedthrough the Americas during the conquest. In1964,PeruvianhistorianLuisMillones

discovered corroborating historical evidence of thismovementintheSpanishcolonialarchives in Seville. An account written by 16th-centuryclericCristóbaldeAlbornoz,the deputy of theBishopof Cuzco anda contemporary of Molina, describedhiseffortstosuppresstheAndeanresistance.According to Albornoz, the resistancemovement began in Ayachucho and quickly spread throughout theChankas Region,intoCuzcoandeventoLaPaz,Bolivia.Hefurther recorded that the movement was ledby shamans, including anoted leader,JuanChocne,whowassaidtohavetraveledamongthepeopleandproclaimedthatthehua’cas,associatedwithplacesof indigenousworshipdestroyedbytheSpanish,werestillalive and that they had returned not to the landitself,butdirectlyintotheheartsandsoulsof thepeople—inordertoencouragethem to reject the language, clothing,religion,andcultureof theSpanishandto


reclaim the traditional agricultural activities and spiritual practices thatwould returnthem to a state of harmony with nature.By1574, this resistancemovement had

beenfullysuppressed.However,throughoutthecolonialperiod,throughindependencefrom Spain in 1821, and into the 20thcentury,nativetraditionspersisted,despitedauntingodds,andevolvedintonewerformsof expression.Asapartof thispersistence,thescissorsdancedevelopedasanamalgamof native and Spanish folk practices.Asthe position of theCatholicChurch hadalways been to reject rituals and customsthatdidnotalignwithChurchdoctrine,the

scissors dance was widely considered to be evidence of diabolical intervention through which the dancers acquired their unusual and considerableacrobaticskills.Overtime,thedance came to be tolerated and was often permitted,butonlyduringfestivalshonoringCatholic saints and in sanctioned spaces,such as the plazas in front of churches.Thissyncretismallowedforthepracticeanddevelopmentof thisdanceanditsassociatedbelief system through the 19th century and intoitspresentform.2

Millones’ research and revelations ignited a lively debate among scholars (see, forexample,Milones [1964];Núñez-Rebaza,

[1990]; Castro-Klarén [1989]; Turino[1995];Mumford[1998];Bush[2013]).Thediscoveryof firmevidenceof indigenouscultural resistance in the historical record shiftedtheinterpretationof nativeculture,history, and regional folklore practices,including the scissors dance itself. This reappraisalof indigenoushistoryisreflectedintheriseof politicalmovementsthathaveevoked indigenous identities. However,the strongest resistance movement in the 1980s and early ’90s, theMaoist ShiningPath, rejected indigenous culture andthrough violence, spurredmigration tothe capital, leavingmany communitiesdepopulated.With the accelerated rural-to-urbanmigration,thescissorsdancewasalso urbanized. Since the defeat of theShiningPath,therehasbeenanactiveeffortto preserve the scissors dance traditionthroughtherevivalof localfestivals,aswellas a campaign to promote this andotherostensibly indigenous cultural practices(Bush 2013). In 2010, after a five-yearcampaignof advocacybytheAsociación de Danzantes de Tijeras y Musicos del Peru and the Asociación Folklórica de Danzantes de Tijeras y Musicos de Huancavelica,andwiththehelpof theNational Instituteof Culture inPeru,the scissors dance was inscribed in the UNESCOlistof practicesof theWorld’sIntangible Cultural Heritage.3

Elements of the Modern Danzaq Practice

The scissors dance is a blend of movement andmusic,inwhichthepace,phrasing,andcadencesaresetbyanimprovisedconsensusof the musicians and dancers. Although the indigenous musical instruments of the Andesweremainly flutes andpercussioninstruments, incurrentpractice,theviolinandharpareusedexclusivelytoaccompanythescissorsdance.TheSpanishintroducedtheseinstruments,butinthedanzaq practice,the musicians claimed these for their own purposes.Theharphasbeenmodified toallowittobeplayedwithitstunearcontopinthetraditionalway,orinvertedandcarriedwith strap during processions.The violinisthesignaturemelodyinstrument,whoseMap of Peru, with Chankas region outlined. Image based upon open source material, www.

mapopensource.com


melodiesandaccentssignalandrespondtothe dancers’ movements. The dancers’ own musical medium,

through which they interact rhythmically withtheviolinandharp,isthepercussivesound of two halves of detachable scissors bladesstrucktogetherinajingling,castanetsfashion,tokeeptimewithotherinstrumentsandto influencethephrasingandpausesintheflowof theperformance.Thesoundof the scissors blades are thought to evoke thesoundsof rushingwaterandsupportthe danzaq ritual function of bringing harmony and life to the land (Strong 2012). According to both Walter and Luis,theoriginalinstrumentstoplaythisrolewereveryhardstones,or“castinelas,”that rang when struck together. They

agreed that the roots of their dance practicepreceded the conquest.Walter recounted a legend repeated amongthe danzaq thatthefirstdancers of the Taki Unquy used two steel swords as percussioninstruments,inordertosymbolize the tamingof their original deadly pu r p o s e . A s s t e e lscissors,alongwithotherEuropean tools, wereintroducedtotheAndes,theywereadoptedbythedancers, as the loopedhandles stayed securely in the right hands of the dancer during acrobatic flips and turns.Duringperformance,thedancerkeeps a steady beat tothe music of the violin and harp, regardless of what he is doing in the dance,whiletherhythmof the sc issors and dancestepsarecarefullycoordinated. Among some contemporar ydanzaq inPeru, there is

trendtousingbiggerandheavier‘scissors,’perhaps to evoke the swordsmentionedinthe interviews(WalterVelille,personalcommunication).

The Costumes The costumes of the dancers are

characterized by colorful embroidery andpatchwork.Waltersaidthatcontemporarycostumes were modeled on clothing worn by itinerantclownsof the19thcentury,figureswhose presence was sanctioned by thecolonial and Catholic authorities. The key elementsare loose-fitting tops,calf-lengthtrousers,andathleticsneakers,whichallowfreedom of movement. Contemporary costumes bear lettering

with the spirit names of the dancers,

corresponding with the hua’cas (nature spirits).Toppingallthisarelarge,invertedconicalhats,ormonteras,atermderivedfromSpanishbullfighters’caps,butwhichisusedto describe a wide variety of hats for both men and women in Peru. The danzaq monteras are often made of rainbow bands of color (an indigenous symbol in southern Peru andBolivia),with streamers hangings off the sides and fringes across the brow. These fringespartlyobscurethedancer’shumanidentity,whilethesymbolsonthedancer’scostumeaccentuatehisspiritualidentity.Somedancersmaketheirowncostumes,

whilespecialistshaveemergedwhosupplycostumes for purchase by dancers, or forthembysponsors.Eachdancermayhavethreeor fourcostumes—heuses thebestoneon thefirst day of a festival, for theprocessions and introductory sections.Bytheseconddayduringthecompetition,hebringsouttheoldermoreworncostumes,as the increasingly acrobatic feats take their toll on the material.

Image of Christóbal de Albornoz with captive from El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, from a book by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, a native chronicler who documented the abuses of colonial rule in an unsuccessful appeal to the Spanish crown for intervention, ca.1615. Image courtesy of the The Royal Library, Copenhagen, GKS 2232 4º: Guaman Poma, Nueva corónica y buen gobierno (1615), p. 1121.

Drawing of a scissors dancer in Cusco by Edouard Riou in Marcoy, Paul: Voyage a travers l’Amerique du Sud. Paris, Librairie de L. Hachette et Cie., Paris, 1869, p.291. English Translation: London, Blackie and Son, 1873, p. 29. Public domain, courtesy of Google Books.


Ignacio Velasco, performing on violin with Alejandro Velasco on harp, held in the inverted position during the Passacalle opening por-tion of the Tijeras dance performance. Photo by the author.

Fig. 2. Aerial view of Cobbs Hill Park and Washington Grove. The two Water Authority tanks are located to the northwest of the reservoir. Between the tanks and the reservoir, the meadow and curving fringe of pines are visible. Imagery ©2015 Digital Globe New York GIS USDA Farm Service Agency Map Data, © 2015 Google.

Performance PracticeThescissorsdanceisperformedintowns

and villages throughout the Chankas region duringthedryseason,MaytoAugust.Eachtown takes its turn hosting competitions,known as atipanakuy. A local sponsoris chosen, or steps up to the obligationof hosting the festival, providing foodand drink for the dancers and the wider community. This honorific sponsorshipfollowsthepatternfoundinmanymountaincommunities of Fiestas patronales. In the spiritof competition,townsandsponsorsalso compete to seewho can put on the

mostlavishfestival,withthebestfoodanddrinkandthebestperformers.The danzaq travel to the villages in teams of cuadrillas,withatleasttwodancersandaccompanyingmusicians,tocompeteoverthecourseof aweek—dancingthroughthenightandintothefollowingmorning,withas littleasanhour of rest between sessions. Theopeningeventsoftencoincidewith

the Fiesta de las Cruces, which takes placeonMay 3. In some regions, the dance isperformedonthesaint’sdayof SanIsidroLabrador,thepatronsaintof farmersandlaborers—an importantfigurebecauseof

his associations with the agricultural cycle andtotheclassof workersrepresentedinthedance.During theopening ceremony,either the sponsor of the festival or apoliticalfigurehonorsthesaint,givesthanksfor the blessing of the elements of Mother Earth, the sun,water,wind, andfire, andintroducesthedancerstoopenthefestival.Followingthis,thecuadrillasleadaprocessionthroughthetownstotheplazaswheretherealcompetitionsoccur.Duringtheensuingdays,thedancersandmusiciansperformasequenceof artfulandincreasinglydifficultdances, culminating in daring and often


dangerous tests of courage and skill (Walter Velille,personalcommunication).

One member of Los Chankas is a veteran of thisexperience.LuisAguilarwasborninSucre,Ayacucho.Hisgrandfatherwasascissorsdancerbeforehim,butwhenhisparentsmovedtoLima,whilehewasstillachild,theydiscouragedhimfromlearningthe scissors dance.Nevertheless, hewasdrawntothepracticethathesawinLima,and began studying at the age 14, underthe guidance of one of his grandfather’s protégés—so that in effect, the traditionwaspassed fromhis grandfather tohim.Luisexcelledinthedanceandbecameatopcompetitor,returningoftentoAyacuchotoparticipate in the scissors dance festivalsthere. In the summer of 1997, he wasone of three finalists in the festival andcompetitioninthecommunityof Huacañainthedepartmentof Apurimac,andheisfeatured in a Peruvian documentary titled Encuentro Ritual: Los Danzaq de Huacaña (Uriarte 1998). The film documents the sequence of the festival, from thepreparations to the blessing ceremonies,andthroughthedaysof competitivedancesthat follow. AsWalteroutlinedinourinterview,the

dancesfollowaspecificsequencethatevolvefrom slower andmore ritual practice toovertlyacrobaticandcompetitivesequences.Theopeningof the festivalbeginswithaprocessionintothetown,throughthemainsquare and to the church. The music and dance are titled Passacalle, fromtheSpanishtraditional form. Following a blessing of the dancersbeforeastatueof thepatronsaint,whichisbroughtoutfortheoccasion,thedancers and audiencemove to the plazawheremostof thecompetitiondanceswilloccur.Thefollowingisalistof thedances,withbrief descriptionsasrelatedbyWalterand Luis: • Quatro Esquinas—the four corners,

representing the four directions of theworld. This dance is part of the ritualopeningof thefestival;• Tonada—a song form, with many

variationsof melodiesusedtoaccompanyalight,playfuldance;

• Sirsau—asongthatevokesthespiritof thewind,andthatoriginallywasplayedon the tauriasflutesbeforetheintroductionof stringed instruments to the Andes;• Tinya—a song evoking drums and

sometimeslargerbrassinstruments,inthetradition of the brass banda;• Huallpahuaqay (Quechua) or Canto de

Gallo (Spanish)—performed in the earlyhours before dawn, tomimic a roostercrowing,withdancestepstomatch;• Patara—a toe dance.Each group

will try eight to 10 times to do different dances on tiptoes, sometimes whilecarrying heavy objects or even otherpeople.Walter describes how dancershave dancedwhile carrying theharpistandviolinistontheirshoulders,orwithchildren from their audience stacked on topof eachother;• Escobia—a dance mimicking the

sweepingmotionof abroom;• Alto Ensayo—when the dancers use

highstepsandleaps,oronalternatedays,the Alba Ensayo—whichusesmelodiesof a sweeter sound;• Ante Alba—adancewhich includes

the same elements as the Alto Ensayo but is performedatnight;• Pampa Ensayo—a dance that is

performed from a prone position, oftenusingthebackandthighmusclestopropelthedanceracrossthedancefloororplaza;• La Prueba del valor—adanceexhibiting

feats of strength or agility. “The trial of courage—youneedfreehandstodowhatyou want and might not use scissors for this dance”—WalterVelille;• Yawar Mayo (inQuechua,“a riverof

blood”) or Agonia (in Spanish)—dancesthatinvolvefeatsof endurance,especiallytopain,includingswordorknifeswallowing,piercingof fleshandthesuspensionof largestonesorotherweights,orwalkingoncoals.Thereisnospecificmusicalaccompanimentto this part, other than sometimes themaking of crying sounds on the violin. Usuallyperformedintheearlyevening;and• La Campana(thebell)—Afinaldance

whichhasbecomemorepopularinrecentyears, inwhich dancers descend cable or

ropestretchedfromthetopsof belltowersto the far sideof theplaza, belowwheretheendsareheldbylargegroupsof men.According toWalter,many dancers havedied in falls during this ‘dance’. (WalterVelilleandLuisAguilar,personal

communication).

The Scissors Dance in Transnational ContextWhile it continues to be practiced at

local festivals in theChankas region, theDanza de Tijeras has also thrived in migrant communities inLima,followingtherural-to-urbanmigration of people from theChankasregiontothecapital.LikePeruviancommunitiesintheUS,thebarriosof Limawere settled by smaller communities of migrantsfromspecificregions,whogatherformutualsupportandamongwhomlocalculturalpracticesarenurtured(Turino1993).Fromtheseinternalmigrantcommunities,the dance has traveled to other parts of the world, followingmigration abroad.The members of Los Chankas del Peru are exemplarsof thispatternof migrationandthereaffirmationof tradition.Andeanmusicanddancesof thePeruvian,

Ecuadorian,andBoliviancommunitieshavebeenafocusof myfieldworkasfolkloristfor the Westchester Arts Council. The first scissors dancer I met in 2003 was IsaacMilares, whose sister had foundeda community dance group,El Conjunto RevelacióninPortChester.Isaacperformedan abbreviated solo version of the scissors dancetorecordedmusic,asacomplementto thecolorful andplayful regionalgroupdances of the larger ensemble. In 2005,Walter arrived in the Port Chester community to share this tradition.WalterVelille grew up in Lima in the

migrant community from theApurimacdepartment of southernPeru,where thescissors dance originated. His father had alsobeena scissorsdancer,but retired toplayviolinforotherdancers.Walterlearnedthe dances from his father and others in the community.Later,hehadtheopportunitytoteachapprenticesattheMuseodelaNacióninLima.Throughthisrecognition,hewas


Washington Grove. Trees growing on the edge of one of the glacial kettles in the Grove.

invited toperform inEurope,China, andJapan.Hefirst visited theUS in 2002 toparticipateinaNativeAmericangatheringinSeattle,wherehebeganbuildingbridgesbetween his and North American native traditions. He settled in the New York area in 2005, living first in the Sound Shorevillageof PortChester,whichhasa large

and thriving Peruvian community, butmore recently in North White Plains. He hasworkedforcontactorsdoingflooring,roofing,andgutterwork.In2005,LuisimmigratedtotheUSand

settled in PortChester aswell,where heworksasahousepainter.Soon,he joinedWalter in forming Los Chankas del Peru.

Theyperformedundertheirstagenamesof Quesqento and Paccaricha. Scissors dancers are givenspiritualnamesbytheirmentorswhenthey attain a level of mastery of the dance. InQuechua,Quesqentomeans“cicada,”andPaccarichameans “daybreak,” or dawn. In2008, the pair joinedwith twomusicians.BrothersborninApurimac,Andeanharpist

Walter Velille demonstrates Alta Ensayo leap over the sound engineers, Port Chester Fest, June 2013. Photo by the author.


AlejandroVelasco performs asSiguarcha,(the name of a small bird) and violinist Ignacio Velasco uses the stage name Chirapa (meaning“rainbow”).

Rarely seen in the US before the late 1990s,theDanza de Tijeres is becoming more common, especially in areas with largerPeruvianpopulations.IntheNewYorkareathere are other dancers, butLos Chankas del Peru, among the best known, performthroughouttheregionatcommunityfestivals,or at events as small as community concerts inchurchbasements,asIhavewitnessedinPortChester.Inaddition,Los Chankas have performed annually at theUnitedNationsConferenceonIndigenousPeoples.Atmostevents intheUS,performancestendtobeshort,certainlyincomparisontothefestivalsin the Chankas region. They can be as short as

20minutes,withanopeningduetdancebasedon the Passacalleprocession,typicallyfollowedby one continuousmelody accompanying,byturns, thetwodancerswhoengage inafriendlyandoftenchoreographedexchangeof dancesequences,whichgraduallyescalateinto acrobatics.At the end, a final duet isperformedtoclosetheperformance.Inthelargerfestivals,thegroupwillenactaversionof the blessing of the elements, using anembroideredblanketwithceremonialobjects,andthesoundingof aconchshelltrumpetfor dramatic effect.Even in the expatriatePeruviancommunityperformancesettings,theperformances arenot generally longer,because,asWalterexplained,manyPeruviansmigrantscomefromotherregionsof Peru,where few know of the scissors dance tradition.

Conclusion AcrossPeru, dance affirms community

throughparticipatorypracticeof acomplexlanguagenotonlyof localculturalsymbolism,butalsoof thedramaticinterplayof actorsrepresenting or commenting upon thesocial order. Carnival and Fiestas patronales are occasions in which teams of dancers representtheirownclassesorsocialgroups,ormockothersincompetitivedanceevents(See Turino [1992] andMendoza [2000]forexamples inPunoandCuzco).Unlikethe amateur carnival and festival dancers,the danzaq are a professional caste of specializeddancerswho,throughaprocessof migration and recontextualizationhave adapted their practice to embody adeeply historical identity apart from theeveryday social fabric—but also one that

Los Chankas del Peru performing at the American Folk Festival in Bangor, Maine, August 2013. Photo by the author.


has become a transnational symbol of Peruvian indigenous identity. In the migrant communitiesof Lima,othershavelearnedandpracticed thescissorsdance,as ithasentered the realm of popular nationalculture. Likewise,where traditionally thedanzaqwere alwaysmen,women arenowlearningthepracticeaswell.

