Museographs: Appalachian Handicrafts

Caron Caswell Lazar

Description

High atop the Southern mountains lived the Appalachian settlers. They were people unconcerned with convention who lived removed from the throes of civilization for more than a century. From mighty blacksmiths to prized basket-makers, their crafts were well suited to a remote existence, giving them 'the tools to tame the wilderness.'

Hand thrown pottery preserved and transported food. Cornhusk dolls lent amusement to children's playtime. Chair making and woodcarving added beauty and functionality to the home, and the celebrated art of the coverlet was a legacy of tradition and hard work.

Though early Appalachian society was prosperous, the technology of the Industrial Revolution presented new challenges. Potters fell victim to highway robbers and was then replaced by glass and metal containers. These new materials infiltrated rural markets and served as better storage alternatives. In addition, the one-person art of the coverlet was forever changed when Francis Goodrich's Allanstand Cottage Industries sought to commercialize its production and circulate the coverlet to the general public. This increased exposure led to the development of faster production techniques and resulted in economic hardship for the hill country.

Museographs' Appalachian Handicrafts records the development of these American craftsmen and –women, from humble beginnings to modern success stories. Extensive biographies introduce you to major figures within the society, such as Daniel Boone and Alvin and Trevele Wood. This cleverly written document illustrates, with personal flair, how evolving Highland art has thrived in both its early and its current forms.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Americas
• History

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 05 août 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456628857
• Langue: English

