Why these artists today are more rare and valuable than the work itself.
Marlborough, MA (2011) – As the organizer of the 28 th annual Folk Art Festival of New England , Joel Hertz sometimes feels more like a conservationist than a festival planner. The salvation of the authentic American traditional artist is what the annual gathering in Marlborough has become even if the focus from October 28-30 is on the art.
America’s finest artisans and craftsmen gathering this year at The Royal Plaza Trade Center will demonstrate an art form that can trace its origins back to early European craft movements . Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries America’s most talented and decorated artisans evolved this movement of working with traditional craft and organic materials into a variety of forms that have influenced contemporary greats such as Frank Lloyd Wright .
What American craft became was a major contribution to the vast artistic practices conducted by independent studio artists who work specifically with traditional craft materials and processes such as wood, woodworking or furniture making, glass or glassblowing, clay or ceramics, textiles, metal or metalworking.
“We may be seeing the last of the greats this weekend,” said Hertz, who has virtually spent a lifetime in search of the best of authentic American traditional artisans and craftsmen. “The cultural shift toward technology is threatening to lead us away from the value of handcrafted artwork.”
According to Hertz, the computer assisted design of today mirrors the threat faced at the end of the nineteenth century when the preindustrial craft trades had almost totally disappeared thanks to industrial expansion and westward movement. That cultural shift severed American culture from early Colonial American and Native American craft roots.
This fact continues to drive Hertz to travel the country recruiting top artisans for this festival, including some who had been absent for several years. In the past, an impressive list of carvers were present. This year is not exception and to add to the list this year is Tom Head and his equally talented wife Lisa. With Tom’s Carvings and Lisa’s rye & willow baskets the duo will impress! Returning this year are, are Christopher Gurshin , painter of old New England; D.R. Coble & Company offering paintings, one-of-a-kind painted furniture, and accessories; Maurice “Mo” Dallas and his folk art Noah’s Arks; Jane Theobald , artisan of “baskets in the Nantucket tradition”; and more . The event will also include book signings by Ann Eckert Brown , popular children’s authors Will Moses and Barbara Palmer with their most recent releases, and Claudia Hopf with her just released, Papercutting Pattern Book .
In addition to supporting the artists, the event also helps raise money to benefit The Autism Resource Center of Central Massachusetts n in the form of a raffle with many one of a kind pieces donated by participating Artisans and Craftsmen. Admission for adults is $8 and children under 12 are free. For more information and an admission coupon visit FolkArtFestivalOfNewEngland.com .