Within the transnational context of a community such as in PortChester,NY,thedancealsoservesanimportantroleincreatingavirtualspacefortheaffirmationof the Chankas regional identity and evoking its spiritual associations withinmigrantcommunities.Assuch,thepracticeof WalterVelille,LuisAguilar,andtheVelascobrothersserves to situate migrants from their home region as a virtual sub-community among Peruvianslivingabroad,evenastheyearnat least part of their livelihoods outsidethecommunityasa“commodity”of theirpartiallyreimaginedculture.

ReferencesB e a s l e y - M u r r a y , J o n . 2 0 0 8 .

“Arguedasmachine:Modernity andAffectintheAndes.”Reviewof “El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo” by JoséMaríaArguedas,publ.1960. In IberoamericanaNueva época8(30):pp.113–128.Bush,Jason.2013.“TheUrbanizationand

Transnational Circulation of the Peruvian Scissors Dance.” In Performance and the Global City,editedbyD.J.HopkinsandKimSolga,pp.120–139.NewYork:MacMillan.Castro-Klarén,Sara.1989.“Dancingand

theSacred intheAndes:Fromthe“Taqui-Oncoy” to ‘Rasu-Niti.’” Dispositio 14 (36–38): pp.169–185.Civallero,Edgardo,andSaraPlaza.2011.

“Thedanzaq.”InLand of winds: sounds, voices & echoes from Andean America (digitalmagazine)>Traditions>Clothing.Issue05.May–June.http://landofwinds.blogspot.com/2011/05/danzaq.htmlMarcoy,Paul.[1869]1873. Voyage a travers

l’Amerique du Sud. Paris. Paris: Librairie de L.Hachette etCie., 1869, p. 291.EnglishTranslation:London,BlackieandSon,1873.Mendoza,Zoila S. 2000.Shaping Society

through Dance: Mestizo Ritual Performance in the

Peruvian Andes. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.Millones, Luis. 1964. “Unmovimiento

nativista del siglo XVI: El Taki Onqoy.” Revista Peruana de Cultura(Lima)3:pp.134–140.Molina,Cristóbalde.[1574]2010.Relación de

las fábulas y ritas de los incas (An Account of the FablesandRitesof theYncas,byChristovalde Molina). In Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Yncas, edited and translated by Clements Markham,pp.3–64.London:HakluytSociety,1873,reprinted2010.Mumford, Jeremy. 1998.“The Taki

Onqoy and the Andean Nation: Sources andInterpretations.”Latin American Research Review33(1):pp.150–165.Núñez-Rebaza,Lucy. 1990.Los Danzaq.

Lima: Museo Nacional de la Cultura Peruana.Strong,Mary.2012.Art, Nature, and Religion

in the Central Andes: Themes and Variations from Prehistory to the Present.Austin,TX:TheUniversity of Texas Press.Turino,Thomas. 1993.Moving Away from

Silence: Music of the Peruvian Altiplano and the Experience of Urban Migration. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.UNESCO (UnitedNationsEducational,

Scientific,andCulturalOrganization).2010.ScissorsDance.RepresentativeList of theIntangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. UNESCO » Culture » Intangible Heritage » Lists and Register: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg-en&pg-00011&RL-00391Uriarte,Ana,dir.andwriter.1998.Encuentro

Ritual: Los Danzaq de Huacaña. Documentary filmproducedbyTAL(TelevisiónAmericaLatina),SãoPauloBrasil.VideoURL:http://tal.tv/es/video/encuentro-ritual-los-danzaq-en-huacana/

Notes1 Ending in 1565 with the execution of

itsleader,TupacAmaru,thenephewof theIncaruler,Atahualpa,whowasransomedandmurderedbytheconquistadorPizarroandhismen 30 years before.

2 French naturalist and travel writer Paul Marcoy witnessed scissors dancers in Cusco in the 1860s and his two-volume narrative of his journeyacrossSouthAmericaincludedaclear

Tom van Buren, PhD, is an ethnomusicologist, curator, producer, musician, and director of the Folk Arts Program for the Westchester Arts Council in White Plains, NY. He has served on the New York Folklore Society Board since 2009 and is the president for 2015–17. Photo by Ann van Buren.

descriptionof ascissorsdancerinthemodernsense,butonewhoseroleheidentifiedasaclownamongmanystreetperformers(Marcoy[1869]1873).

3 The text of the nomination of the Scissors Dance is as follows: The scissors dance is performed byinhabitants of Quechua villages and communities in the south-central Andes of Peru, andnow inurban settings…during dry months coinciding with the mainphasesof theagriculturalcalendar.The scissors dance takes its name from thepairof polishedironrods,resemblingscissorsblades,wieldedbyeachdancerinhis right hand. Together with a violinist andaharpist,adancerformsacuadrilla (team)thatrepresentsagivenvillageorcommunity.Toperform, twoormorecuadrillasfaceeachother,andthedancersmust strike the blades together in time to therhythmof theaccompanyingmusi-cians,whileperformingachoreographedduel of step-dancing, acrobatics andincreasingly demanding movements. The competitionoratipanakuymaylastuptotenhours,andphysicalability,qualityof theinstruments,andexpertiseof theac-companyingmusicians,areallevaluatedto determine the winner. The dancers wearoutfits embroideredwith goldenfringes,multi-colouredsequinsandsmallmirrors,butwhileincostumeareforbid-den from entering churches because of the tradition that their abilities are the resultof apactwiththedevil.Regardless,thescissorsdancehasbecomeapopularpartof Catholicfestivities.Thephysicalandspiritualknowledge implicit in thedance ispassedonorally frommastertostudent,witheachcuadrilla of dancers andmusiciansgivingpridetoitsvillageof origin. (UNESCO 2010)


Home, Sweet Homewood BY LIBBY TUCKER

through the border between the living and thedead;innovels,plays,andfilms,characterscanmovefromthepresenttothepastorthefuture. Neither form of travel is easy.

Some Binghamton legends describe ghosts who struggle to reach their lost loved ones. One famous example is the “WhiteLady,”a hitchhiker who died on a highway and tries very hard to return to her parents.This is one of many stories from the “VanishingHitchhiker”legendcycle.AnotherBinghamton legend concerns a husband whoslowlywalksupstairs,bringingwoodtowarmtheroomwherehisdearwifesleeps.Heandhiswifebothbelongtothepast,buthis love for his wife makes him carry wood intothepresent,disturbingthesleepof thehouse’s current owners. In both of these stories,lovingfamilybondsprovidepowerfulmotivation. Not all Binghamton ghost stories involvepositivefeelings,however.Theghostof JoshuaWhitneyatChristChurch,foundedin1810,supposedlyhauntsthechurchbecausehe is furious that he never got a chance to build anoversizedpew.He communicateswiththelivingbyhidingobjectsandplayingoutrageous tricks.During the long, coldmonthsof winter

andearlyspring,wethinkaboutconnectionsbetweenthepastandthepresent,andbondsbetween the living and the dead. Going back to“home,sweethome”mightbetempting,butitwouldbeanemotionallycomplicatedtrip.Let’smoveontothefutureandwelcomespring!

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This has been an unusually long and harsh winter. Daylight savings time starts tomorrow,butourneighborhoodstilllookslike Antarctica. Our driveway has a thick layer of ice,andourguttershavecrackedunderthepressureof enormousicicles.Inweatherthisbad,squirrelsdon’twanttoleavetheirnestsinthefrozentrees.Bothanimalsandhumanswant to stay in their warm, comfortablehomes.

Early in February we had a welcome break fromwinterdoldrums.HughGrant,abelovedBritish actor, paid a visit toBinghamtonUniversitywithMarcLawrence,atalentedBUalumnuswhodirectedhismostrecentfilm,The Rewrite.Bothof themcametoourcampusthat freezing February day becauseThe Rewrite, a romantic comedy about a reluctant screenwritingprofessor, hadbeenpartiallyfilmed here. Excitement spread rapidly.Therewouldbeascreeningof thefilm,withcommentary byGrant andLawrence, andstudents and faculty could get free tickets!Manyof uswerereadytolineup,nomatterhow cold and snowy the weather became.

The screening of The Rewrite was a huge success,butitwasn’teasytogettickets.Likemanyotherpeople,Iwatchedthemovielateronmycomputer athome. Itwas adelightto discover that the movie included a ghost story—notjustastoryaboutahauntingbyone deceasedperson, but a story about awhole ghostly town thathadunexpectedlyappeared.Thistown,Homewood,belongedto The Twilight Zone, created by Binghamton’s favorite author Rod Serling.

The Twilight Zone episode, “WalkingDistance” appeared onCBS in 1959. Inthe episode amiddle-agedman namedMartin Sloan stops at a gas station to gethis car repaired and learns that the townof Homewood,wherehegrewup, iscloseenough for a short visit.Feelingnostalgic,Martinstrollsovertoaparkwherehespentmanyhappyhoursasaboy.Withasenseof shock,herealizesthatheisnotonlyinthesametownwherehegrewupbutalsointheeraof hisboyhood.Onthepark’scarousel,

Martin meets his younger self and frightens theboy,causinghimtofalloff themovingcarousel and injure his leg. Later,Martintalkswithhisfather,whoadviseshimtolookforward,notback.Ashereturnstothegasstationtopickuphiscar,Martinrealizesthathenowhasalimp;hisboyhoodself ’sinjuryhas become his own.

How does the encounter between Martin andhisyoungerself andhisfatherinfluencethe plot of The Rewrite? Serling, a highlyrespectedauthorwhogrewupnearRecreationPark inBinghamton, has becomepart of the city’s identity and spirit. Binghamtonresidentsproudlypointtothecarouselinthepark,which standsnear aplaquehonoring“WalkingDistance,”andalocallegendclaimsthat Serling’s ghost haunts the carousel. In The Rewrite we hear nothing about Serling’s ghost,butweseetheplaqueandlearnabouttheepisodethatithonors.AsKeithMichaels,the reluctant screenwritingprofessor, startsarelationshipwithanundergraduatefemalestudent, drinks toomuch liquor, provokesthe angerof a senior facultymember, anddismisseshisclassforamonth,hegetsintosomuchtroublethatheneedsgood,solidadvice,whichSerling’s“WalkingDistance”provides.Just asMartinSloan learns thathemust

leaveHomewood and look forward, notback,KeithMichaels learns thathe shouldstopbreakingtheuniversity’srulesandplanfor a worthwhile future as a creative writing professor.He also gets in touchwith hisestranged sonandbuys a JaneAusten totebag and other trinkets for a senior faculty memberwhodeeplydislikeshim,winningherappreciationandfriendship.Thatpartof themovieseemsveryhardtobelieve,butwhoexpectsromanticcomediestoimitatereality?Quasi-magical transformation can be fun to watch, especiallybecause it doesn’thappenoften in everyday life.

Characters in The Rewrite, “WalkingDistance,” and certain local ghost legendsexpressyearningof peopletocommunicatewith each other. In ghost legends,communication necessitates breaking

Libby Tucker teaches folklore at Binghamton University. Her book Haunted Halls: Ghostlore of American College Campuses (Jackson: Uni-versity Press of Missis-sippi, 2007) investigates college ghost stories. She also authored Children’s Folklore: A Handbook (Westport: Greenwood, 2008). She co-edited, with Ellen McHale, New York State Folklife Reader: Diverse Voices (University Press of Mississippi, 2013).


Getting Off Track BY DAN BERGGREN

Igerna:MissMabelleCole,of Warrens-burgh,isintownsecuringemployeesforJ.P.Baumann&Son’sshirtwaistfactory.Bakers Mills: Ellsworth Ross made seventy-five pounds of maple sugarduring the last days of February. It is also reported that LewisHack,wholives about amile from JohnsburghCorners, made 100 pounds in thesame time.Indian Lake: Mrs. JohnLawrence leftThursdayforNewYork,whereshewillpurchaseherspringmillinery.Knowelhurst: Warren White has hauled 200 cords of pulp wood from themountain and will let it lay over until next winter. L. W. Brooks has set some teams hauling 400 cords of bark out of the woods and drawing it to the Stony Creekstationonwagons.Quiteajobatoneloadperday.Stony Creek: L. W. Brooks has given uphopeof movingtheremainderof his logs and will turn his attention to getting his bark out of the woods to a placewherehecangettoitwithwag-ons to wheel it to the station.

. . . and pleasureNorth Creek: There will be a dance at Dunlap’shotel,NorthRiver,tomorrowevening. Someof our young peoplewill attend.North River: JohnCornwall,awealthycitymanwhohas a homehere, lastweek purchased an elegant Ivers&PondbabygrandpianofromBaffey’s[sic] piano rooms,Glens Falls. Theinstrument was delivered and set upFridaybyGeorgeM.Kempton,man-ager of the Bailey rooms. Mrs. Corn-wall,whoisasplendidplayer,ismuchpleasedwithit.

Story of the weekGraphite: Mrs.Channcy[sic]Duellhada narrow escape from losing all herhaironenightlastweek.Itappearsthatshehadarubberorotherinflammablecomb in her hair, andwhile sittingnear the stove she stoopedher headoverandthecombcaughtonfire.Shescreamed and ran to the water bucket

[Editor’s Note: Forthepreviousissue,VarickChittenden wrote his last Upstatecolumn,electing to retire, and pass the reins toanotherUpstatevoice.WethankVarickforhis stories, insights, observations, and allthatfilledhiscolumnssincetheinceptionof Voices. We now welcome Dan Berggren to Voices to continue the tradition of bringingnewsandviewsfromUpstatetoour readers. This year marks Dan’s 40th year of performing in the Adirondacks,and the 30th year since the release of his firstalbum,Adirondack Green.]

As a kid, I loved to linger with the dictionary long after the word I wanted toknowwasfound.Moreoftenthannot,the accidental discoveries were far more interesting than what I was seeking.So it was when I attempted to piece

togetherapictureof mygrandmotherbysearching for her maiden name online. ManyoldernewspapershavebeenturnedintosearchablePDFs;butonceonapage,youhavetosearchtheold-fashionedway,byreadingthepagetofindthenameyou’veentered. That’s how I lost my genealogical path and found instead, the flavor of everyday life more than a century ago in upstateNewYork.

What was on the minds of Adirondackers in 1906? Through its weekly column “NeighborhoodNotes,”The Warrensburgh News gave simple sketches of whatmattered:

People coming and going Wevertown: JohnDavisonwenttoIndianLake Saturday.Mrs. J.Davison camehome from Indian Lake Saturday. Indian Lake: Nearly everyone around townisafflictedwithseverecolds.Mrs.Isaac Kenwell and Mrs. Frank Carroll leftTuesdayforaweek’ssojournwithfriendsatGreenfieldCenter.Knowelhurst: There was quite an excite-mentatL.W.Wood’sstoreandpostofficeWednesdayof lastweekwhenMikeFlynn,afighterfromawayback,

cameinandattemptedtorunthings.He abused three men and then turned upon Seymour Fuller,who knockedhim down, blackened both his eyesand choked him almost into insensi-bilityandnooneinterferred[sic]untilFlynn said he had enough. Verdict of thecrowd,“Servedhimright.”Fullerknockedhis thumboutof joint,butwasnototherwiseinjured.

Beasts of burdenMinerva: Master Arthur Callahan has disposedof hisdonkeyandtheboysarenowridingonskees[sic].Mr.andMrs.JohnS.JameswereattheWest-sideonbusinessSaturday.Mr. Jamesisdrivingaveryfinecoltthathehaspurchasedquite recently andhas theanimal very nicely broken. West Stony Creek: Orrin Perkins while drawing pulpwood to StonyCreekSaturday lamed one of his horses quite badly.Theanimal steppedonanoldskid in the road and turned her ankle in suchawayastocauseaseveresprain,which will disable her for some time.Stony Creek: Halsey Fuller has sold his workhorsetoMr.Waddell,of Chester.W. R. Miles has traded his gray road horse—theonehe raised, that is, he“raised” itwith tackleblocks,had toraise it thatway, because the horse,whendown, couldnotorwouldnotgetupbyitself.Itseemednowandthento get discouraged with things of this world and wanted to lie down and quit. Like the late Southern Confederacy the horsesimplywantedtobeletalone,butunlikesaidConfederacytheoldhorse,withthehelpof theblocks,wasputonitsfeetandmadetostandupandtakenotice. The horse Mr. Miles traded for needsnoadvertising,as it“blows itsown horn.”

Tending to businessJohnsburgh Corners: Wyatt Ellsworth,of LakeGeorge, is in town to buyfat cattle.W. J.Armstrong,whowasinjuredattheHoopergarnetmine,issome better but cannot use his arm any yet. Dr. Somerville removed the bandages Monday and thinks the bones are uniting nicely.

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High Banter BY STEVE ZEITLIN

Whenever my wife and I do something reallydumborspacey,wecallit“SteveandAmandagoaroundtheworldinadaze.”Likemany,long-marriedcouples,we’vedevelopedroutinesforourownpersonalcomedyteamof sorts.Forinstance,AmandaandItakeacommuter train home from Grand Central Station.Weoftenarriveatthestationsepa-ratelyandpromisethatwe’llmeetatthegate.The other day I got to the gate with only a minuteortwobeforethetrainleft—butshewasn’t there. I called her on my cell. “You’renothere—whereareyou?”Sheanswered,“I’matthegate.”“Amanda,it’sGatenumber35!”“IamatGate35.”Suddenly a passerby tappedmeon the

shoulder and said, “By chance, is that thewoman you’re looking for?” We were stand-ingback-to-back,lessthanfivefeetapart,andwe dissolved into laughter over our unwitting slapstick.Hilariousforanaudienceof two.Definitelyinsiderhumor.Everycouplethathasspentyearstogether

probablyhasacomicandstraightmanem-bedded in their humor and their folklore. Inourcomedyroutine,Iamafountainof sillinesstoabemusedAmandawhoplaysmy“straightman.”Ineveryphotographonourvacations, Iamtrying toposeasaRomanstatueonashearedoff colonnade,ormakeit look like the sun is setting in my glass of caipirinha,whileAmanda takes thepictureand laughs.

Professional comedy teams themselves are,of course, inspiredby real life.LucilleBall was already a successful comedienne when she was offered a sitcom on CBS. She would only agree to do it if they brought on herhusband,CubanbandleaderDesiArnaz.At the time,herproducers thought itwascrazytoconsidertheCubanbandleaderfortheshow—“whattelevisionaudiencewouldbelieve that you were married to a Cuban bandleader?” they asked. “Iam married to aCubanbandleader,”shetoldthem.Com-mentators talk about her wanting to bring the touringDesiArnazcloser tohomeby

puttinghimontheshow,butshemusthaveknown from real life that they could be funny together,withherplayingthecomicandDesi,the straight man (Kantor 2009). The idea of which partnerwill be the

straight and which one the comic can change. The comedy team of George Burns and GracieAllen,thatfromthe1930sthroughthe1960s took comedy from vaudeville to radio andthentotelevision,switchedtheirrolesatonepoint.WhentheygotstartedinvaudevilleinNewYork,Graciewasthestraightwomanand George had all the funny lines. At some point,theynoticedthataudienceswerelaugh-ingatGracie’sstraightlines,notatGeorgeplayingthefool.SotheyswitchedroleswithGeorgeplayingthestraightman,andAllenplayingtheditsyladywithallthefunnylines.“Forthebenefitof thosewhohavenever

seenmebefore,”saidNewYorkcomedianGeorgeBurns,“I’mwhatisknowninshowbusiness as a straight man. After the come-diangetsthroughwiththejokeIlookatthecomedian and then I look at the audience like this” (rolls his eyes). Then Gracie would tell ajoke.Forinstance,Georgewalksintotheirlivingroomandsays,“Thosearebeautifulflowers.”“Aren’t they lovely?” she answers. “If it

weren’t for you I wouldn’t have them.” “Me?WhatdidIhavetodowithit?”“YousaidwhenIwenttovisitClaraBagley

totakeherflowers.Sowhenshewasn’tlook-ing,Idid.”Georgepauses tobringon the laughter.

