Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Hurricane Larry forecast ends Heritage NL’s lucky workshop weather pattern

Media release 

For immediate release


From: Heritage NL

Date: 08 September 2021


Hurricane Larry forecast ends Heritage NL’s lucky workshop weather pattern:


It looks like Hurricane Larry could put an end to Heritage NL’s lucky streak of good weather for outdoor workshops this year!


“Since our traditional skills workshops series launched this summer, we’ve been very lucky with weather during outdoor events, avoiding even rain showers. We’ve had workshops in cemeteries with people cleaning and repairing old headstones on the Southern Shore and in Salvage, done a bit of masonry repointing at the Anglican Cathedral in St. John’s, and built wriggle fences in Ferrryland and New Perlican,” says Lara Maynard, Heritage NL’s training coordinator. 


But now that Environment Canada has issued a Hurricane Watch on top of a Tropical Cyclone Information Statement, Heritage NL has had to make the call to postpone this weekend’s clapboard workshop scheduled for Port de Grave.


John Duchow, a carpenter who specializes in heritage restoration, was set to lead a workshop on repairing clapboard at Porter House Museum in Port de Grave this Friday and Saturday. That wooden building began as a fishing family home in the early 1900s, is a Registered Heritage Structure, and currently has some siding issues that the workshop would help address with a teaching opportunity. But potential high winds and rain could make it unsafe for registrants to travel to the workshop, climb scaffolding, or impossible to do the basic clapboard repair tasks or painting.


“We’ll reschedule the workshop for the spring,” says Maynard. “And cross our fingers that we’ll get a new lucky streak with our Newfoundland weather!” 


Meanwhile, anyone who would like to follow the organization’s calendar of workshops as they are booked is invited to follow Heritage NL on Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/heritage-nl-11970018677), or website heritagenl.ca or social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) pages.



Friday, April 23, 2021

Living Heritage Podcast Ep205 The Devon Rural Skills Trust, with Chris Baker

Stone walling training course, south Devon.


Many of the traditional features of the English countryside such as dry stone walls and hedge banks were originally created and maintained by rural craftsmen, using the skills that were passed from father to son. In recent years, these skills have been at risk of being forgotten. The Devon Rural Skills Trust was established in 1980 with a view to safeguarding the future of those traditional skills while the men and women who practiced them were still able to pass on their knowledge. 

Laying hazel with a billhook on a south Devon farm from one of the DRST training courses.

DRST’s 2019 hedge laying competition, showing bank with small trees/shrubs laid on top.


During this time the Trust has trained thousands of people, providing them with the skills and knowledge to practice traditional rural skills. One of those people is Chris Baker, the Trust’s Publicity Officer. We chat about the work of the Trust, hedges, stone walls, Devon’s link to Newfoundland, and cabbages. 

Credit: All photos courtesy Chris Baker, used with his permission. 



Finished product of a wattle hurdle course


###

Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum
professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the
community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio.
Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Basic Folklore and Oral History Interviewing Course



Monday Nights
7pm-9pm
January 9th - January 30th, 2017


Calling all budding folklorists and armchair historians! This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore, and who wishes to learn more about safeguarding our cultural heritage through the medium of oral histories.

The course will give a background on conducting research interviews in the field. It will provide an overview of the methodology and explore the practical matters of creating, designing, and executing effective oral history research projects, project planning, interview questions, ethical issues, and recording equipment.

Over the four week course, participants will conduct an interview, prepare archival metadata, and work collaboratively to create a finished oral history project.

The workshop will be taught by folklorist Dale Jarvis, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. He has been working for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador since 1996, and holds a BSc in Anthropology/Archaeology from Trent University, and a MA in Folklore from Memorial University.

Participants will need to bring their own laptop/tablet, all other materials provided. If you have your own digital recording device (tablet, iPhone, mp3 recorder, etc) you are encouraged to bring it, but it is not required.

Workshop fee: $100 (preregistration required, limited to 10 participants)
Location: Newman Building, 1 Springdale Street, St. John’s

Online registration here

For more information, contact Dale Jarvis at 709-739-1892 x2, or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Monday, July 27, 2015

Saving Our Stories Workshop in Corner Brook, August 5th


Saving Our Stories - An Introduction to Community Oral History with folklorist Dale Jarvis.
A free workshop organized by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, in cooperation with Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band. This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore. It is intended to give a background on how to conduct research interviews, and will give people a chance to try their hand at creating interview questions and to explore the world of oral history! It is free to attend, but you need to register in advance.

Wednesday, August 5th, 2015
1pm-4pm
Brendan Sheppard Boardroom, Qalipu Office
3 Church Street, Corner Brook


Workshop is limited to first ten registrants. To register, contact Dale Jarvis at:
1-888-739-1892 x2
ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Saving Our Stories - An Introduction to Community Oral History in Port Union


Saving Our Stories - An Introduction to Community Oral History with folklorist Dale Jarvis.
A free workshop organized by the Sir William F Coaker Heritage Foundation, Champney's West Heritage Group, and the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore. It is intended to give a background on how to conduct research interviews, and will give people a chance to try their hand at creating interview questions and to explore the world of oral history! It is free to attend, but you need to register in advance.

