CBC feature on Heritage NL's "Craft at Risk"

Heritage NL is excited to highlight a CBC feature with Krissy Holmes on the Craft at Risk exhibition currently on display at the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Heritage NL curated the exhibition which is running from October 4 to November 8, 2024. This exhibition showcases the work of several Mentor-Apprentice participants. Please check out the exhibition in person at the Craft Council Gallery which is open Wednesday-Sunday 12-5pm. For more info about the Craft Council including their location visit their website: https://www.craftcouncilnl.ca/contact

More information about Craft at Risk including our updated Craft at Risk List 2024 please visit is our website here: 

https://heritagenl.ca/programs/craft-at-risk/

Media Release: Updated List of Endangered Crafts Released for Newfoundland and Labrador

Sealskin boot making, traditional dyeing, and the building of Labrador kayaks have all been placed on an updated list of endangered crafts for Newfoundland and Labrador.

St. John’s, NL
For immediate release

The Heritage NL Craft at Risk List 2024 is designed to track changes in levels of local knowledge, and to plan for the future. Concerned about the loss of traditional know-how, Heritage NL has been working to document crafts at risk and to encourage the sharing of heritage skills.

The Heritage NL Craft at Risk List 2024 features 76 crafts, 16 of which are listed as critically endangered. These include things such as coopering, spruce root basketry, and making black bottomed sealskin boots. An additional 42 crafts are listed as endangered, while 15 crafts are listed as currently viable. Three crafts, including the recently listed hay barrack making, are listed as having become extinct in the last generation.

Heritage NL has partnered with the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador to showcase some of these crafts at risk in a new exhibition at the Craft Council Gallery on Water Street, St. John’s. This exhibition features the work of 18 participants of the Heritage NL Mentor-Apprentice Program. This program, coordinated and funded by Heritage NL, was a one-on-one immersion program to support the teaching of endangered crafts and skills from an established mentor to an apprentice craftsperson or tradesperson.

“The culture and heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador is so entwined with craft,” says Dr. Lisa Daly, chair of Heritage NL’s Board of Directors. “Through the fishery, built heritage, making clothing, and our foodways, we find the art and craft that has taken things from functional to beautiful. I hope that we can continue such partnerships to preserve and share the intangible cultural heritage that makes this place so uniquely home for us, whether our ancestors have spent generations here, or we are new to the province.”

“Heritage NL hopes to continue to work so that future generations can continue to learn the crafts that shape our identity,” Daly adds.

The Craft at Risk exhibition runs until November 8th, 2024 at the Craft Council Gallery (155 Water Street) which is open to the public from Wednesday to Saturday 12-5pm.

Find the Heritage NL Craft at Risk List 2024 at www.heritagecraft.ca

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For more information or to arrange an interview contact:

Dale Jarvis, Executive Director
Heritage NL
dale @ heritagenl . ca
709-739-1892 x1
www.heritagecraft.ca