“Thatiswhatisknownasapause,”hesaid.“I’mfamousformypauses”(Kantor2009).

In the documentary Make ‘Em Laugh,theactorLewisStadlennotesthat“GeorgeBurnsandGracieAllencapturedtheideathatmenare from Mars and women are from Venus. Theideathattwointellectualconceptswillnevermeet,but theystill loveeachother.”(Kantor2009).Perhaps thehumor iswhatenablesthemtoloveeachother,asitdoeswithmanycouples.Whetherbetweencomediansonthepop

culturestageorpartnersineverydaylife,high

Dan Berggren’s roots are firmly in the Adirondacks where he was raised, but his music has branched out across many borders. For over 40 years, the award-winning musician and educator has entertained audiences across New York, throughout the US, and overseas in Europe, the British Isles, and Central Africa. Before devoting his life to music, Dan worked in the woods with a forest ranger and surveyor, was a radio producer in Europe, professor of audio and radio studies at SUNY Fredonia, and owner of Sleeping Giant Records, which has produced 15 albums. Dan is a tradition-based songsmith who writes with honesty, humor, and a strong sense of place. His concerts are engaging as he invites audiences to join in on songs that explore the lives of hardworking folks and the many dimensions of home. You can hear samples from Dan’s latest CD, Tongues in Trees, recorded with his bass-playing buddy, Ed Lowman, at his website: www.berggrenfolk.com. Photo by Jessica Riehl.

and succeededwith the help of herhusband,whowas near by, in extin-guishingtheflame,butnotbeforethecomb and a good quantity of hair was entirelyburned,alsopartof herscalp.

Eventually I located my grandmother’s name (“Miss Ella Van Norden, of NewYork, is a guest at Woodbine cottage.”Olmstedville, March 8, 1906), but likemeanderingthroughthedictionary,thesliceof life from all the other Neighborhood Notes was far more fascinating.

Maybe another search is in store. Was this thefirst timemymother’smothervisitedthe Adirondacks? Was Woodbine cottage where she met my grandfather? The 1906 date is three years before she gave birth to my mother. Who knows what detours are instorethenexttimeIgoexploring.


Steve whispers a joke to Amanda at their wedding. Photo courtesy of the author.

Steve Zeitlin is the founding director of City Lore in New York City. Photo by Martha Cooper.

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banter is all about being in the moment. When youaretotallyathomewithanotherperson,youcanfreeassociate,creatingriffsthatyoucould never have with anyone else. The online UrbanDictionary, inwhichvisitors supplytheir ownwords anddefinitionsof urbanslang,offerstheir“top”definitionof banter asa“suppletermusedtodescribeactivitiesorchatthatisplayful,intelligentandoriginal.”Theirbestexample,anoldvaudevilleline:“You,sir,aredrunk.”“Maybeso,butyouareugly,andIwillbe

sober in the morning.”AndyDavis, anL.A.-based scholar and

performerwho stages burlesque comedyshows based on his doctoral research into theaterhistory,plays thestraightmanwithhisfriendDavidSpringhorninsketchestheycallDocandStumpy’sBurlesqueShows.Aclassic vaudeville line made its way into their ownhighbanterawayfromthestage—“thatjokejustnevergetsnew.”

The great comedy teams are reacting and improvisingwith eachother, aswell as re-spondingtotheaudience.AmandaandIarehuge fans of Saturday Night Live,whichwestruggletostayuptowatcheverySaturdaynight. An entire volume could and should be written on the folklore of Saturday Night Live,focusingontheimprovisatoryhumor—thebantersharedandcreatedbythewriters,aswellasthebanterimprovisedbythecomics

ontheliveshow.Oneparticularfavoritewaswatching comediennes Amy Poehler and MayaRudolphriff off eachotherasBettyCaruso and JodiDietz on their localTVshow,Bronx Beat. Betty: “Itsbananas!Thewholeworld is

bananas. You know what I say? Live your life causetheworldisgonnablowup!”Jodi:“She’sright.Enjoyyourfamily,enjoy

yourfriends,haveaglassof wine.”Betty: “Have twoglasses of wine, have

10 glasses of wine. What do I care? What am I?Thepoliceor something?” (“BronxBeat” 2007). If you’renot in themoment, theworld

of highbanterwillsliderightpastyou.Highbanter is a key ingredient of folk culture and family folklore. It’s also the essence of the poetryduelsthatAmandaandIhavestudiedindifferentpartsof theworld.Bothonstreetcornersandstages,poetsriff off eachotherinrhyme,participatingintraditionsrangingfrom extempoinTrinidad,desafiosinPortugal,contrastiinItaly,freestylerapintheUS,andrepentistas in Brazil. The banter betweencouples andothers is also reminiscent of whathappenswhenjazzmusiciansriff off one another. It’s a key element of comedy as it evolved from local humor to its days on medicineandminstrelshowstages,vaudevilleandburlesque,sitcomsandrealityTV—andback into the living room.For everyday couples,momentsof high

banterareoftenenshrinedinstory—writtenabout or retold. The balance for any creative personistobebothinthemoment—withno notion that the banter might make for a good story—and later realizing that—aha!—itwillmakeagoodstory,thenshapingandtellingthetaletofriendsoronpaperwhenthe time is right.

The Steve-and-Amanda-Go-Around-the-World-in-a-DazestoriesaretoldwithgreatflairbyAmanda.Inourcomedyteam,Iamthequipper andAmanda is the storyteller,who retells the incident afterwards to an outsideaudience.Mostrecently,Amandaat-tended a the biannual Cousins House Party atthebeachinSouthCarolina,whichbringstogether the women cousins of her genera-tionforathree-daybashof drinking,joking,

and telling stories. The humor rests on a lot of insider knowledge.For instance,manyof the Dargan/Edwards cousins are known forgenerationsof widehips.Amandatoldthe story of our high banter that followed mypurchaseof amaroonshirtthathadanespeciallylargecollar.Amanda:“Youshouldn’twearshirtswith

big collars.”Steve:“Why?”Amanda: “Theymake your head look

small,”sheteased.Steve:“Yourhipsmakemyheadlooksmall.”ItwashercousinMartha’sstory,though,of

ariff betweenherself andaburly,toughguyinasupermarketthattookthecomedycakeattheHouseParty,enshrinedforeverintheDargan cousins’ folklore. Amanda’s cousin Marthawas in the supermarket,when sheheardaloudmouthcursingathiscompanion.Martha shookherhead and said, “Mister,whatisyourproblem?”“Myproblem?”heshouted.“Idon’thave

aproblem.”“Mister,” she said, “yourproblem’s your

mouth.”“Lady,”heretorted,“yourproblem,your

butt.” Sohere’stohighbanter,thehumorousjazz

thatoccurswhenwe riff off oneanother,improvising in those you-had-to-be-theremomentswhere the timing is perfect andconversationsareelevatedtothepointwhere,asColePorterputit,“It’sdelightful,it’sdeli-cious,it’sde-lovely.”

Works Cited“BronxBeat,”Saturday Night Live,NBC,

Season32,Episode10,January13,2007.Kantor,Michael (Director).Make ‘Em

Laugh: The Funny Business of America. United States: GhostLightFilms,Inc.,andThirteen/WNET,2009.


F orover2,000years,thenoun“digit”(from the Latin digitus)hassignified

“finger,” but now in its adjectival form“digital”relatestotechnologythatgener-ates,stores,andprocessesdata.Thislexi-cal shift is emblematic of a larger change withinour culture, andmore specifically,thepracticeof drawing.Withanewmillen-niumquicklyunfoldingbeforeus,Icannotthinkof abettertimetolookatthepastto reconsider the essential role that tactile valueshaveplayedinthepracticeof draw-ing since time immemorial. Are our hands becoming obsolete as creative tools? Are ourhandsbeingreplacedbymachines?Andwheredoesthatleavethecreativeprocess?Thesequestionswerefirstraisedbymy

entry into the realm of academe in the fall of 2010,whenIbecameamemberof thefaculty at Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versity’sSchoolof theArtsinRichmond,VA.Chargedwithteaching,amongotherthings, the fundamentals of drawing, Iwas required toanalyzeandarticulate, inaconcisemanner,theprocessesthatasadraftsman,Ihaddevelopedandemployedover the years—andwhich had becomemysteriously instinctual and intuitive. This developmentinmyprofessionallifesoonledtoarenewedinterestonmypartinthepracticeof observationaldrawing.Perhapsinevitably,thisledtoarediscoveryof thelessons learned while attending the Istituto Statale d’ArteinFlorence,Italy.

I had the good fortune to come of age in a culture that fostered a holistic,

BY STEPHEN ALCORN

DRAWING THE LINEReflections on the importance of drawing

by hand in an increasingly digital age

“Self-portrait” by Stephen Alcorn. Brush and India ink on paper; 22” x 17”


humanistic approach to art education.Aseminalinfluenceformeatthisstageof mylife was my instructor of disegno dal vero (life drawing), thesculptorandpainterMarcoLukolic.A kind and thoughtfulman, hereveled in the eye-mind-hand coordination thatmakesdrawingpossible,andfosteredanappreciationfortheartof translation,namely those processes of thought andperceptionthatpermitanartisttotranscend

“My Right Hand” by Stephen Alcorn. Mixed media on paper; 17” x 22”

the prosaic and embrace the poetic.Hiswork isatoncemodern,ancient, sophis-ticated,andnaif—inshort, it lends itself tobeingappreciatedonmultiplelevels.Hevaluedtheorganicovertheclinical,andtheimaginativeovertheliteral.Perhapsmostimportantly,hetaughtmetovaluetraditionandtorecognizethattraditionisnotnos-talgia,butknowledgepassedonfromonegeneration to another.Forhis example I

amgrateful,foritencouragedmetoseemyartisticdevelopmentasamicrocosmof thelargerhistoryof art,andthushaveasenseof belonging to a larger whole.

Maintaining a daily diet of drawingThechallengesIhavefacedasaprint-

maker, illustrator, and painter over theyears led me to work more and more from


Composite of studies featuring the artist’s muse (composite of 6 individual works) by Stephen Alcorn. Mixed media on paper; 22” x 17”

memory,andinamannerandstyleperhapsmore indebted to the advent of synthetic cubismthantothefiguredrawinglessonsof myyouth,which revolvedaround thediscoveryandexplorationof suchextraor-dinary draftsmen as Pisanello,Watteau,Ingres,theyouthfulDegas,andKollwitz.This distancing from the academic draw-ing practices of my youthwas pushedfurther by my lifelong fascination with the relief-blockprint,amediumthatimposesunforgiving constraints and necessitates a highdegreeof formalstylization.Still,Inevercompletelyabandonedthe

practice of drawing from life.Over theyears,myworkhascometoembodyasortof dichotomycomprisedof twocomple-

mentaryapproachestoimagemaking:oneinspiredbyanonymousItalianfolkartof the15thand16thcenturies,and18th-and19th-century American folk art; and a secondinspiredbytheaforementionedEu-ropeantraditionof masterdraftsmanship.My“DailyDrawing”seriesof mixed-mediastudies is a testament to my commitment to the practice of drawing remaining anintegralpartof mydailylife.

A firm foundationThethingsthatshapedmyexperience

inschool—aloveforartist’smaterials,ahands-onapproachtotheimage-makingprocesses,etc.—nolongerapplytotheartstudent of today. The contrast between the

inherentlyartisanalcharacterof myexpe-rience in art school and the technology-driven ethos of today could not be more marked.As I seek to impart the skills Iwasfortunatetolearninmyyouth,Iammade increasingly aware of how removed today’s students have become from the tools,materials, and art historical refer-ences that I took for granted—the verythings that made my evolution and career as a printmaker, illustrator, and painterpossible.Iamfindingthatstudentsoftenrely on only one medium of communicat-ingandvisualizingtheir ideas,anddon’texploreothercraft-basedmedia.Whathasemerged from thepredominanceof thecomputer inthegenerationof art isthe


anincreasinglylargeraudience.Thepowerof the computer lies not in its ability toimitate human actions, but in the facilitywithwhichitallowspeopletocommuni-cate fullyashumanbeings.Paradoxically,digital technology enhances my humanity andallowsmetokeepeverythingalive—atraditionthatbegan30,000yearsagowiththeprehistoric cavepainters.Technology

domination of the tool over the aesthetic judgment of the user. The computer isan extremely powerful instrument, andlike all tools, it alters our perceptionof reality.Becauseof this,one’sconscious-nessof form,color,shape,andmeaningcanriskthedangerof beingeclipsedbyincreasingly technological extensions of our faculties.

Striking a balanceAs a 21st-century artist, I rely on the

most advanced digital technologies as tools that enhance my ability to be more human. These labor-saving devices grant metimetoworkbyhand.Inturn, thosehand-made drawings can be scanned with afidelityunknowntopreviousgenerations,and the results can then be disseminated to

Composite of a deliberately eclectic selection of works executed in a variety of physical media by Stephen Alcorn.


“Self-portrait” by Stephen Alcorn. Sketchbook entry; Mixed media on paper, 14” x 11”

exists to serve humanity. Humanity does notexisttoservetechnology.Assuch,thelaptopisabrilliantlabor-savingtool.Itisnot,however,asubstituteforlifeanymorethan as Flaubert pointed out, literaturecansubstituteforlife.Inotherwords,anyescape that takesusoutof the realmof the living is a shortcut to the demise of the senses.

One of my tasks each fall is to review the portfolios of prospective incomingstudents.Overthepastfouryears,Ihavenoticedacuriouspattern:witheachpass-ing year the amount of handmade imagery presented diminishes,while the amountof digitally manipulated photographs

culledfromtheInternetincreases,result-ing inamarkeddepersonalizationof theportfolios.Althoughthisdoesnotreflectpoorlyonthepotentialof thestudents,itdoesreflecttheextenttowhichK–12arteducation has abandoned any semblance of atime-testedcurriculum.Themajorityof incoming students donot possess anunderstanding of the fundamental basics of artist’smaterials.Without knowledge,for example, of the difference betweenacrylicsandgouachepaint,watercolorsandoils,cottonandlinencanvas,hotpressandcoldpresspaper,sableandnylonbrushes,canstudentsreallyhopetorenderthemarkstheyneedtomakeinordertorealizetheir

fullpotentialasaspiringartists?Theartin-struction establishment has turned its back ontheestablishedcurriculum,whichgavebeautyandcraft toppriority.Oneof myprimarygoalsasaninstructoristorestorethe age-old connection between the two.

Falling preyThe website for the (George) Lucas

Museumof NarrativeArtinChicagopro-claims the following:

Current software gives artists tools capable of mimicking almost anymedium.With practice, charcoal, oil,airbrush, acrylic, and collage can bereplicated.Time-consumingtraditionaltechniques, such as the creation of multiple layers of transparent glazes,cannowbeaccomplished inminuteswithnoanxiety,nomessandnoharm-fulsolventfumes.Thisflexibletoolboxgives artists the time and the freedom tocreateuniqueworkforprint,games,television,Internetoutlets,andfeaturefilms. The affordability of graphic-artssoftwareisoneof itsgreatestvirtues,but the digital medium also boasts convenienceandpracticality.Acornerdeskcanserveasacompletestudio,andacomputercansubstituteforanentireartsupplystore.Gonearethedaysof rushing out to buy a tube of cerulean blue.Thedigitalillustrator’scolorpal-ette isunlimited,hisbrushcollectioninfinite,andit’sallcompletelyportable. (http://www.lucasmuseum.org/collection/category/digital-illustration-202.html)

This isadisingenuousattempttosani-tizethecreativeprocessandtoobliteratethe cumulative knowledge gained over the course of 30,000 years of mark-makinghistory.Itis,ineffect,athinlyveiledadver-tisement,attheexpenseof students,fromanindustryintentondominatingafieldinordertoexploitagullible,unwittingaudi-ence.Pedagogically,studentshavelittletogain by mimicking the effects of any given medium,if firsttheydon’texperiencetherealthing.Equallyproblematicarethesug-gestions that the creative process shouldsomehowbe “anxiety free,” that there issomethingwrongwithwantingaphysical


grassrootsinitiative,whichrevolvedaroundtheartof therelief-blockprint,mayalsobe traced to the Home Industries/Arts and Crafts movements of the 19th century. Whatisstrikingaboutallthree“schools”istheorganicwarmthof theproducts theyspawned,andtheircommitmenttocelebrat-ingthetiesthatbindpeopletotheveryen-vironments in which they live and work. All areexpressionsof thewayinwhichartists,through an assertion of the basic human instincttocreatethingsbyhand,havebeendriventorebelagainstthedepersonalizinganddehumanizingeffectsof themachineonthearts,andbyextension,onthequal-ity of life. Well over a century after Morris’ noble experiment, humanity confrontsanother counter-intuitive challenge. Digital technology,anditsaccompanyingautoma-tion,hasthepotentialtoliberatehumanityandtoreturnthehandtoitsrightfulplaceinourlives.Unfortunately,thesameshortcutshaveproven so seductive that their usersnow dream of abandoning their humanity altogether,thusallowingtheirhandstoatro-phy,asif theyweresuperfluousappendages.Yet that was never the intent of the founders of AppleorMicrosoft.

and its accumulated traditions. The great Englishaesthete,WilliamMorris,undertheinfluenceof JohnRuskin,understoodthelinkbetweenpovertyandtheabsenceof aesthetics in the life of the working class. Unfortunately,Morriswasnotabletotapinto thepowerof the IndustrialRevolu-tion to overcome the challenge in a way that made well-designed work available to the very masses that needed it most. The question was not one of craft vs. industri-alization,butoneof applyingthehighestprinciplesof crafttoindustrialdesign.Inshort,thechallengewashowtohumanizeindustry,nottoindustrializehumanity.Asimilarprecedentmaybefoundinthe

ByrdcliffeColony,alsocalledtheByrdliffeArtsColony.Byrdcliffe, nearWoodstock,NY,wascreatedasanexperimentinuto-pian living andwas anoutgrowthof theaforementioned 19th-century Arts and Craftsmovement.Tothisday,itremainstheoldestoperatingArtsandCraftscolonyinAmerica.Then,therewastheGloucester,Massachusetts-based consortium, FollyCoveDesigners,whichgrewoutof adesigncourse taught by the celebrated children’s book illustrator and author,VirginiaLeeBurton. The genesis of this particular

studioof one’sown—aroomwithaview,if youwill,onerepletewiththearomaof paintand(non-harmful)solventsandwork-relateddetritus—andthat“acomputercansubstitute for anentire art supply store.”Finally, why is the age-old, immenselysatisfying ritual of preparing andmixingcolors beingpresented as something un-pleasanttobeavoidedatallcosts?If thetechno-evangelists advocating the abandon-mentof physicalmediahavetheirway,anentire generation of art students will have graduatedwithouteverhavingexperiencedthetransformativeprocessof mixingtwocolors in order to create a third.The fetishizationof technology is not

a newphenomenon: theVictorianswereenamored of the steam engine. Romantic painterssuchasTurner,andevenImpres-sionistssuchasMonet,paintedwhattheysawasprogressthroughdepictionsof rail-roadsandsteamships.Thedifferenceliesinan understanding that never diminished the artistormadethelife-experiencesubservi-ent to the machine. The Industrial Revolu-tioncelebrated,inspiteof itshorrors,whatitrightfullysawasanimprovementinthestandard of living. One of its unfortunate side effectswas the bypassing of craft

Left: “Self-portrait.” Mixed media on paper; 22” x 17”. Middle: “La Sabina.” Mixed media on paper; 22” x 17”. Right: “La Simbiosi.” Mixed media on paper; 22” x 17.” All by Stephen Alcorn.