Extrait

MUSEOGRAPHS
Appalachian Handicrafts
by
Carôn Caswell Lazar

Copyright 2017 Carôn Caswell Lazar,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2885-7
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
The Museographs monographs are publications of The Lazar Group, Incorporated
Museographs Appalachian Handicrafts , Copyright 1993 Carôn Caswell Lazar
All rights reserved
No reproductions of this newsletter, or its attending materials, in whole or in part or in any form may be made without written authorization of the copyright owner.
Museographs Titles:
Japanese Satsuma Pottery
Contemporary African-American Folk Art
Shaker Design
Mexican Painting of the 19th & 20th Centuries
The Sioux
Appalachian Handicrafts
The Cherokee
The Art of Islam: A Survey
The Old City of Jerusalem
Illuminated Manuscripts
Mexican Folk Art
Kanien’kehaka
Art, Myth, Legend and Story
The Art of the Celts
Appalachian Handicrafts
Introduction
The first settlers to come to Appalachia came from the hills of Pennsylvania and from Virginia and North Carolina. These people, mostly of an English-Scottish-Irish origin, carried with them the strong handicraft cultures of their heritage. These skills were to become the basis of their lifestyle for well over a century without significant influence from beyond the mountains until the late 1890s. They came into the mountains with few possessions, only what was vital to make the trip as well as the occasional cherished article, heirloom or fine piece of furniture.
In the main they were far removed from trading routes and for the most part separated from the outside — although they were not entirely isolated since some of the mountain gaps were part of the westward migration route and as others came to Appalachia they brought with them knowledge of outside conditions. The people of Appalachia were isolated for reasons of economy as much as geography. For these reasons the mountain highland family produced virtually everything necessary for their family’s survival and comfort with their own hands. This independent way of life continued undisturbed until the end of the nineteenth century when some of the old crafts, like weaving, began a decline. This decline was in large measure due to greater availability of store-bought stuffs. It should be noted that for the most part the people of Appalachia continued to be independent well into the first quarter of the twentieth century.
However, in the late 1890s outside influences in the form of educated women missionaries and northern businesses began to make their way into the Highlands. As a result of the work of many women dedicated to a revival of traditional crafts as a means to economic prosperity, a number of fine institutions were established to promote and continue these skills. In the interest of space we will not deal with these institutions or their work, but rather will explore and describe the crafts themselves, some of the people who established them and some of those who continue the way of life even now.
The Traditional Crafts
Baskets
Mountain baskets were most often named for either their shape or function, although sometimes a basket might carry the name of the family that made it or originally designed it. Among the names of basket designs that indicate shape are: round, flat, square, triangular, cylindrical, oval, oblong, melon, boat and jug. Some of those basket names that designated use are: egg, measuring, tea, trinket, clover, seed, charcoal, lady, market, wall, work, flower, fruit and lunch baskets. More modern designs have also taken names that conform to their use such as: bassinet, book holder, magazine and wastebaskets.
In the old days baskets were rarely dyed; instead they were left to season naturally. Dying was first introduced at the turn of the century with the revival of handicrafts. Today baskets are often dyed using both vegetable and commercial dyes.
Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing was the essential frontier art. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the settlement of America brought many skilled artisans to the new frontier. As the makers of tools the blacksmith’s skills provided the technology to tame the wilderness. For the farmer they made plows, hoes, rakes, shoes for horses, mules and oxen; for carpenters: hammers, chisels, plane irons and nails; for cooks: pots and pans and utensils; for hunters: guns and traps; and for everyone: tires for wagons and knives.
During the nineteenth century the blacksmith was such a valuable member of the Appalachian community that North Carolina’s Civil War governor, Zeb Vance, was asked to return a conscripted blacksmith back to his community in Watauga County so that farming and other essential work could continue.
In the twentieth century as horses were replaced by cars and tractors, the blacksmith was almost universally replaced by automobile mechanics and welders. And while blacksmiths have indeed become a thing of the past, in the southern Highlands they have not so much disappeared as been reborn. In the 1920s, during the great decline of old-time blacksmithing, some smiths began to make a transition from making iron tools to creating iron art. Their skills were adapted and applied to making decorative ornamental and historical reproduction ironwork. One such progressive family was the Boone family.
The legendary frontiersman, Daniel Boone, was himself a blacksmith and some of his descendants carried these skills with them when they settled in Yancey and Mitchell counties in North Carolina where Boone family members continue to smith to this day. Until the early 1900s Nelse Boone ran a general-purpose shop and he was succeeded by his son Kelse. Faced with little farriery work to keep him busy and solvent, Kelse began to produce railings, candleholders and other decorative items for sale.
Kelse’s son, Daniel Boone VI, completed the transition by becoming perhaps the first artist­blacksmith in the North Carolina Mountains. By 1937 he had opened the Boone Forge in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. There he designed and produced gates, railings and other hardware for both private homes and public buildings across the country. Daniel Boone VI became a teacher and an artisan who inspired and influenced a whole new generation of Highland blacksmiths.
Chairmaking
Chairs in the Appalachian Highlands came in several varieties. Among them were babies’ and children’s high chairs, rockers for old folks and the most popular chair of the region, the ‘settin’ chair’. The settin’ chair had ‘a curved back which made it practical for general use, and it came in a number of sizes and variations in pattern.
The woods most commonly used to make Highland chairs were sugar maple and ash for the posts, hickory for the rounds or rungs and either white oak splints or hickory bark for the seats. Most often chair makers harvested these materials from their own land or from nearby woodlands. Only occasionally was it necessary to buy materials for the bodies of the chairs from neighbors, although where local white oak supplies had been depleted splints for the seats were imported from other areas.
The Highland chair maker used a variety of tools to fashion the posts and rounds of his chairs. These tools ranged from a brace and bit and a pocketknife to turning lathes, drawing knives, planes, spoke shaves and chisels. However, no matter what tools were used to make the individual parts, the chair was never put together with screws, nails or glue. Rather, the natural properties of the wood itself were relied on to hold the frame firm.
In order to accomplish this the chair maker used fresh or green wood for the posts and well-seasoned wood for the rounds. Then, when the hickory rounds are driven into the posts and the chair frame has seasoned, the green posts shrink over the ends of the already dry rounds and grip them like a vise. According to one old chair maker, the only way to get ‘em out is to break ‘em out .