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CLUSTER CRAFTS FAIR

To imagine new sustainable future it is often necessary to turn to our recent pasts, searching out inspiration in forms of knowledge that have been practiced and refined over generations into technologies infused with artistry. Unfortunately, for many makers a literal connection is no longer apparent, the links broken by modernity and the demands of progress. Fortunately, documentary film offers us a bridge back to this world, fixing history in celluloid and making it possible to learn lost arts.

The mid-twentieth century saw a burgeoning field of independent documentary filmmakers set out to capture American vernacular cultures. However, often these films did not have access to mass market advertising and distribution systems, nor would they fit within the scope of commercial television or most movie theatres. Whilst sometimes screened through public broadcasting, they frequently ran at odd lengths and wouldn’t fit within the programming time slots and lacked stars to draw immediate audience. 

Fortunately, at the turn of the 21st century filmmaker Tom Davenport and folklorist Daniel Patterson founded Folkstreams.net, an organisation and online archive dedicated to making these histories available. Covering all manner of cultural output, the films housed by Folkstreams speak to everything from agriculture to religious practices, dance and drama, folktales to food, and of course crafts..

Online for over twenty years Folkstreams has grown into a rich resource of information offering the craft practitioners of today an important window through which to read their predecessors. Below we have selected six films from the Folkstreams archive, but recommend a deeper dive into what they have available.

Weaver (1974)
by Jack Ofield

A well-known figure in upstate New York in the weaving community, Margaret Carr was a weaver adapt at creating all manner of richly coloured textiles on her loom. Laced with historical context, this film recounts the important of weaving in the foundation of the colonies, both a necessity and an art form, till the invention of faster mechanical methods, which automated production on a mass scale. Speaking to her craft, Carr explains the continued importance of the loom in the creation of unique works.

How to Build an Igloo (1949)
by Douglas Wikinson

Produced by The National Film Board of Canada this short film provides an actual step to step guide on building an igloo using only snow and a knife. Featuring incredible blue and white scenes on the ice, the film is richly scored and features an authoritative voice over explaining each stage in detail. Cutting blocks from within the circle of the igloo two Inuit men work with precision and an architectural understanding of the dome and their materials.

Edd Prensell: Dulcimer Maker (1973)
by Thomas Burton & Jack Schrader

A dulcimer is a wooden string instrument, a type of zither common through the Appalachian region of the United States, hence sometimes being called a ‘mountain zither.’ Set to the soundtrack of the dulcimer strings, this film followers mountain craftsman Add Prensell as he creates the instrument, setting wood within clamps, carving the individual pieces, nailing them together and finally fixing the strings, a process ranging between thirty to forty hours making. 

The Last Shovel Maker (1974)
by Jack Ofield

It is hard not to love the aged face of eighty-seven year old Harvey Ward, residency of Sidney in upstate New York and the last professional wooden shovel maker. Climbing across felled trees, stepping through shavings and eyeing the perfect piece from which to begin work from, Ward narrates his life’s experience in an entirely unassuming manner. Cutting the form of a shovel free from the wood, Ward narrows and shapes recounting the dying demand for his art from the days he worked alongside his father. 

Alex Stewart: Cooper (1973)
by Thomas Burton & Jack Schrader

Married sixty years and a father of nine, Alex Stewart is a mountain craftsman from near Sneedville in Tennessee. Able to make just about any vessel from wood, this film follows Stewart as he constructs a churn, explaining the particularities of wood seasoning and the use of staves, vital knowledge needed for work he does. Sized in metal hoops, Stewart replaces them stage by stage with wood, creating a piece tensioned together without the need for any glue.

The Pirogue Maker (1949)
by Arnold Eagle

Whilst working on the docufiction film the Louisiana Story in 1948, director Robert Flaherty searched out a small boat, or ‘pirogue’ for his young hero. Aware that pirogue was a disappearing art, he sought out the Cajum craftsman Ebdon Allemon, persuading him to make what may have been the last pirogue made in Louisiana. Fortunately, the undertaking was captured on film by Arnold Eagle.