A sampling of figure-related sketchbook entries by Stephen Alcorn; 11” x 8.5” and 14” x 11”

Paths of least resistanceItisthetactilenatureof therelationship

between artists, thematerials they used,andthesurfacestheydrewuponthatgivethe history of art its fundamental variety andcharacter.Howatoolrespondstotherelativehardness, coarseness, absorbency,etc.,of agivensurfaceisasimportanttoanartist’sexpressionastheartist’sresponsetosaidtools,andviceversa.Howevermaster-ingtheuseof physicalmediaisadifficultchallenge. Many mediums are inherently unforgivinganddonotpermittheendlessrevisions that digital technologies offer. The opportunitytocreateinnumerableversionsof adigitalfile,withoutrequiringabonafidecommitmentonthepartof theartist,is an attractiveone to students, preciselybecauseit is, inadditiontobeingexpedi-ent,forgiving.Thisflexibilitycomeswithaprice,forbeneaththebuffed,slicksurfacecan lurk a disheartening lack of substance. Students who lean unduly on the inherent flexibilityof digitaldrawingmediumsnotonly surrender the individuality of their mark-makingpractices,butalsotheabilityto effectively edit their work.Toexperiencematerialresistanceinone’s

work is desirable: whether it be in the form of a substance to be cut (as in the case of a

seriesof systematicdeprivations,andareleft with little choice but to learn to mimic the effects they have not been taught to achieve otherwise. Proponents of theabandonmentof physicalmediahavenotexperiencedfirsthand the creationof anoilpaintingusingoilglazes.Theirrelation-shiptotheoriginalworkof artisvicarious,hence their inability to make a distinction between a real Rembrandt and a faux (digital) Rembrandt. Who knows what the ultimateeffectof thedeprivationwillbeonfuture generations of art students? What is certain is the adverse impact that theabandonmentof physicalmediainfavorof digital media has had on the mark-making sensibilitiesof aspiringartists.

We are what we drawThe ability to draw by hand was once

seen as the first andmost essential skillof anyartist,but in today’s age,drawingiswidelyperceived tobeanunnecessaryactivity.Todayaspiringartistsarefacedwitha growingprejudice that it is not trendytodraw,andthatthosewhododrawareremnants of something that used to be,quaint anachronisms rooted in a bygone past.Manyartschoolsnolongeremphasizedrawing,preferringtoequiptheirstudents

relief-blockprint),thedragof asablebrushonasheetof cold-pressedpaper,or, thechallenge of manually mixing one’s own pigments.To respond to such resistanceis to build strength and character. Without said characterOlympic athletes, concertpianists,ormasterprintmakerscouldnothope to achieve their excellence.Tempt-ing as it may be to abandon the realm of physicalmedia,todosocanonlyleadtoagradual decline in effectiveness or vigor due tounderuseorneglect.Ultimately,wehavenochoicebuttouseitorloseit,toborrowaphrase.Byleadingstudentstobelievethattheycan,inamatterof minutes,“mimic”virtuallyanyeffecttheychoose,andinsodoing, spare themselves the“anxiety”of havingtoactuallylearnagiventechnique,istoencouragethemtofollowapathof leastresistance.Thechallengesthatphysicalme-diahavetoofferareinvigorating,preciselybecause they offer resistance. Does not the powerof thegeniedependuponthecon-straintsimposedbytheproverbialbottle?Nolongercananaspiringartistexpect

toserveanapprenticeshipwithanestab-lished artist,whichuntil the secondhalf of the20thcentury,wasarightof passageforcraftsmenandartistsalike.Today,artstudentsmustadapttowhatamountstoa


theeyeisfocusedonthemonitor,thereis,inevitably,adisconnectbetweenthehandandtheeye.Comparethiswiththemannerin which the eye follows and guides the mo-tionof thehandinphysicaldrawing,andyou realize just how counterintuitive theprocess of digital drawing canbe if youare not vigilant. Nothing could be further from the truth than the oft-heard cliché“thecomputerisjustanotherpencil.”Thestepsinvolvedindigitaldrawingprocessescanbeoverwhelminglydisjointedandcan

stymie experimentation.On the otherhand,knowledgeof analogprocessescaninform the digital in meaningful ways. For example,knowledgeof colortheoryallowsus to understand the effects of color and blendmodesindigitalapplications,justasexperimentingwithhand-madestencilscaninform our use of digital masking layers.

A universal instinctThroughout history humans have re-

sponded to aprofoundneed to translate

with the latest digital or video cameras and 3-Dprinters.Withcomputer-baseddrawingand modeling tools becoming increasingly prevalent in schools, thecorecurriculumis moving further and further toward the integration of technology into the class-roomattheexpenseof handdrawing.Andwithadministrators,teachers,andstudentsdividedoverthevalueof masteringscriptandflowing,calligraphicsignatures, thereisagrowingtrend—inanagedominatedbykeyboards,mobiledevices,andtouch-pads—toeliminatecursivefromelementaryschool curriculums. Some consider cursive tobecounterproductive,ananachronisminadigitizedsocietywhereevensignaturesare now electronic; I believe it remains an indispensablepedagogicaltool,becauseitsstudycanimprovefinemotorskillsandfos-tergreaterliteracy,aswellashelpstudentsdiscover their identity. I also believe thatmarks, signs, and

symbolsmade on physical surfaceswitha stylus, pencil, or brush have away of restoringauthenticitytotheimage,andcanserveasahealthyantidotetotheartificial-ityspawnedbytheunbridledsimulacraof ourage,wherebyillusionbecomesasub-stitute for reality. I encourage students to create drawings that are born of steadfast observation,andwhoseskill,care,andde-termination invite the viewer to feel and to think—drawingsthatarenotmerelysensa-tionalattemptstogetamessageacrossinamatterof seconds.Inotherwords,drawingsshould invite repeated viewings, and linkustoaprofoundinstinctinourbeing,asdistinctfromthecursorysuperficialityof today’s mass media communications. It is important tonote that computers

do not to engage our bodies to the extent thattraditionaldrawingprocessesdo.Themovement of a mouse is rudimentary comparedwith thehandlingof a pencil,and lacking in tactile gratification. The pressure-sensitive digital drawing tabletthat is currently affordable may be an im-provement,butthetactilefeedbackitofferscannotbecomparedtothatprovidedbyadrawingtoolonpaper.Becausethehandisfocusedonthemouseandtablet,while

Drawing Michelangelo’s Brutus in the Bargello National Museum; Florence, Italy. Photo by Iole Marie Rabor.


Participants in the Florence Revealed Program drawing in the Bargello National Museum and in the Giardino delle Rose, Florence, Italy. Photos by Stephen Alcorn and Shadiah Lahham, respectively.

theexperienceof lifeintomarks,signs,andsymbolsontoaninfinitelyvariednumbersurfaces, using an equally variednumberof toolsandmaterials,rangingfromcom-pressed charcoalon a cavewall to a rodof gold on specially coated parchment.The medium of drawing has chronicled the history of humankind—a rich and

varied tapestry comprised of countlessinterwoventhreads,eachonebearingthemark of an individual in relation to a se-riesof largerwholes.Forthenovice,theactof drawingcanproveirresistible:givesomeoneapencilandasheetof blankpa-per,andtheywilllikelyleavetheir“mark.”Fortheaccomplisheddraftsman,drawing

providesthesatisfyingexperiencenotonlyof exercisingawell-honedskill,butalsoof giving eloquent form to a vision. In both cases,thecoordinatedactivityof theeye,mind, andhand leads to an engagementthat unifies body and soul. By restoringthehapticitsrightfulplaceinmydailyex-istence,IfindIamabletoachieveamoremindful state of being. If I am drawing anobject,Ifindmyself irresistiblydrawnto“wrappingmyhead”around it. If thedrawing is of something that does not exist inthematerialsense,itprovidesmewiththe gratification of generating a tangiblesubjectfromanabstractidea.Indrawing,formandcontentareco-dependent—tothepointthatonereallycannotexistwithoutthe other. Consequently, drawing unitesideasandphysicalitytogether,anddoessoinamanner that requires aprocessbothof translation and distillation. Indeed one of thevirtuesof drawingistheprocessof abstractionitdemands.Ifindthisexperi-encetobeimmenselysatisfying,preciselybecause it lendscoherencetoexperience,and thus order to chaos.Meaningfuldrawingsputtheconscious

mind,andsometimes,perhapsmoreun-settling,theunconsciousmind,incontactwiththeeyeandmindof theproverbialbeholder. That is one of greatest strengths of drawing: the way it makes the viewer experiencewhattheartistiscontemplat-ing.Itis,arguably,themediumthatspeaksmore freshly, directly, and immediatelyabout the mystery that goes on in the humanmind.Indeed,if youwanttogetto know an artist, the drawings are theidealplacetostart.Viewingamonumentalpaintingorworkof sculpturecanbelikeattendingaformallectureorapublicper-formance. But looking at an original draw-ingisanotherexperiencealtogether,onemoreakin tohavingaconversation, fordrawing is an inherently intimate activity whereartistsgotoreflectonwhatengagesthem,andbecauseof that,itiswheretheyreveal their true temperament.Adraw-ingcanrepresentamapof themind,ora labyrinth—something intowhichweareirresistiblydrawn,andthroughwhich


wemustfindaway,butfromwhichweemergeenrichedandinspired.Drawingscanprovideafootholdtoreality,or,takeflight.The spiritualityof adrawing is aspiritualitypredicateduponrealizing,mak-ingreal,whathadineffectbeenimagined.Drawinginotherwords,givessubstanceto the imagination.

Drawing from the wellspring of history

By and large the cultural and art his-torical references of themajority of artstudentstodaydonotpredatetheadventof Star Wars. One of the ways in which I seek to counteract this lack of connection with the remote past is to conduct eachsummer an Education Abroad Program titled Florence Revealed: Drawing From The Wellspring Of Renaissance Thought And Vision. This programpermits students to spend

theentiremonthof Juneintheheartof Florence,Italy.Throughdailylife-drawingsessions conducted all’aperto(intheopen),students immerse themselves in the cultural heritage of the city. Excursions to venerable landmark piazzas,churches,andmuseumsprovide studentswith the essential pri-mary source material for their city-based sketchbookentries,whileprovidinganarthistorical foundation to the program atlarge.Asecondpartof theprogram,titledBeyond the Walls of Florence,isdedicatedtothecreation of nature studies that range from (macro) views of the city itself to (micro) studies of Tuscanflora.Explorations of Florence’ssurroundinghills(Fiesole,Bel-losguardo,PiazzaleMichelangelo,etc.)andvisits to Florence’s fabled Boboli Gardens and the Orto Botanico (Botanical Garden) provide students with primary sourcematerial from which to create their nature-

basedsketchbookentries,whileexcursionsto Siena, Pisa, andVenice serve to putthe Quattrocento Fiorentino into the broader cultural context of its time. Students have the opportunity to learn about themas-terpieces of the FlorentineRenaissanceby communing with them for extended periodsof time.Thedrawingstheymakearethefruitsof repeated,sustainedefforts,throughwhich they construct analyzedequivalents to reality and in which every inchof thesurfacehastobewon,arguedthrough,andbearwitnesstotheircuriosityandspiritof inquiry.Insodoingstudentstranscendthetypicaltourist’sapproachtoartappreciation—acursoryapproachthatrarelyhasanobserverspendingmorethanafewfleetingmomentsbeforeaworkof art,andwalkingawaywithlittlemorethanaseriesof snapshotstoshowfortheirtimespentinamuseum.Conventionalwisdom

A sampling of Florence Revealed-related sketchbook entries by Stephen Alcorn; 11” x 8.5” and 14” x 11”


wouldhaveusbelievethatphotographyanditsrelatedmedia,e.g.,filmandtelevision,tell the most truth about what we see. This is not true: the camera may tell another truthaboutasubject,butnotnecessarilyamoreconvincingone.Experienceshowsthatthepracticeof drawingbyhandcanbringusintoadeeperandmorefullyex-periencedconnectiontoagivensubject.Itis often said that Leonardo drew so well because he knew about things; it is truer to say that he knew about things because he drewsowell.Therichlyilluminatedjournalsthat the students create are a testament to thepowerof thesketchbooktochroniclethe development of ideas through text,annotation, anddrawing—justas theen-thusiasmwithwhichstudentsrespondtothechallengeof workingintheproverbialfieldisatestamenttothesentientnatureof theirverybeing,andof theirneedtoengagealltheirsenses(touch,sight,taste,smell,sound)inconjunctionwithalltheirhighermental faculties (reason,memory,perception,will,intuition,imagination)inthecreativeprocess.

The Florentine Renaissance artists con-tinuetoamazetothisdaywiththefresh-nessof theirthought,theirwillingnesstoexperiment,andtheirmodernity.However,civilized culture depends not solely oninnovation andmodernity, but also on acritical and imaginative assimilation of the past.InRenaissanceFlorence,wecanseethe reintegration of the Classical worldview intoModernlifeinnotonlytheerudition,the pagan humanism, but also the richmythologicalthemesof itspantheismandtheprofoundpsychologicalinsightsithastooffer.WhatweexperiencetothisdayinFlorence is what was made of that tradition. Acontinued,renewedinterpretationof thistraditionisanecessityfortheWest,if itisto understand its own. This is why I believe itisimportanttointroducemystudentstothewondersof thehistoryof art,andthewealthof physicalmedia that gives it itsform.If Ispeakof theItalianRenaissancewithpassion,itisonlybecauseIwitnessedfirsthandthepowerof thatflowering.Yet,I have always understood that the brilliance

of the quattrocento was linked to a larger human brilliance that extends around the globe, and includes the unknownworksof WestAfrican cultures,pre-ColumbianPeruvians,andalltheotherancientciviliza-tions,whichEuropeonlygottoknowinthe last 500 years.

Slow ArtWhenwe take the time to look, there

is no limit to the secrets that drawing may unlock and reveal about how we think, lookat theworld, tellstories,andcommunicate with ourselves through the timelesslanguageof pictures.Inordertofullyappreciatetheseattributes,wemustfirstlearntoreaddrawings,muchthewaywereadapoem,orachapterinabook.Just as time is required to leavehis/hermarksonagivensurface,timeisrequiredof the observer to study and fully absorb theimplicationsof themarksmadeonagivensurface.Regrettably,thefastpaceof modernlife,drivenasitisbythequestforimmediate gratification and time-savingexpediency,discouragessuchactsof con-templation.Butwhenthetimeistakentopermitadrawingtounfoldincrementallybeforeone’seyes, theexperiencecanberevelatory,andpermittheviewertosharein the creative process by following thedifferent stages of a drawing: from the first tentative, underlying preparatorymarkstothecrowning,finishingtouches.A sketchbook entry by Leonardo da Vinci islikealandscapewithahistoryallitsown,repletewithpeaksandvalleys,andbattlescars. Upon close inspection, one candetectaconfluenceof tentativelydrawnunderlyingmarks,followedbyaseriesof more committed marks; these in turn are followedbyaseriesof reworkings,scrap-ings,andburnishingsthatrevealthepulseof life. Such hand-made drawings are a testamenttothepassageof time,arecordof the trajectory by the artist’s train of thought,one that takes theviewer fromonepointtoanotherinatangible,thoughmysterious,way—the exact opposite of what one canhope to experiencewhenviewing a digitally generated image that

offers no such topography, so sanitizedand hidden from view are the intermediate stages of its evolution.Just as the Slow Foodmovement is

succeeding in counteracting the ill effects of the fast food culture, I believe that itispossibletocounteracttheilleffectsof what is the visual equivalent of the fast food culture, namely the entertainment indus-try’sinfluenceonimage-makingpractices.Like all industries, it fosters abelief thatexpediencyistheultimategoal,nomatterwhattheprice,inthewaythatthefastfoodindustrychampionsquantityoverquality.Tellingly,bothMcDonald’sandTheWaltDisneyCompany rely on their ability tomechanizeandsanitizetheproductstheysell: one sells processed foods, theotherprocessedimagery;bothindustriesshareasimilargoal,namelythesellingof units. The belief thatthetimeless,humaninstincttodraw can and should somehow be rendered programmablethroughdigitaltechnologythreatens the individuality of the human mark.AsIworkwithmycomputer-savvystudents today, I notice that somethingis lost when they draw exclusively on the computer.Softwareinterfacescanleadoneto do things in increasingly formulaic ways. Thisisnotanewcrisis,of course.Itisinfact as old as Gutenberg. The difference liesnotwiththetechnology,butwiththespeed.Andthatspeedhasledtoamedi-atedflatteningof thevisualworldandourtactileconnectionstoit.Intheparlanceof today,it“takestheedgeoff.”Totaketheedge off is to smoothen; to smoothen is to flatten.Again,thequestionisnothinglessthan what it means to be human at a time whenthefacultiesthatdefinethespeciesaresubjecttoamass-produceduniformity,filteredthroughamediumthatdeniesthevery reason for existence.

In fineWiththecomputer,thegapbetweenre-

ality and fantasy has never been narrower. Thisisbecausecomputerscanorganizevastpoolsof knowledgeandsynthesizeorganicideaswith the speedof high technology.So will hand drawing be rendered obsolete


plurality of skills, and indeed I encour-age students to cultivate their graphicabilities both on paper surfaces anddrawing tablets. And because I believe in cultivating a plurality of skills, I alsoencourage students to cultivate their mark-making abilities both on analog surfaces anddrawing tablets in thehopethatthephysicalandthedigitalmaystandsideby side in their lives, like twodoors of perceptionthatopenontoasingle,uni-fiedspace,arealmof infinitepossibilitieswhere there is a world waiting to be trans-formed through the timeless, persistentcoordinationof thedraftsman’seye,mind,and hand.

Flower studies by Sabina Fascione Alcorn; watercolor on paper (see http://www.alcorngallery.com/botanicals/).

Stephen Alcorn is a left-handed printmaker, illustrator, painter, and musician. He spent his formative years in Florence, Italy. It was there that he attended the Istituto Statale d’Arte, an experience that left an indelible impression upon him and infused his work with a passion for bold technical experimentation in a wide range of mediums. Mr. Alcorn’s work hangs in numerous private and permanent collections, both in the United States and in Europe. Alcorn is the illustrator of over 45 books, including Odetta: The Queen of Folk (Scholastic Press), Rembrandt’s Beret (William Morrow), and I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African American Poetry (Houghton Mifflin), and his work has been the subject of numerous feature magazine articles appearing in Print, Graphis, U&LC, Linea Grafica, Grafica & Disegno, Prometeo, and Abitare. Stephen divides his time between Cambridge, NY, and Richmond, VA, where he is a professor of Visual Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. His work, along with that of his wife, botanical artist Sabina Fascione, may be viewed at their website, www.alcorngallery.com. “Self-portrait” by Stephen Alcorn. Pen and ink and gouache on tinted paper; 22” x 17”.

asaresultof thepredominanceof smartphonesand laptops? Idonotbelieveso.Just as the printed book did not eclipsethe handwritten letter, and just as thetelevisiondidnoteliminatefilm,artnevertruly died, despite havingbeingmomen-tarily suffocated by qualitative relativism. Since time immemorial artisans, artists,architects,designers, andengineersof allkindshaveexpressedthemselvesfirst,andmostintuitively,throughtheinfinitelyrichand varied medium of drawing. Indeed the relationshipbetweenthethinkingmindandthedraftsman’shand,orthelinkbetweentheimaginationanddrawing,isatimelesscontinuum that has yet to be broken. And although the computer is an amazinglypowerfultool,itisimportanttorememberthateventhemostsophisticatedmachineisonlyassophisticatedasthemindthatcon-ceivedit.Perhaps,itisthecomputer’scapac-ity to mimic the hard-won visual effects of thepastthathasledpeopletoperceiveitasasubstituteforphysicalmedia.Butwhymustprioritynecessarilybegiventodigitaltechnology?The physical and the digitalarenotmutually exclusive—sowhy con-sider them rivals? I believe in cultivating a


T oday’sWestern economic structure,basedontechnologyandservices,is

radically different from the one that existed beforeindustrializationandhasresultedinmany of the economic crises that face us in the early 21st century. The control of goods has been concentrated in the hands of a few large corporations, rather thandistributed throughout the community of small,independentbusinesses.Theproduc-tionof goodsbycorporatemanufacturing,throughmodernmachineryandtechnology,hasdisplacedthelaborforce,separatedthemindfromtheproductionprocess,deper-sonalized anddevalued the act of manualskill,andenslavedustoasystemof forcedconsumption.The consequences of thesemanufacturingpracticeshavehadprofoundeffects on us and on our communities.Before the rise of industrialization, the

value of human labor was immanent in the goodsthatwereproduced,whereaphysicalconnectionexistedbetweenthemaker, theproduct, and the customer/citizen, whowas actively engaged in the consumptionprocess throughknowledge and thebuild-ingof anetworkof realworldrelationships.Communities thrived by simply providingthe necessities of life for themselves and the surrounding localities. Today, the pic-ture is far different. According to Erik A. Swyngedouw,professorof urbanplanning,the new economic structure is built around four key elements: A scattered system of production that relies on cheap available

labor,centralizedlocationsof administration,nichemarketing,andafocusontechnologyand services (Swyngedouw 1989). Through moderntechnology,corporationsareabletocreatecheapproductswithlittleeffortandexpenditure,andtodistributemanufacturingprocesses to locations that advance thosegoals. Visual arts writer Peter Dormer (1997a) noted that this redistributionof processesthroughmachinery,productionsystems,andinformationsystemshasdisplacedtheneedfor human skill in manufacturing. This focus on technology has resulted in the devaluing of laborandworkmanshipandhasreplacedskillwithaprogrammedsetof instructions,relegatingcraftsmanshiptoantiquityandde-notingtechnologyasthesymbolof progress(Risatti 2007).

Designed obsolescenceInordertokeepthiseconomicstructure

going, corporations have devised schemesof obsolescencetoperpetuatethedesire–de-mand cycle. Three main strategies have been employed, as illustratedby SusanStrasser,professorof Americanhistory.Thefirstis“obsolescenceof function,”wherenewer,bettermodels outdate their predecessors(Strasser1999,276).Thesecondis“obso-lescence of quality,”wherein the producthas failure built into its design (Strasser 1999, 276).And the third strategy is thatof “obsolescence of desirability,”whichclosely aligns with obsolescence of function andinvolvestheproductbecomingreplaced

throughtrendsinstyle(Strasser1999,276).Thelaststrategyisoneof focus,foritisthetactic in which consumers are so entrenched.

Strasser further described obsolescence of desirability through what she termed “the fashion process”: “[It] depends onever-expanding needs and organizes pro-ductionandconsumptionalongprinciplesof obsolescence,seduction,anddiversifica-tion”(Strasser1999,187–188).Consumersarecontinuouslyexposedtothecreationof falseneedsthroughthemarket’sreplacementof productsbyadvertisingand themedia.The fashionprocess andobsolescence of desirability allow corporatemanufacturerstoproduce excess amountsof goods thatare continuously changing,while utilizingthemediainordertomanipulatedesireforthosenewgoods,themajorityof which,if wearehonestwithourselves,aremuchthesameasthosetheyhavereplaced.Today,Westernconsumershaveaccessto

goodsinaseeminglyendlesssupply,whichdiminishestheirvalue,whilecontributingtothedevaluationof objectsingeneral(Sōetsu 2010). Sociologist Daniel Miller (1995) pointed out that contemporaryWesternconsumers are no longer inhibited by sea-sonality and scarcity.As a result,wehavecometoexpectavailabilityandaffordability.The obsolescence of desirability feeds this system of abundance.

The abundance of goods available at low cost and their contribution to the obsoles-cence of desirability strategy are the result of

BY JEROMY MCFARREN

Craft Revisited: Moving toward a Consumer Revolution


industrialdesign,anelementof thedivisionof labor by corporatemanufacturers thatisresponsiblefortheconceptualizationof mass-producedgoods.Industrialdesignhasled to systems of manufacturing that favor efficiency, uniformity, and limitations thatcreate goods on a limitless scale.

The intention of industrial design is to create goods that are easily manufactured by machinetechnology,whilepromisingprod-uctsthatare“new,improved”or“thelatest,”

and so forth (Petroski1992,170).However,thedesignsthatespousethesecreatedben-efitsareoftenlittledifferentfromthosetheyreplace,asnotedbyHenryPetroski(1992),engineerandprofessor,whoreportedthatradically different designs are viewed with skepticismbythepublic.Thissuggeststhatthebasiccharacteristicsof theobjectsthatwe use are generally appropriate to theirintendedfunction,andthat recreationsonthese basic themes are irrelevant.

The focus on fashion and changing trends,resultingfromdesign,illustratestheconsumer’s value shift away from the tactile andtowardtheintellectual,wherethinkingand innovationhave replaced thephysicalexecution of creation (Risatti 2007). Howard Risatti,emeritusprofessorof art,statedthat,“Abstractformalinventionreflectsthevaluesof progressandefficiencytypicalof modernindustrialsociety”(Risatti2007,168).Today,themythof progress—theideathatmoderngoods have given our society freedom from labor and toil—hasbeen fedby industrialdesignandthedependenceontechnologytofulfillourbasicandcreatedneeds,leadingtotheconstructedgoalof efficiency.Efficiencyimplies that labor (i.e., using thehandsorbodyduringcreation)isof lowvalue,whichin turn has demeaned the act of handcraft (Risatti 2007).

Uniformity and mass production

Industrial designers are in the business of creatingdesireand“satisfying”thosealreadycreated(Dormer1997c),andthedesignersareverymuchresponsiblefortheperpetualdiscontent towhich consumers are proneasaresultof massproduction.Inpart,thismaybedue to the limitations imposedondesigners by machines and the available technologiestheyutilize.Thedesigner’sabil-itytosupplytheinstructionsforanobject’screation is limited (Risatti 2007). Instead,designersmust“accommodatethemselvestomachines,”andthiscompromiseof technol-ogyoveroriginalityplaceslimitsonwhatcanandcannotbemanufactured(Risatti2007,178). Adesigner’sinhibitionbymachines,inturn, inhibits the consumer from realizingsatisfaction frommass production in anymeaningful sense. Because of the division of labor,thedesigner’sinstructionsmustbeeasilyunderstoodandimplementedbytheprogrammersof thecorporation’smanufac-turing technology (Risatti 2007).

There are several negative consequences to the system of uniformity. The first isthat, because everything looks the same,we have suffered the loss of difference and diversity in the world around us (McKnight

The Village of Greenwich’s main street, populated solely by independent businesses on the same Saturday afternoon (as in the previous photo shown above), is representative of the current economic and cultural consumer paradigm.

A sea of vehicles crowds the parking lot of a corporate retailer in Wilton, a suburb of Saratoga Springs, on a Saturday afternoon. All photos by Jeromy McFarren.


and Block 2010). Ourworldsbecomepre-dictableanddevoidof anyspecialqualities.Thinkabouttheexperienceswehavewhenvisiting a culture different fromour own,where the objects that serve that culturelook wildly different from what we are used to. They command attention and call out for the use of all of our senses to understand them. We become actively engaged with the objectsandoftenaskquestionsabouttheircreation.Relationshipsformbetweenus,theobjects, and theirmakers—the individualswhocreated theobjects from imaginationtoproduction—andtheserelationshipsaddto our own self-awareness.Thissetof experiencesisdeniedbymass

production, as pointed out by ChristinaGoulding (2000), professor of marketing.

Dormer agrees, stating, “The commonestfeatureabouttechnology,withitsdistributedknowledge,isthateverythingbeginstolookthesame”(Dormer1997b,142). Others,likearthistorianRafaelCardoso(2010),wouldarguethatbecauseof itspreciseconstruc-tion and ubiquity, uniformity is viewednegativelybypeoplelikemyself.Uniformity,however, isunacceptablebecause itoffersthesameexperiencetoeveryone,itdeniestheuniquenessof the individual, and it isdevoid of the true value that resides within anything handmade by one individual for

another.With themass-produced object,the individual can only bring his or her own experiencetotheobject;thereisnorecipro-cation,noexperiencethatleadstoacontextof self-fulfillment(Risatti2007).

Uniformity in our everyday environments has led to the predictability of our livedexperiences.Mass production thrives onpredictabilityandontheinstitutionalizationof standards (McKnight and Block 2010).

Standardsimplyrepetition,whichbecomesthe normal state of our lives and mirrors the constructednormsof the generalizedconstructed consumer (Risatti 2007). We havecometoexpectalimitedcapabilityof expressiveness through theobjects of themarketplace.Insteadof diversityandare-ciprocalexperience,wehavecometoexpectand value uniformity.Corporations are fully aware of the

consumer’sdesire for fulfillment andhavedevised means of fooling the consumer into believing fulfillment can be achievedthroughmassproduction.Thisisknownasmass customization,which“gives the illu-sionthatthisisjustforyou,eventhoughtheexactcustomizedserviceorproductisbeingofferedtomillionsof people,allreceivingthesametreatmentorproductatthesamemoment”(McKnightandBlock2010,30).

Even though corporationswould have us

believethattheyareabletoprovideforlim-itlessneeds,theyareinfactlimitedbytheirmethodsof production,sothatnothingthatisproducedbyacorporatemanufacturerisuniqueorspecial.

Loss of beautyAnother result of industrially designed

goods is the general lack of beauty that is foundinobjectsmadebyhand.Thebeautyto which I am referring is more than being merelyprettyorattractive,butthatdeeperaesthetic quality that is imparted by the“soul”of themakerintotheobject’saura;itisthehumanpersonalityimbuedintotheobject’sphysicalmaterials.Anearlypropo-nentof handcraft,artistanddesignerWilliamMorris (2010) stated that machine goods are uglyanda“degradationof humanlife,”andthatpeople,asaresultof massproduction,have lost the ability to discriminate between ugliness and beauty due to the conventional-ityof theappropriationof mass-producedgoods. More recently, artistGeorgeNa-kashimaalsoremarkedonthepoorqualityand lack of emotional resonance in mass-producedgoods(HalperandDouglas2009,9). The ugliness that surrounds us on a daily basisisaconsequenceof thecorporatevalueplacedonflexibleaccumulation,theabilityof manufacturers to changeproduct linesquickly in order to cater to niche markets (Smith and Riley 2009). Smaller quantities intended for specific targetmarkets areproduced in rapid succession in order tocapitalizeon the fads and fashionsof theconsumer culture. This is what the kitsch that fillsthemallsisintendedtodo;itcreatestheexcessof goodsthatkeepthedesire–demandcyclespinning.

Depersonalization of the workerToday, the value of labor and skill in

handmade goods has been replaced bythe intellect. This shift in values has been directedandchampionedbythecorporatestructure as a means to drive down the cost of labor. The results have been disastrous for our economy. Risatti (2007) noted that the machine,inreplacingtheskilledworker,has

Chris Hubbard, of Salem, NY, canes a chair using traditional rattan materials and hand tool techniques.


undermined the desire to learn a handcrafted skillandthusdepersonalizedtheactof labor.Corporatemanufacturing’s transition frombody to machine has actively engaged in this depersonalizationbyeliminatingtheinterac-tionbetweentheindividualandtheproduct.

Instead,theindividual,if presentatallduringthemanufacturingprocess, isreducedtoatooltobeusedbythemachine(Marx2010,75). AsRisattistates,“Machinesreversethetraditionalrelationshipbetweenamakerandhisorhertools….toolsworkasafunctionof man, butmanworks as a function of machines”(Risatti2007,50). The individual becomessubjecttothemachineand,con-sequentlybecomesalienatedfromthepro-cess of labor. The worker loses any sort of autonomyovertheproductionprocess.Heor she also loses any sort of knowledge or skill(Dormer1997b,102). The act of work becomesdepersonalized,andtheworkerisnolongeractivelyengagedintheproductionprocess,resultinginamonotonousslaveryto the machine.Additionally,machineproductionalters

theway inwhichwe relate to theworld,furtheralienatingandseparatingusfromarelationshipwithoursurroundings. Produc-tionprocessesfavorquantityandlimitlessscale,which in turndependonefficiencyandpredictability,fourcharacteristicsthatbetter describemachine output than hu-man labor (Risatti 2007). Because of this fact,technologyandmachinery,whichhaveaided humanity in countlessways, havebeenmisused to displace thehuman ele-mentfromtheproductionprocess.Dormerwrote that it is the choice of humanity to usetechnologytowardspecificends,add-ing, “once technology is entrenched in asociety it seems that nothing will dislodge it except another technology” (Dormer1997c,8). We decide how technology will be employed andmust suffer the conse-quencesof thosechoices(Muthesius2010,111). Byreplacingbodieswithmachines,wehavecreatedlarge-scaleproductionatlowcostswithgoodsaplenty,butwehavealsorelegated our fellow human beings to the endless drudgery of babysitting machines ortounemployment.

Technology can,andcurrentlydoescoex-istwithprecapitalistmodesof production(Philibert 1989), because there aremanythingsthatlimittheuseof technologypres-ently, such as the aesthetics of decorativedetails (Dormer 1997c). Mass-productiontechniques,increatinguniformity,mustrelyon machinery that often denies the abil-ity toperformmany functions that createcharacter.Inthiswaytheystandopposedtoobjectsmarkedbythehumanhand,whichbring to them an aura of authenticity (Tucker 2004,108), aqualitydefinedbyanobject’sundisputedoriginasgenuine.SociologistandProfessor Emeritus Brenda Danet and Tamal Katriel,professorof communications,notedthatmassproductionunderminestheauraof culturalobjects(DanetandKatriel1994). In contrast,Risattiarguedthatmass-producedobjectshaveadifferentaura—oneof ano-nymitythatallowsthemtobeappropriatedto any context without thought of quality and value (Risatti 2007). The dichotomy stands between the human body’s involve-ment intheproductionof goodsor in itsdenialof anyactiveparticipation.Thewaysinwhichwe utilize technology determinewhether human labor is valued or if human agents will become obsolete.In the early 1900s,AlfredLoos (2010)

statedthattheartist’sownershipof hisworkwas lost by the advent of the day laborer.

His insight marked the beginning of the devaluation of the worker with the introduc-tionof themachine,butotherfactorshavesince compounded this effect of machinetechnology through itsmisuse, includingdisplacedknowledge, thethreatof humanobsolescence,thecheapeningof labor,and,indeed,forcedlabor.JohnMcKnight, professor emeritus of

communications,andorganizationaldevel-opmentconsultantPeterBlockwrote thatmanagement is theability tocreaterepeti-tion,butsincepeoplearenotallthesame,theroleof repetitionbecomesdelegatedtomachinesthroughtechnologicalautomation,whereproductioncanbecomestandardizedandthehumanagent,replaceable(McKnightand Block 2010). The individual is intention-ally depersonalized, in effect, to become

the corporation, and to repeat proceduresthatresultinthesameexperienceforeveryindividual. Human beings have a desire to expressthemselvesintheirwork.Mechanicalandtechnologicalprocessesseektoremovethe variable element of human interaction to inducerepeatability.Asaresult,theworkerbecomes lazy and ignorant, according tosociologistPeterR.Grahame(1994),duetothedisplacementof theknowledgeof pro-ductionfrompersontomachine,aprocessrecognizedalsobyProfessorBjørnarOlsen(2003),anarchaeologist,andbyeconomistFloyd K. Harmston (1983).

As human beings become removed from the process of manufacturing, andasmachinesreplace theknowledgeof theindividual,thevalueof laborbecomescheap-ened,peoplebecomeeasilyreplaceable,andtrainingisquick.Theseareideasespousedby the revolutionary socialist philosopherKarlMarx,ideasthatarestill(evenmoreso)relevanttoday.Aslaborlosesitsperceivedvalue,andtheworkerbecomesignorantof theprocess, heor she isoftendenied thepride of skill and the respect that shouldaccompanyit(Marx2010). SociologistJohnO’Neill (1978) stated that human obso-lescencebreeds insecurework identities, asentimentwithwhichpsychologistsMihalyCsikszentmihalyandEugeneRochberg-Hal-tonagreed,writing,“Innovationsdevelopedtocopewithaspecificproblemhaveawayof changingthewaypeopledothingsandof altering how they relate to each other; even-tuallytheyeffectthewaypeopleexperiencetheirlives”(CsikszentmihalyandRochberg-Halton1981,46).Machinesandtechnology,while relieving the burden of labor, havedevalued the worker and taken away much of theprideorsatisfactioninvolvedinhisor her work.As a result of displaced knowledge and

humanobsolescence,theworkerhasbecomedependentonthestructurethatdominateshim.Philosopher andmechanical engineerCharlesBabbagewrote,“Theeconomyof human time is the next advantage of ma-chinery inmanufactures” (Babbage 2010,49).Aspeoplehavebeengenerallyrelegatedto watching over machines rather than using


them,thelaborforcehasbeenreducedtobe-ingcompetitorsforlowwages(Gaskell2010;Marx 2010). It is no secret that technology has ledtounemployment;theabilityof machinesnowabletocreateothermachines,coupledwithafocusonservice-basedindustries,hasresulted in skilled workers becoming the mostunemployedsectorof theworkforce.Asaresultof moreapplicantsforfewerjobs,corporationscanpaylittleforthepositionsthey dooffer.Theworker,fearingthelossof hisorherjob,isineffectawageslave(Berger1995),forcedtoworkinendlessmonotony.The repetitious babysitting of machinerywasrecognizedbyMarx(2010)andMorris(2010)as“drudgery,”andisstillregardedinthe same manner today. As stated by Norbert Wiener,philosopherandmathematicsprofes-soratMIT:“Itisadegradationtoahumanbeing to chain him to an oar and use him as asourceof power;butitisanalmostequaldegradationtoassignhimapurelyrepetitivetask in a factory,whichdemands less thanamillionth of his brain capacity” (Wiener2010,309). MarxandphilosopherAlexisdeTocquevillearecorrectthatcheapenedlaborcombined with a misuse of machinery leads to “helpless dependence” of theworkerupon the corporatemanufacturing system(Marx2010,75;deTocqueville2010,62),asentiment also echoed by social reformer and activist Ellen Gates Starr (2010). Individuals becomealienatedfromtheirwork,andtheirself-worth suffers as they become resigned totheirfate.Thisinabilitytorealizethetrueself through work may also contribute to an individual’suseof consumptiontowardself-fulfillment,inyetanothercycleof alienationandconsumption.

How we can fix our broken economyAstartingpointtowardfixingourbroken

economywouldbetorefocustheconceptof valuebacktowardthelaborprocess,asdiscussed by art historian M. Anna Fariello (Tucker 2004). Workersshouldbeprovidedwiththedignitythataccompaniesthepro-ductionof objects.Themisuseof machinerycanbecorrected.Self-expressiondoesnothave tobe theprovinceonlyof the“free

man,”asnotedbyStarr,but“itisonlywhenamanisdoingworkwhichhewishesdone,anddelightsindoing,andwhichheisfreetodoashelikes,thathisworkbecomesalanguagetohim”(Starr2010,157).Through our purchasing decisions and

consumerpower,wecandirectourdollarstoward businesses and corporations thatvalue human labor. The consumer revolution hasalreadybegun,andcorporations,if theywishtothrive,willrecognizetheworthof human time. Social activist Arlene Goldbard (2006) noted that the growth of the do-it-yourself (DIY) and craft cultures is signal-ingthisparadigmshift. A focus on buying locally redirects the value system back onto themaker,theworker,ortheproducer,andreassigns dignity to his or her sense of self. Millerstated,“Povertyisdefinedasthecriti-callimittoourabilitytorealizeourselvesaspersons”(Miller2010,69).Asconsumers,weareresponsibleforthepovertythatisplagu-ingourfellowhumanbeings,bysuccumbingtotheseductionsof thefashionprocessandignoringtheprocessesof theproductionof goods.Weneedtowakeupfromthehyp-noticdistractionsimposedonusbythemassmedia and become knowledgeable, activeparticipantsinputtingourneighborsbacktowork. We should heed the words of Wendell Berry’samplewarningthat“machinesleaveusmorepowerfulbutlesscontent,lesssafe,andlessfree”(Berry1987,67).Our definitionof ourselves is currently

derivedfromwhatwepurchase,ratherthanwhatweproduce(CsikszentmihalyandRo-chberg-Halton 1981). Our economic system hascometobereflectedinourdailylivesbyour own actions. We have relinquished our appreciationforbeauty,inbothgoodsandin the livedexperience, andas a resultwehave displacedour appreciation for thosewhocreatebeauty(Starr2010,158). We have allowedthecorporatestructuretodenyusquality (Berry 1987) in the name of leisure andprogress.Wehaveessentiallylostrespectforthesatisfactionthatcomesfromrealizingthephysicalmanifestationof creationandlabor. Our daily work results in the abstract symbol of money, not in something tan-gible and meaningful. Our daily goals are

geared toward imitation and the illusion of status,nottowardtrueuniquenessandself-fulfillment.Handwork—realizingthephysi-cal fruits of labor—offers an insight intomeaningfulvalueandself-realization.Itisaholisticprocess;aswewillsee,craftspeopleare the essence of local business and are the necessary correlates between strong local economiesandsatisfiedconsumers.ArtistBruceMetcalf wrote,“MostWest-

ernthought,whichdistrusts thebodyandits underlying cognition as a source of valid meaning,failstofindanysignificanceinhandlabour”(Metcalf 1997,79). However,itisinhandwork that satisfaction resides. Creative thought, though responsible forallof theworld’sinnovations,isnothingwithouttheskilltoproduceatangiblebenefit.McKnightandBlock(2010)notedthatbeforeindustry,pridecamefrommakingsomethingforone-self,apridethatexiststodaywiththosewhopropagatethoseskills.

This is not to say that technologies have novalue,becausewhataretoolsif nottech-nologies? Tools are handheld devices that extendthecapacitiesof thebody,whilestillshowing the mark of the creator. Machines aremechanical deviceswith several partsmeantforpreciseconstruction,butlimitthecapacitiesof thehumanagent.Craftspeopledonotrejectmachines,butobjecttotheirmisuseindisplacingthebodyfromproduc-tion (Greenhalgh 1997). However,inmodernindustry,the“toolsof theeyehavedisplacedthetoolsof thehand”(CsikszentmihalyandRochberg-Halton 1981, 93). The value of craftliesinitsabilitytocreateanobjectthatreflectsitsmakerandcommunicatesitsvaluethroughitsusebyanotherindividual,aswellasthroughitsacquisition.Unlikemachinery,toolsactasbodilyextensions,andtheskillbehindtheiremploymentcommunicatestheabilities and sensitivities of the maker.

Choosing to surround ourselves with beauty and meaningTodayverylittlevalueisderivedfrom,or

impartedto,theobjectsweuseonadailyba-sis.Theobjectsaregenerallyuniforminde-signandsimilarinappearancetothoseused


bymost everyone else,madeof materialsthatareusuallydevoidof naturalattributes,and are thus alienated from the user on every level. We do not usually know who made themorhow,andasaresulthavenocon-nectiontoeitherthemakerortheprocess.No relationship has been communicated,andoftennoexperiencegainedthroughtheacquisitionof theobject,whichwas likelyobtained through an anonymous environ-ment.Diplomat and architectHermannMuthesius (2010) remarked that there have alwaysbeenattemptstoarguethatobjectsof frequentusethataremass-producedcouldbe artistic. I would argue that they rarely are. Valueitself,aspreviouslydefined,doesnot,inanycase,lieinanobject’saestheticquali-tiesalone,butinitsformandexistenceineverything we use. Value should be present in objects of

frequent use. We should be allowed to sur-round ourselves with beauty and meaning. Instead,wehavebeenconvincedbycorpo-ratemarketingthatweneedmanythings,asinexpensivelyastheycanbeacquired.Therealityisthatweonly“need,”perhaps,oneof most things and each item should be valuable tous.Weshouldnotbepurchasing,forex-ample,severalplasticcups—whichareugly,wasteful,andbadfortheenvironment—ona routine basiswhenwe could spendourmoneyonbeautiful,unique,handmadecups,created by someone we know in our own community—someonewhocontributes tothe local culture and economy. The former haszerovalue,whilethelatterisameaningfulexperiencethatprovidesuswithanobjectwe will care for and be mindful of.

What this means is that choosing craft is a politicalstatement(Wagner2008). It denies the statusquo andprovides an alternativetothewastefulconsumptionthat linesthepockets of corporate “leaders.”Choosingcraft also serves as a symbol of true freedom. It is the acknowledgment that the maker’s skill isvalued,andanexerciseof freedomthrough the knowledge of doing for one-self (Dormer1997c),aswellasfreedomof choicebytheconsumer, illustratinglibertyfrom the oppressive forced consumptionof themarketplace’s categorizationof the

constructedconsumer.Asconsumers,everypurchasewemakeisapoliticalact.Weareeither supporting the hegemonic order orwe are taking a stand against it. We are either supportingoftendistantcorporationsorourown communities. No one is outside of the politicalsystem,andchoosingtospendourmoneyonobjectsof realvaluecommuni-catesourdevotiontoourselves,ourfamilies,and our communities.

Counterbalancing consumerismFurthermore,craftisatoolinthefightto

counterbalance the negative effects of con-sumerism,whichhasresultedinthecurrenteconomic crisis. Architect Peter Greenhalgh wrote,“Threeof themostimportantissueswhich face the global community… areunemployment, the exploitationof labourand the environment. All three are to do with the way things are made and are bound upwiththeappropriateuseof technology”(Greenhalgh1997,113).Hecontinued,‘Theway thatpeoplework, theconditions theyworkunder,andthewaytheymakethings,isfundamental to the well-being of society. It isnotpossibletohaveapropersocietyif its

inhabitants are not humanely and creatively employed’(33). Massproductionistheverysymbol of exploitation and technologicalmisuse.Ithasresultedinsociety’sexpectancyof instantgratificationandinlaziness,igno-rance,anddissatisfaction.Craft,byitsverynature, requires patience, persistence, andactive involvement, and leads to thepridethatislackinginmassproduction.In order to counteract the exploitative

effectsof mass consumption,we, as con-sumers,mustreevaluateourintentionswiththeobjectswebuy.Assumingwearewillingtomake all of our purchasesmeaningfulandsociallyconscionable,wecanbegintoaddress the issues of accumulation. All of theobjectsweuseoraresurroundedbyona daily basis should recall Morris’s statement thatnothingthatfillsourlivesshouldbeany-thingbutusefulorbeautiful,eitherservingafunctionorprovidinguswiththeexperienceof deep aesthetic enjoyment.Everythingelse,then,holdsnoplace.Makingthisdis-tinction is what it means to claim a stake in thegoodsandproductsthatareconsumedinthemarketplace.Itisthevitalfirststep.AnthropologistGrantMcCrackennoted,

“Possessionritualsallowtheconsumertolay

Bliss McIntosh of Cambridge, NY, soaks her own black ash logs in the brook near her home for her handmade baskets. Watch Bliss McIntosh create a black ash splint basket from beginning to end. The short documentary, by the author, won the 5th Peoples Pixel Project Award in 2014 from the Lake George Arts Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObNWPaD862M


claimandassumeakindof ownershipof themeaning of his or her goods” (McCracken 1988,85).Bymakingeverypurchaseanactof significance, that purchase is imbuedwithmeaning. Choosing objects that aredistinctly suited to one’s own preferencesimparts furthermeaning to those objects.Rafael Cardosowrote, “Thingsmade insmallbatches,suitedtospecificneedsandamenable to upgradingover time, are lesslikelytoberapidlydiscardedthanchange-less durables that aremass-produced anddumpedonto themarket” (Cardosa 2010,328). Weshouldexpressourselves—ourtrueselves—bychoosingamongobjectsthatarerepresentativeof ourownlivedexperience.Of course,if mass-produceditemslimitusinthisway(and,theydo),thenthesecondsteptoclaimingastakeinourgoodsistobecomeknowledgeableaboutwheretofindthedistinct,thenovel,therepresentativeof ourownculturalviewpoint.Thissecondsteprequiresweconsumers

tobecomecitizensagain, togo forth intothecommunity, tomeet the localbusinessownersandhandcrafters,andtogathertheknowledge they hold. We may also decide that what we are looking for could be made athome,which,inmanycases,maybetrue.SociologistStephenHaroldRigginsnoted,“Homemade artifacts…embody so wellsignsof individuality,esteem,andpersonal

relationships”(Riggins1994,114).Itisex-actlytheserelationshipsthatworktowardthegoalof self-fulfillment,andtheytaketimetocultivate.Consequently,theinstantgratifica-tionparadigm,towhichwehavebecomesoaccustomed,must be relinquished.Asweactivelybegintopayattentiontotheethicalconcerns surrounding themass-producedgoodsthatfulfillinstantgratification,thetaskof patiencebecomeseasier.Whenchoosing,we should ask ourselves who made this and how far awaywas it produced?What is itmade of? Could we make it for ourselves or do we know someone in our communities whocouldproduceasimilarobjectcustom-izedtoourowntastes?Toreiterate,claimingastakeinourgoods

refocusestheconsumptiongoalawayfromaccumulation and toward a meaningful experienceand thecommunicationof theself throughobjects.AnthropologistMaryDouglasremarked,“Theessentialfunctionof consumptionisitscapacitytomakesense…commoditiesaregoodforthinking;treatthem as a nonverbal medium for the human creative faculty” (Douglas and Isherwood 1979,62).Placeless objects alienate the consumer.

Conversely, significance andmeaning areinherentinobjectsof aspecificplace(Mc-Cracken 1988); they are created by a member of a given culture through the knowledge and

skillof thatcultureforanintendedpurposeof use,which,whenacquiredastheresultof arelationshipandusedwithinanewcontext,communicate meanings for the user that affectmemoryandthesenses.Theobjectsprovide the experiences that embody thecreativeforcesfortherealizationof thetrueself.PsychologistHelgaDittmarremarked,“Symbolicmeaningsmayoftenweighmoreheavilywhenpeoplebuy‘newthings’”(Dit-tmar1992,65). Whenpurchasingastheresultof arelationalcontext,symbolismcannotbeseparated;instead,itisreappropriatedfromthemakertothenewowner.Theobject’sin-tentbecomestransformed.AsRisattistated,“Onlywhen use coincideswith intentiondoes use become one with function; only then does use become a meaningful indica-tor” (Risatti 2007, 46). And everything we useorfillupourliveswithshouldbemean-ingful.W.R.Lethabyremarked,“Every work of art shows that it was made by a human being for a human being”[author’sstress](Lethaby2010,162). If everything we use was created by someone with whom we have formed a relationship, thenour liveswill naturallybefilledwithworksof artthatarefullof meaning.AsDouglas noted, “When youarepartof anobject’scontextithasmorevalue” (Douglas1994,16). Its value lies in its socialness; it is the mediator between two individualsthatinfluencesinteractions(Gell2010). Allobjectsshoulddothis.

Purchasing optionsIamfullyawarethatnoteveryobjectmay

be obtained by a local hand-crafter. Elec-tronicsandhardware,inparticular,maybenexttoimpossibletofindinsuchamanner.However,thegoalistobemindfulandac-tiveinthepurchasingprocess,tounderstandthe consequencesof ourpurchases.Here,the stress is on the consequence of choice. Choosing,asanactiveandengagedethicalconsumer,refocusestheinwardselfishpat-tern of consumption toward an outwardsociallyawarepattern.Claimingastakeinourgoods shifts the value system back toward ourownwell-beingandself-fulfillment,andconsequentlythefulfillmentof ourfamiliesand communities.

Bliss McIntosh finishes a black ash basket using traditional materials, tools, and techniques.


Additionally,theelusiveethicalconcernof the constructed consumer could also be thwarted through the collaborative efforts between makers and consumers. Thefinalbarrier tocraft forconsumers

is themyth of the separation of art andtheaverageperson.Thepriceof handmadegoods recalls the use of art as a divider be-tween those who have required the distinc-tionof rankandhavetraditionallyusedfineart toward those ends and the rest of the population.If theconsumerrecognizesthevalueof handcraftedobjectsandisabletodelaygratificationinsearchfortheobjectsof trueself-expression,thisbarrierneednotexist. Crafts are intended to be used,notsolelyto be looked at andpondered asfine art.Theirbeautyandcraftsmanshiparemeanttobeinteractedwithandhandled,to“nourish”the consumer on a daily basis (Barnard 2004).

They take the arts out of museums and bring themintoourhomes,whereourexperiencesof them enhance our sense of ourselves and of our communities.

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my of Machines and Manufactures.” In The Craft Reader,editedbyGlennAdamson,pp.48–54. Oxford: Berg Press.Barnard, Rob. 2004. “Paradise Lost?

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Theideaof craftasapurchasingchoicecan hold contradictory notions for consum-ers.Ineithercase,thesenegativeperceptionshave hindered craft’s ability to be taken seri-ouslyintherealmof commerce.However,EditorGarthClark’s statement, “The rotof death is the food for new life. Its demise presentsanopportunitytorethinkcraftfromthegroundup”(Clark2010,451)suggeststhe awakening of the consumer revolution mayhelptoturnthetide.

All consumers must learn to reevaluate what craft stands for and the high level of valueitsconsumptionentails.Thereasonthedistinctionmattersisbecausefinecraft,byitsnature,requiresasignificantexpenditureof materialsandtime,whichresultsinfewerproductsathigherprices—theoppositeof thecorporateretailmarketthatconsumersare used to. Artist Charles M. Harder recog-nizesthatquantityandpriceareoftenbarri-erstoattractingbuyers(HalperandDouglas2009). The irony about craft’s barriers is that tomanyconsumers,craftfallsattheoppositeendof thespectrumfromkitsch,tothatof pricey(Perry2010). Price becomes a barrier because consumers have become divorced and alienated from the time and skill required toproduceobjectsbyhand.RichardL.Priem(2007), aprofessorof management,notesthat consumers who are more knowledgeable about the production of goods aremorelikelytospendmoremoney,pointingtothefact that consumers need to be educated on productionprocesses.The fact is that it isexpensive tocreate

finecrafts,madefromqualitymaterialsthatrequire extensive education and years of practicetodeliverqualityobjects.Consumershavecometoexpectcheapmerchandise—and an overabundance of it. They are met withdozensof optionswithineachcategoryof goods.Thosearetheperceptions,becausethemultitudes of options are really justsmall variationsonuniformdesigns.Also,mass-produced objects are cheap becausethey are created by exploited labor,madefromworthlessmaterials,andareintendedtobediscardedafterashortperiodof time.Additionally, theobsolescence that isbuiltinto them requires their often, frequent

replacement.Consumersareledtobelievethat choices abound and that they are sav-ingmoney,when really they are spendingmoremoneythroughcontinualreplacementof predictable, boring, and uniform junk.The price paid for instant gratification iscontinual dissatisfaction, alienation, and awaste of money.After spendingmore onanitemthatisunique—possiblyevenmadejustforthebuyer,if onecollaborateswiththemaker—and constructed fromqualitymaterials,theconsumerwilllikelytakegoodcareof itandhavedifficultydiscarding it.The formeroption isworthless,while thelatterisimbuedwithvalueandsignificance.Luckily for craftspeople, there is hope.

Consultant Paula Owen remarked that the preeminenceof commercehasforcedcraft-ers to “capitulate to the demands of themarketplace” (Owen 2004, 28). McKnight andBlockadded,“Theconsumermarket-placenowsellsasabenefittheideathatyoucan do business in your home” (McKnight andBlock2010,93). Theauthorsimplythatselling goods to a broad audience through the convenience of technology has somehow spoiledthecraftsmovement.Mypositionisexactlytheopposite.If craftershopetomakealivingfromtheirwork,accesstoabroadaudience is essential. Though the intimacy andimmediacyof thecraftpracticemaybelost, thebenefits to local communities arestill present.Additionally, the consumer isprovidedwithaccesstoawidersearchareainorder to acquire the goods they require while still adhering to the relational ethic. This is a perfectexampleof thecraftspersonutilizinga technological tool toward his or her own creative direction.

Another facet of the consumer revolu-tion is the ethical concern surrounding the productswepurchase.ArtistGraysonPerry(2010) noted that consumers face critical decisions about how much they are consum-ingandtheconsequencesof theirpurchasesandstatedthatcraftspeoplearepositionedtoprovideidealobjectstorelievetheethi-cal dilemma. ArtistAnnMohaupt (2008),frommohop, agreed, stating that issuessurrounding labor and the environment are leading consumers to artisan-made goods.


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Submission Guidelines forVoices: The Journal of New York FolkloreVoices: The Journal of New York Folklore is a membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society (www.nyfolklore.org). TheNewYorkFolkloreSocietyisanonprofit,statewide organization dedicated to furtheringcultural equity and cross-cultural understanding throughprogramsthatnurturefolkculturalexpres-sionswithin communitieswhere they originate,share these traditions across cultural boundaries,andenhancetheunderstandingandappreciationof folk culture. Through Voices the society communi-cateswithprofessionalfolkloristsandmembersof relatedfields,traditionalartists,andageneralpublicinterested in folklore. Voicesisdedicatedtopublishingthecontentof folklore in the words and images of its creators and practitioners.Thejournalpublishesresearch-basedarticles,written in an accessible style, on topicsrelated to traditional art and life. It also features stories,interviews,reminiscences,essays,folkpoetryandmusic,photographs,andartworkdrawnfrompeople in all parts of NewYork State.Columnsonsubjectssuchasphotography,soundandvideorecording,legalandethicalissues,andthenatureof traditionalartandlifeappearineachissue.

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Jeromy McFarren is a public historian living in Schuylerville, NY. He works with the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library, directing its film sharing series, Portraits. This article is excerpted from his nonfiction manuscript, Buy Me: The Economic and Cultural Implications of the Objects We Purchase.

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Did you know that Voices publishescreativewriting,includingcreativefiction(suchasshortstories),creativenonfiction(suchasmemoirsandlife/workstories),andpoetry?Wealsopublishartisticandethnographicphotographyandartwork,in addition to research-based articles on New York State folk arts and artists.


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EBEING IROQUOIS: Arthur C. Parker BY JOSEPH BRUCHAC

of Morgan’sdeath [Porter2001,26,40]).His family homewasfilled not justwithobjects of Iroquoismaterial culture, butalso with the stories that his grandfather Nic hadtoldaroundthefire.‘Oh,’ArthurParkerwrote,‘thosegrandfathertales,of legendsof hishunting,of traditionsof hisboyhooddays.Thosetaleshelpedtomoldthemindsof hisgrandchildren.’(Porter2001,18).Asaresult,Arthurgrewupbothinlovewiththose Native traditions and convinced of the importance of succeedingwithin thewhiteman’sworld—notatallaneasytask.Atage11,Arthurmovedwithhisfamily

fromCattaraugustoNewYorkCity,whereas a hardworking, diligent student, hegraduated from White Plains High School and was a frequent visitor to the Museum of NaturalHistory,aplacethatbecameasort of second home for him. Though he wentontostudyphilosophyandreligionatDickinsonSeminary,hisloveof museumsingeneralwouldleadeventuallytoapositionas archaeologist for the State Museum in Albany and then to the job of Directorof theRochesterMunicipalMuseumfrom1924 to 1946. Museums; Native American rights (as a member of numerous intertribal rightsorganizations, includingtheSocietyof American Indians); and writing about Iroquois history, culture, and stories caneasily be seen as themain passions inParker’sprofessionallife.The selected bibliography in Porter’s

biographyof Parker lists over a hundredtitles—fromshortmonographstoweightytomes on Iroquois culture. Here are some of hismost significant publications, allof which focus on Iroquois culture,history,andfolklore:Iroquois Uses of Maize and Other Food Plants (1910); The Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet (1913); The Constitution of the Five Nations (1916); Life of General Ely. S. Parker (1919); Seneca Myths and Folktales (1923); Skunny Wundy, Seneca Indian Tales (1926); and Red Jacket, Last of the Seneca (1952).Theyhaveinformedandinfluenced

The Six Nations Museum in the tiny Adirondack hamlet of Onchiota is one of the little-known treasures of New York State.Within its logwalls, there’smore history and culture packed than ininstitutionsmany times its size. But thiscolumnisnotaboutthatlonghouse-shapedprivatemuseumortheMohawkfamily,theFaddens,who have kept its doors openfor more than 60 summers. I’ll write about them and its late, beloved founder RayTehanetorens Fadden at another time.Instead,thisessayislinkedtooneobject

in that museum. It’s a small leather bag hanging from one of the horns of a buffalo head mounted high above one of those doors.“Seethat?”JohnKahionhesFaddensaid

tome one summerwhen Iwas visiting,jerking his head up toward the buffalo.“ThatbelongedtoArthurParker.Thatwashismedicinepouch.”

Arthur C. Parker. If you do not know his name, then youprobably don’t knowmuch about the Iroquois people, thosefiveformerlywarringtribeswhogatheredthemselves into a great league of peaceabout a thousand years ago and who call themselvestheHaudenosaunee,the“Peopleof the Longhouse.” It was Arthur C. Parker who, through his extensive writing, hisprofessional career as amuseologist (hisowndescription of hiswork), and as anactivist,didmuchtodispelthestereotypesabout Indians that characterizedhis timeand make visible to the wider world the history and the contributions of the Haudenosaunee.Hisaccomplishmentswerenotwithout

struggle. In her 2001book,To Be Indian, The Life of Iroquois-Seneca Arthur Caswell Parker,JoyPorterdoesathoroughjobof exploringthelifeof amanwhowasperhapsthemostpublishedNativeAmericanwriterof histime.YetParker,bornontheSenecaIndianReservationinwesternNewYork,also found himself struggling between the

white and Indian worlds throughout his life.Although he always identified as anIndianandasanIroquoisinparticular,hewas only one-quarter Seneca. Since that heritagewas on his father’s side, he didnot qualify as a Seneca within the strictly matrilineal line of descent followed by all of theHaudenosauneeNations,andwasnotenrolled.Parker expressedhisdispleasureabout the matrilineal system in terms that I doubt endeared him to Iroquois clan mothers, stating: ‘Legalists point out thatonly animals, slaves, and some Indians,among them the Iroquois of New York State, take their descent from the femaleline’(Porter2001,75).(However,whenin1903formaladoptionwasofferedhimbytheSenecaBearclan,heacceptedboththeadoptionandthenameof Gawasowaneh,Big Snowsnake.)

The distinguished nature of his Native heritagepartiallyexplainswhyidentificationasIroquoiswassovitallyimportanttohim.Parker claimed that his great-grandmother was a direct descendant of the Seneca prophet, Handsome Lake, and a greatnieceof thefamousoratorRedJacket.Hisgrandfather,NicholsonParker(1819–1892),agraduateof AlbanyNormalSchoolwas,asArthurwrote‘clerkof theSenecanation,United States interpreter, census agent,marshallof thenation,orator,agriculturalistandcivilengineer’anda‘pioneerof progressamonghispeople’(Porter2001,14–15).Hewas also the brother of the famous Ely Parker,whowasbothasachemandabrevetgeneral intheCivilWarand,asIpointedoutinanearliercolumn,aseminalsourceof information about Iroquois culture for such writers as Lewis Henry Morgan. (Morgan’s League of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois,infact,wasdeeplyimportanttoArthurParker,andhe referred to it often throughout his life. ‘The influence of Morgan andmy greatuncle have been with me since childhood’ Parkerwouldwrite,whilealsopointingoutthathehimself wasbornin1881,theyear


Joseph Bruchac is a writer, musician, and traditional Native storyteller whose work often reflects his American Indian (Abenaki) ancestry and the Adirondack Region of northern New York where he lives in the house he was raised in by his grandparents. He is the author of over 120 books for young readers and adults, including the award-winning volume OUR STORIES REMEMBER, American Indian History, Culture and Values through Storytelling. Photo by Eric Jenks.

generations of folklorists, historians, andstorytellers,myself included.

One of my favorite stories about Arthur Parkerhas todowith the famousfireof March29,1911,thatsweptthroughthewestendof theAlbanyStateCapitol,engulfingthe State Library and its ethnographiccollections, including hundreds of itemsParker had brought there. Braving the flames, Parker rescued priceless objectsfrom the clouds of smoke and walls that were crashing down around him. He used the tomahawk that had belonged to the famous chief Cornplanter as his ‘fire axandmascot,’(Porter2001,76),managingtosavetheIroquoiswampumbeltsthatwerethenpartof the librarycollection.Thosesamebelts,importantsacreditemsfortheIroquoisNations,werefinally repatriatedfrom the New York State Museum in 1983 to the Iroquois Grand Council at Onondaga. If not for Parker’s bravery,they would have been lost forever seven decades earlier.TheseparagraphsI’vewrittenmayexplain

why,afterParker’sdeath,RayFaddenwouldstate that Arthur Parker was the greatest manhehadeverknown,onewhodesired‘nothingforhimself ...’andwas‘…ever

readytodogoodforeveryone,nomatterwho’(Porter2001,241).Hiswas truly, as Porter put it, “a life

of complexity andachievement” (Porter2001,241).Andhislifewas,whateverhisancestry, one thatwasfirst and foremostdeeplyIroquois.

Which brings me back to that medicine bag in the Six Nations Museum and the storyRay’ssonJohntoldme:Oneday,Johnsaid,thingswerequiethereatthemuseum,novisitors,andhisdadkeptglancingupatthat medicine bag.“Youknow,”Raysaid,“Chief Parkergave

methatbagbeforehepassedonforustotake care of it.”Helookedupatthebag.“You know,” Ray added, “You’re not

supposedtoopensomeoneelse’smedicinebag. But I heard that bag has a hummingbird in it.”Thenhelookedupatthebagagainand

nodded.“Isupposeitwouldn’thurttotakealook

after all these years.”Hewent and got a ladder, took down

thebag,putitonthecounterandstartedto untie the top. But as soon as he didthat,inthroughtheopenwindowcamea

hummingbird. It circled Ray’s head and then hunginmidairrightinfrontof him,wingsbuzzing,lookinghimintheeye.Andthen, Johnsaid,hisdadretied the

top,climbedtheladderandhungthatbagback on that buffalo horn where it remains to this day.

ReferencePorter, Joy. 2001.To Be Indian: The Life

of Iroquois-Seneca Arthur Caswell Parker. Norman,OK:University of OklahomaPress.

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Georgia I’m Here (CD)—“12songs with stories about windowwashers,TheEmpireBuilder,mandolinpicking,tenorguitar,…andlotsof lush vocal harmonies.”

ART

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TJoe Crookston: Singing and Painting for the Beauty

Joe Crookston defines himselfas“anart-ist,writer,singer,guitarpicker,painter,clawhammer banjo player, fiddler, eco-villagemember,andbelieverinallthingspossible.”Based in Ithaca,NY,heperformsnation-allyandinternationally.HisCD,Able Baker Charlie & Dogreceivedthemostairplayof any folk acoustic recording and was awarded “Albumof theYear”by theInternationalFolk Alliance in 2009.

You’ll find Joe’s CDs,DVD, and Songbook (Vol. 1) in ourGallery at 129 Jay Street, Schenectady,NY,andonlineatwww.nyfolklore.org/gallery/store/music.html

Darkling and the Blue-bird (CD)—Sonically lush,personal,filledwithspirit,cello,tenorguitar,andalittleGospel.

Able Baker Charlie & Dog (CD)—International Folk Alliance’s Album of the Year award (2009).

Joe Crookston Songbook, Vol. 1, 2004–2013— Includes16songs,stories,paintings,photosandnotesonhowtoplayeachsong.

Blue Tattoo (DVD)—Holocaust survivor DinaJacobsontoldherstory.Joecraftedasong.Together they turned the message of the Holocaust intoadeeplymovingexperience.

JoeCrookston describes his approach: “Mostly,whatitcomesdowntoisthis: Ideeplycareaboutmagicandhumanpoten-tialandcreatingmusicandartthatinspiresand questions and gets you singing along. Maybe you feel something you haven’t felt in awhile.Iamreachingforthe“longnote”…thatplaceof transcendencewheretheau-dience andperformer resonate andunify.Human stories and fun creative energy.” “I standon stagewithmy guitar, and

fiddleandsingsongsaboutwindowwashers,bluebirds,ex-slaves,andthecyclesof life.Ilikelisteningtopeople’sstoriesandcraftinguniversalsongs.Inthisworldfilledwithbadnewsandcynicism,Isingandpaintforthebeauty that’s still left on this earth. Come toashow.Joinme?Sing.Dream.”

Formoreinformation,visitJoe’swebsite,www.joecrookston.com .


Good ReadTahawus Memories, 1941–1963: The Story of a Unique Adirondack Hometown By Leonard A. Gereau. Saranac Lake, NY: Hungry Bear Publishing, 2014. 312 pages, over 500 photographs. ISBN: 978-0-9857607-5-5.

TheAdirondackregionhasanabundanceof manythings.Amidthebeautifulscenery,freshair,fantastictrails,andgreatcommunities,there’salsosomegreatlegendsandtalltales.Thisareaissorichwithhistorythatit’sincrediblyeasyforsomeevents,people,andplacestoslipthroughthecracksinourcollectivememory.Untilthepublicationof Tahawus Memories,thisoldtitaniumtownseemedasthoughitwasdestinedtoendupinthedustbinof history.Inhisbook,LeonardGereauhasamassedanamazingcollectionof photos,stories,

andephemerafromtheoncevibrantminingtownof Tahawus.Activeforjustovertwodecades,Tahawuswasbuiltfromnothingandreducedtonothingintheblinkof aneye.Whatwasoncetheworld’slargesttitaniumminewasquicklyforgotten.Now,Gereauhaspreservedthememoryof Tahawusforusalltoenjoy.If youweretoventuretothesiteof Tahawustoday(asIhave),you’llfindremnants

of thiscommunity,butnothingthatwouldtellof thebuzzingsmalltownthatoncestood in the High Peaks. Tahawus Memoriesisatimecapsuleof sorts,combiningper-sonalinterviewswithscenicphotosandpostcards,allof itbeautifullypresented.Thisistrulyaone-of-a-kindbook.Packagedinadeluxe,oversizedformat,Tahawus

Memoriesisagreatadditiontoyourlocalhistorybookshelf.If youhavefriends,family,orpersonalmemoriesof theminingtownsthatoncedottedtheAdirondacks,thiswillsurely bring back vivid memories of the way it used to be.

—ChrisLinendollNorthshire BookstoreSaratogaSprings,NY

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Christmas.Hetunedittohisfather’sfiddleandpracticedonitwheneverhehadachance.IncludedinHilt’srepertoireweremanyof theold-timetunespassedonfromhisgrandfatherandfather.Afewyearslater,whenHiltwasabout12,hisgreatuncle,DurwoodKelly,gavehima3/4-sizedviolin.Withthisinstrument,Hilt and a cousin,OdellKelly of HalcottCenter,NY,startedtoplayforteenagehousedances.AccordingtoHilt:“Iwouldtaketheschoolbusup thereonFridaysandstayatOdell’shouse.Hewas15or16andplayedtheguitar. We’d have a dance at one house one night, andsomebodyelse’s thenext.Therewereusuallyenoughkids,from12to17yearsold,tomakeupacouplesets.Wehadalotof fun” (Galusha 1994).

O nMarch3,2015,NewYorkStatelostoneof itsbesttraditionalfiddlersand

squaredancecallers.HiltKellypassedaway,attheageof 89,atMountainsideResidentialCare Center in Margaretville.

Hilt and Stella Kelly and the Sidekicks were long central toRoxbury’s annualFiddlers!programs,which started in1994.Notonlyduringtheseyearsbutlongbefore,Hiltandhismusicwereimportanttoold-timesquaredancing and music throughout the Catskills region.“SquareDanceKingof theCatskills”wasaheadlineinapiecetheCatskill Mountain News did on Hilt in 1994 (Galusha 1994).

Hilt Kelly’s great-great-great grandfather firstsettledintheRoxburyareainthepioneergeneration following service in the Revolu-tionaryWar.Thefirst inthefamilythatweknowof whoplayed thefiddlewasHilt’sgrandfather,WardKelly.AccordingtoHilt,Ward bought his violin in 1882 off a second-handdealerinFleischmanns,NY;andthisisthesameinstrumentthatHiltplayedthrough-outthelatterpartof hiscareer.Wardlearnedtoplayasayoungmanandthenpassedtheartontohisson,Carson.Thiswasanera,inthe19thandearly20thcenturies,whenthefiddlewascentraltoruralentertainment.Theold-fashioned house dances, barn dances,huskingparties,andthe likewereoftenac-companiedbydances,calledandplayedbyalocalfiddler—andtheKellysfilledthisroleintheir neighborhood. WhenHiltwasfiveyearsold,hisparents

presented himwith a small tin fiddle for

In Memoriam:

Hilt Kelly: Catskills Fiddler and Caller

BY JIM KIMBALL

WhenHiltwas 15, in 1940, he boughthimself afull-sizedviolin,andhewashiredonastheregularfiddlerforalocalroundandsquaredanceband, theMelodyBoys.Thisbandplayedallovertheregionandsometimesseveralnightsaweek,attractingdancersfromfarandwide.AsHiltnotes,therewasnotele-vision in those days and the round and square danceswereprimeentertainment.Hilt remembered: “They used to chase

us all over the country.Whenwe’dplay inWestkill,peoplewouldcomeallthewayfromShavertown and Shandaken and Millbrook. One time there were 23 sets dancing at once ...Weput‘eminthreerows,withtwomoresets over by the refreshment stand” (Galusha 1994.)Exceptforaperiodof militaryserviceattheveryendof WorldWarII,Hiltcontin-uedtoplayandcalldanceswiththeMelodyBoysupuntil1953.Hehadstartedhisowntruckingbusinessandhadalsobeenhelpinghis widowed mother on the family farm; the latenightdancegigsjustgottobetoomuch:“We’dplay sometimes six or sevennightsstraight till 1 or 2 in the morning. By the time wepackedupanddrovehomeitwas2or3a.m.I’dgetafewhourssleepandthenitwastime to milk the cows; then I had the trucking routetodo.Italmostputmeinthehospital”(Galusha 1994).Itwasduringoneof thosedancesin1947,

at theHalcottGrangeHall, thatHiltaskedStellaMechforadance.OnOctober30,1948,Hilt and Stella were married. Stella had taken afewpianolessonsinschoolbutdidn’tget

Hilton’s parents, Edith and Carson Kelly, about the time they were married in 1918. Courtesy of Linda Amour, from the Kelly family collection.


At the bungalow colony, probably in the 1950s (left to right): Yankif Gorelick (the author’s uncle), Polya Gorelick (Yankif’s wife), Fanny Rothstein (partially obscured, the author’s grandmother), and Harry Rothstein (the author’s grandfather). Photo courtesy of Raanan Geberer.

the Sidekicks and their busy dance schedule. OnOctober9,1994,theRoxburyArtsGroupdedicated their hall to him. There were over 700peoplethatshowedupforthatdedication

veryfarbeforeherfamilymovedthepianotothe woodshed to make room for a table for summerboardersinthehouse.Now,HiltandStellawereabletogettheirownpiano,and

Hiltcoachedheronhowtoplayrhythmandchords fordancing—which shedid for allthe remaining years of Hilt’s entertainments and dances.In the late1970s,withStellaon thekey-

board,Hiltstartedhisownroundandsquaredanceband,theSidekicks.InadditiontoHiltandStella,thegroupwascomprisedof DonStrausser,of Lexington,NY,onguitarandoth-erinstruments,andDonIrwin,of Prattsville,NY,whohadbeentaughtguitarbyHilt.BothDon Strausser and Don Irwin also doubled on vocals and calling square dances. Aside from her music and all the work of raising a family andkeepinghouse,Stellaalsodrovearuralmailrouteformorethan40years—untiljusta few years ago. Hilt and Stella celebrated their 66th anniversary last year.

Hilt became active for a while with the statewideandlocalchapterof theNewYorkStateOldTymeFiddlers’Association, buteventually had to devote most of his time to

Hilt calling a dance. Photo by Jim Kimball.

Hilton and Stella Kelly on their wedding day, October 30, 1948. Courtesy of Linda Amour, from the Kelly family collection.

Hilton and Stella at Roxbury Fiddler! 2006. Photo by Jim Kimball.


andtolistentobothHiltandtheotherfiddlerswho were invited.

And with that dedication started the long traditionof Fiddlers!Celebrations,heldeachfall in Hilt Kelly Hall at the Roxbury Arts Center.Excellentfiddlers frommany tradi-tionswerepresentedeachyear;buttheplaceof honor always went to Hilt Kelly. Hilt was alsogenerousinpassingonhistraditionstomanyaspiringmusiciansintheCatskillregion,as well as teaching youngsters at the Manhat-tan Country School and Roxbury Central School. In 1997,Hiltonwas inducted intothe North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame inOsceola,NY.

Although well known to the traditional fiddling community throughoutNewYorkStateandnortheasternPennsylvania,itisthepeopleof theCatskillsthathaveknownHiltthe best and over so many years. For all the joythatheandStellaandtheSidekickshavebrought to audiences and dancers throughout theregion,letusofferourheartfeltthanks.Tohisfamilyandmanyfriends,tomusi-

cians and callers who have learned from Hilt,tothelegionsof dancerswhosolongfollowedhisoldtimesquaredances,andtohistradition-lovingfansof allages,Hiltwillbe long remembered.

Hilt Kelly and the Sidekicks in Hilt Kelly Hall, 2007. From left to right front: Don Strausser, Stella Kelly, Hilt Kelly, and Don Irwin. Bob Cates is accompanying on string bass. Photo by Jim Kimball.

Hilt with his “FIDDLE 1” license plate. Stella’s plate read CDEFGABC, the basic scale on the piano. Photo by Jim Kimball.

Notes:This articlewas adapted froman appre-

ciationof HiltKelly,firstpublished in theprogrambookletforFiddlers!2010,producedby theRoxburyArtsGroup. Also, earlierprogramnotesfromFiddlers!seriesprovidedsource material.

Reference:Galusha,Diane.1994.“RedKill’sHilton

Kelly.” The Catskill Mountain News,October5,1994.


Fiddlers! 22 will be honoring Hilt Kelly this year:

FIDDLERS! 22An Autumn Tradition in the CatskillsSunday, October 11, 2015Noon – 7:00 p.m.Roxbury Arts Center, Hilt Kelly Hall, 5025 Vega Mountain Road, Roxbury, NY 12474 • 607.326.7908Advance Tickets: $20 Adults, $18 Student/SeniorAll Tickets Day of Performance: $25Sponsored by Miller’s Drug Store

The 22nd FIDDLERS! festival is dedicated to celebrating in memoriam Hilt Kelly, the renowned Catskill region’s legendary fiddler and caller. Hilt “bowed and called” his way throughout the region, spreading joy and dancing wherever he went, and all the while mentoring young fiddlers for over 70 years. FIDDLERS! 22 will be packed with fun, featuring old and new friends of Hilt Kelly including the Tremperskill Boys, Brittany Haas & Nic Gareiss, Linsey Beckett, Laura Kortright & Steve Jacobi, and more—plus square dancing, a chili cook-off, and an All-Star Jam.

Jim Kimball has taught music history, world music and folk music classes, and directed the Geneseo String Band in the Music Department at the State University at Geneseo since 1976. He plays several traditional instruments, calls square dances, and lectures on many musical traditions. Jim has collected tunes and stories from old-time musicians and callers, written articles, and presented at folk arts and museum venues. Photo by Lori Morsch.

ARTIST IN THE GALLERY SERIESK. O. Wilson, Delaware County, NY

Exhibition of Current TrainsMr. Wilson’s photographs are taken at remote locations along hundreds of miles of railroad tracks. Unique beyond the generally unseen view of Mr. Wilson’s work is vibrancy that is post-mainstream photography. He employs shooting in low-light conditions, directly into the sun, and upon colorless landscapes

Gallery of New York Artists at the New York Folklore Society, 129 Jay Street, Schenectady, NY 12305

Exhibit Dates: September 27 through October 24, 2015

Meet the Artist: Sunday October 4, 11AM to 2PMFree to the Public

The New York Folklore Society’s “Artist in the Gallery” series is supported by Schenectady County Initiative Program

“Binghamton”


From Boatyards to Condos BY NANCY SOLOMON

Dan Schmidt began working at Davison’s in 1976. “I started as a part-time employee in the summertime. Things were much harder since most boats were wood.” Photo by Nancy Solomon, July 2012.

andit[thebarge]wasuponland.Itisabargethought to be built in late 1800s. It was a work-ingbarge—likecoalbargesinBrooklyn—outof service—thebottomwasallrottedout.Heboughtproperty,andthenDavisonlifteditinthe air and built what is underneath it.” In ad-dition,therewasawoodcarpenter’sbuildingwhereSandpiperMarineworkeduntiltheyardwassold,operatedbyPatKinneary.

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On September 24, 2014, theLong Island Herald reported thatDavison’sBoatyard inEastRockawaywouldbesoldtoadeveloperwho would build 80 condominiums on the waterfront site. The boatyard has a long and impressivehistory,asoneof thefirsttocatertorecreationalfishermenandboatersinthis“FiveTowns” communityonLong Island’sSouthShore.Sadly,thisstoryisnotuniqueandwillhopefullyspursomecommunitiestohelppreservetheirworkingwaterfronts.

In 1932 Russell Davison founded a yard that specialized inboatbuilding,restoration,andservice along the shores of East Rockaway. The yard was well known for building and servicingcommercialfishingboatsandluxuryyachts,CoastGuardskiffs,andpoliceboats.DanSchmidt,recalledina2012interviewthat:

Originally their purpose—Davison’s—was half involved in lumber and house moving business. Then in 1932 Russ Davidson decided he would venture into boatserviceandboatrepairs.Hehadtwosonsandadaughterinthebusiness—whoIeventuallypurchasedtheyardfrom.Shemarried Ken Cot who was the manager and mechanic. Oliver Davidson was the engineerandranalltheequipment.Theymanufactured anything you needed. Russ was thepainter andcarpenter. Itwasagood match because they had different skills. Besidespaintworkandwoodwork,theydid a lot of engine restorations. Back then boats lasted a lot longer and the engines didn’t—every10yearsyouhadtofixtheengines. That’s when we went from be-ingjustaboatyardtoalsodoingenginerepairs. Yearsagotherewerepainters,welders,differentlevelsof carpenters.Wehadfinecarpenterswhodidvarnishwork.Thentherewere“nutsandbolts”carpenters–theyhadtoputseamstogether,caulkaboat,andputlapstrakesandrivetsbackin. The woodworkers came from Scandi-navian countries.

OvertimetheyardexpandeditsservicestoincludedealertrainingonMercrusermotors,andmaintaining“party”fishingboats,suchas

the Commodore,theGenie May,andtheCaptain Tom. While motorboats were more common during the yard’s beginnings, sailboatswerealsopartof theyard.“OliverandRussweresailors—theywouldbuysailboathulls—bringthemhereandwouldputthemtogether.Theywouldsailtheboat,useit,sailit,andbuildan-otherone,”recallsSchmidt.Eventoday,thereisacertainpatternamongthosewhoworkinboat yards. “It’s aunique industry—noonegoes to school to become a boatyard guy. You have to learn the long hard way.”Like other industries, boat builders de-

veloped closeoccupational ties andworkedtogether. According to Schmidt, “All thecraftsmen knew each other and would share with each other. I remember doing that with FredScopinich also.We’re inbusinesswitheachother aswell.Russ realized [that] thecustomermovedaroundandrealized that itwas everybody’s customer. They worked well together in those days. You still see that locally inthetrade—tohelpeachotherout.”

The architecture of boatyards is somewhat traditional, but there are unique structuresfound in eachone.AtDavison’s, the show-room sits below what was once a functioning bargepurchasedbyRussDavison.AccordingtoSchmidt,“Firsttheylivedonthewaterfortwo years. Then Doris came home one day

Davison’s Boatyard just after Superstorm Sandy. “We went from being six feet under water to within days having equipment and trucks running.” Photo by Dan Schmidt, November 2, 2012.


Alas,Davison’sBoatyardconfrontedaseriesof economicproblemsthathasbeensharedbymanyboatyardowners.AsSchmidtexplainedin2013,justafterSuperstormSandy,“It’sin-evitablethatatsomepointwewillhavetoselltheyard,anyyardorpropertyitsvalueexpensefor us to run is uneven. Boatyards used to make alivingstoringboats—that’sbecomelessandless evident. Local marinas and yacht clubs nowstoreboats.Thismighthavebeenthespotinitsday—butnowwearesittingonamainstreetinasmalltown—threeacresof propertyhavehigherandbiggervalues.Wehaveadaptedtoknowingwecan’t justmakea livinghere.Thisdoesn’tevensupportafewmechanics,ayardperson,andanofficeperson.If Iwereto charge the correct amount of money that wouldpayalltheexpensesgoingforward—toourcustomers—we’dhavetochargefivetimesmorethanwhatwecharge—itwouldn’twork.”TedDeGarmo, theowner of DeGarmo

BoatyardinBabylonreflectedthat,“Thereisnowaythatatraditionalboatyardcanpaythetaxesthatwehavetopay.WhenyouhaveasituationthatwehaveonLongIsland,thereisnootherplacetogetthemoneyfromexceptfrom taxpayers.The futureof Long Island,asfarastraditionsgo,isgoingtobeatoughsell.”DeGarmohasalsosoldhisproperty.“Iwasdrainingmy entire savings just keepingtheplaceafloat.”Whilesomepreservationorganizationsare

tryingtosavetheseworkingwaterfronts,sadly,many are falling by the wayside. I urge those whodocareaboutthesespecialplacestowritetheirstateofficials,askingthemtointroduceandsupportlegislationthatpreservesworkingwaterfronts, in the sameway that farmlandadvocateshavehelpedpreserveworkingfarms.Onlythencanwepassonthemaritimetradi-tions of our communities.

Nancy Solomon is executive director of Long Island Traditions, located in Port Washington, New York. She can be reached at 516/767-8803 or [email protected].

SuperstormSandyfloodedallof Davison’sbuildings, sweptboatsoff their stanchions,anddamagedsmallandlargevesselsalike.“Inthewinterweweretryingtofigureouthowtofixeveryoneandgetthemoutboatingagain.One thing we didn’t do was to set the anchor

Davison’s Boatyard in the early 1940s. Photo by Nancy Solomon, February 2013.

Jim O’Reilly began working at Davison’s in the 1960s. After leaving to run his own boatyard in 1980, he retired and returned to Davison’s. Photo by Nancy Solomon, 2013.

off inthecanalandtighten itup,soasthetidecameupitwouldpulltheboatawayfromthedock.Thatwouldhaveprovedtohelpusout—butwemissedthatonthisstorm.Buthavingthebuildingssavedus,”rememberedSchmidt.


“Stable Views: Life in the Backstretch of the Thoroughbred Racetrack” was at FlushingTownHall,Queens,NY,throughJune 2015.The exhibition is traveling toTraditional Arts in UpstateNew York(TAUNY)inCantonforviewingfromJulythrough December 2015. Curated by NYFS ExecutiveDirector,EllenMcHale,“StableViews: Life in the Backstretch of the Thor-oughbred Racetrack” is a look at the occu-pationallivesandwordsof stableworkers,who work day in and day out to train and prepare racehorses for the thoroughbredracing industry. It provides a portrait fora distinct occupational folk groupwhosemembers are often linked not only through a commonoccupation, but also throughgenerations of family and community con-nections. Funding for the exhibition was providedby anArchieGreenFellowshipinOccupationalFolklorefromtheFolklifeCenterof theLibraryof Congress,theAl-fredZ.SolomonTrust,andtheNewYorkCouncil for the Humanities. Asecondexhibition,“Farm and Field:

The Rural Folk Arts of the Catskill Re-gion” willbeondisplaythroughJuly2015at the Livingston Manor Free Library. This exhibitistheworkof photographerBenja-minHalpern,andillustratestheagriculturalcycle in the Catskills’ region. It next travels to various locations throughout the Hudson Valley,includingBethelWoodsCenterfortheArtsandCornellCooperativeExtensionof Sullivan County. Please check the New YorkFolkloreSociety’swebsite,www.nyfolk-lore.org,fortheexhibitionschedule.SupportfortheexhibitionhasbeenprovidedbytheNational Endowment for the Arts.

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master weavers from the Karen and Karenni communities who have been resettled in AlbanyfromBurmaandwhoarerecipientsof apprenticeshipgrantsfromtheNewYorkState Council on the Arts to teach their weav-ingtocommunitymembers.Entrepreneurialinspirit,theweaversareanticipatingthedaywhen they will be offering their work for sale in retail establishments. Although the tradi-tionalartreflectsKarenandKarenniheritageandculture,italsohasworthfortheweavers’economicparticipationwithinAlbanyandthegreaterCapitalregion.WhilemasterweaversSha Lay Paw and Kee Meh are newly at the

centerof theweavingenterprise, itwillbeinterestingtoseewhatripplestheymakeandwhatimpacttheirweavingwillhaveonthelives of their families and associates in the next 50 years. Yacub Addy’s legacy reached across two continentsandhundredsof people.Thelega-cies of Sha Lay Paw and Kee Meh are yet to bedetermined,butIcanassureyou,wewillallbethebeneficiaries.

Ellen McHale, PhD, Executive DirectorNew York Folklore Society

[email protected]

The New York Folklore Society has two ex-hibitions, which are running concurrently.

From the Director (continued from inside front cover)

Current and former members of Yacub Addy’s Ghanaian ensemble, Odadaa! are recognized during a celebration of his life, May 30, 2015. Photo by Ellen McHale.

A display of the weaving of Sha Lay Paw and Keh Mee, Albany City Hall, Albany, NY, June 2015. Photo by Ellen McHale.

Photo by Ellen McHale.

Join the New York Folklore Society and become part of a community that will deepen your involvement with folklore, folklife, the traditional arts, and contemporary culture. As a member, you’ll have early notice of key events.

Annual Conference. People travel from all over to meet in a different part of the state each year for the NYFS Conference and Annual Meeting. Professionals in folklore and related fields join with educators and practitioners to explore the culture and traditions of the area. Lectures and discussions are balanced with concerts, dancing, and tours of cultural sites.

New York State Folk Arts Forums. Folk arts professionals, colleagues in related disciplines, and lay people come together each year to address a topic of special interest—whether it be folklore and the Internet, heritage tourism, cultural conservation, or intellectual property law.

Help When You Need ItBecome a member and learn about technical assistance programs that will get you the help you need in your work.

Mentoring and Professional Development Program for Folklife and the Traditional Arts. Receive technical assistance from a mentor of your choosing. You can study with a master traditional artist, learn new strategies for marketing, master concert and exhibition production, organize an archive, or improve your organizational management.

Folk Artists Self-Management Project. If you’re a traditional artist, you know the importance of business, management, and marketing skills to your success in the marketplace. NYFS can help you with workshops, mentoring, and publications.

Folk Archives Project. What could be more critical than finding a repository for an important collection? The NYFS is a leader in the preservation of our cultural heritage. Attend our workshops and order copies of NYFS books at a discount.

Consulting and Referral. The NYFS offers informal counseling and referral services to the members in the field. Contact us by telephone, e-mail, or letter.

Publications. Members receive discounts on all NYFS publications. Visit www.nyfolklore.org for current titles.

Join the New York Folklore Society today and become a subscriber to Voices

A Public VoiceThe NYFS raises awareness of folklore among the general public through three important channels.

Print. Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore, published twice a year, brings you folklore in the words and images of its creators and practitioners. The journal’s new look distinguishes it from other publications in the field. Read Voices for news you can use about our field and legal issues, photography, sound and video recording, and archiving.

Radio. Voices of New York Traditions is a series of radio documentaries that spotlight the folklife of the state, aired on public radio. Stay tuned!

Internet. Visit www.nyfolklore.org for the latest news on events in folklore. Updated weekly, the NYFS web site is designed to appeal to the public as well as keep specialists informed.

Advocacy The NYFS is your advocate for sympathetic and informed attention to folk arts.• We represent you on issues before the state legislature and the federal government when public policy affects the field. Visit the advocacy pages at www.nyfolklore.org to learn what we’re doing and how you can help. • The society partners with statewide, regional, and national organizations, from the New York State Arts and Cultural Coalition to the American Folklore Society, and frequently presents its projects and issues at meetings of professional organizations in the allied fields of archives, history, and libraries.

So Join!Become part of a community that explores and nurtures the traditional cultures of New York State and beyond. Membership in the NYFS entitles you to the following benefits:• A subscription to Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore • Invitations to conferences, workshops, and meetings • Updates on technical assistance programs • Opportunities to meet others who share your interests • Discounts on NYFS booksPlus the satisfaction of knowing that you support the only organization devoted to folklore across New York State.

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