Saturday, June 13th, 2015, 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Factory/Advocate Building, Port Union, NL


Contact:
Terra Barrett at 1-888-739-1892 x 5 or email terra@heritagefoundation.ca

What, and where, is our heritage? Help map Champney’s West heritage.


Thursday, June 11th, 2015 
7pm – 9 pm
Recreation Hall, Jack’s Hill
Champney’s West


This June, residents of Champney’s West will start to map out what their heritage means to them, with a little help from folklorist Dale Jarvis.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, our living heritage is rich and diverse. It includes ballad singing, snowshoe-making, accordion playing, knitting, Christmas mummering, berry picking, boat building, and much more. We tell stories, make clothes, shear sheep, and spin yarn. We have a complex knowledge of place, the seasons, and the movements and patterns of animals from moose to cod fish. If we lose these important parts of our living heritage (what we call Intangible Cultural Heritage or ICH), we will also lose important resources that can keep our communities going culturally, economically and socially. But where do we start?

Communities decide which traditions are important to document. Sometimes these traditions are threatened; sometimes particular elders or tradition-bearers will be highlighted. Other communities may record important traditions of everyday life. One first step is "asset mapping" - the process of collecting, recording, and analyzing local information in order to describe the cultural resources, networks, links and patterns of the community. Cultural asset mapping provides an inventory of key cultural resources that can be utilized for future development in the community.

Dale Jarvis, the ICH Development Officer with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, will be leading a community conversation about historic places, trails, old stories, place names, traditions, and local knowledge. Come for a cup of tea, and tell us what matters to you in Champney’s West. It will be a free and fun community workshop, sponsored by the Champney's West Heritage Group Inc.

For more info, contact: 

Shelly Blackmore, Heritage Coordinator
Champney's West Heritage Group
Ph (709)464-2173 Email - cwcdo@bellaliant.com
Website - www.champneysisland.net


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Fishing for Folklore Youth Scholarship


This September, the Heritage Foundation of NL is running a four-day intensive introductory workshop on intangible cultural heritage in the historic fishing community of Petty Harbour Maddox Cove, and has a few select spots available for Newfoundland and Labrador youth who want to learn more about saving local heritage.

“The provincial intangible cultural strategy recognizes that the inclusion of youth is important in all work relating to ICH,” says foundation folklorist Dale Jarvis. “One of the key areas we must address is the participation of youth in our thinking, planning, and celebration of our living traditions. This scholarship is a way of encouraging people at the start of their heritage careers to gain a bit more practical experience in these areas.”

The workshop will run from Tuesday, September 2nd to Friday, September 5th, 2014 at the Petty Harbour Maddox Cove Community Centre. Participants will learn about planning an intangible cultural heritage project, writing field notes, oral history interviewing, safeguarding traditional crafts and skills, creating memory maps of communities, documenting traditional boatbuilding techniques, public folklore programming, and report writing.

The scholarship is open to residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, who are between the ages of 19 and 35. Applicants can be students, recent graduates, or young professionals in any heritage field.

To apply, applicants must send a cover letter explaining their interest in the course, and copy of their resume to Dale Jarvis at ich@heritagefoundation.ca. Application deadline is Friday, August 22nd.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Fishing For Folklore - An Intro to Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop



Petty Harbour Maddox Cove Community Centre
Tuesday, September 2nd - Friday, September 5th, 2014

Length of Worksho
p: 4 days, 9:00am-4:30pm each day

Cost: $250 (includes all breaks, lunches from Wed-Friday, course materials, workbook).

Proposed Audience: This intensive workshop is intended for museum employees, cultural workers, members of heritage committees, researchers, and anyone interested in folklore field research and planning.

Description: In cooperation with the 7th Annual Wooden Boat Conference, the Heritage Foundation of NL is running a four-day intensive introductory workshop on intangible cultural heritage in the historic fishing community of Petty Harbour Maddox Cove. Participants will learn about planning an ICH project, writing field notes, oral history interviewing, safeguarding traditional crafts and skills, creating memory maps of communities, documenting traditional boatbuilding techniques, public folklore programming, and report writing.

Participants will be required to bring pencils and pens, all other materials supplied. While not mandatory, participants are encouraged to bring a laptop and any kind of digital camera.

The workshop will be run by Dale Jarvis, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. He holds a BSc in Anthropology/Archaeology from Trent University, and a MA in Folklore from Memorial University. He has contributed as a board member and volunteer to many local arts and heritage organizations. Local experts and special guests will present on various themes throughout the week.

Participation is limited to the first 12 paid registrants. 
REGISTRATION DEADLINE 15 AUGUST 2014.
For more details, call Dale Jarvis at 1 (888) 739-1892 ext 2, or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca

To register, print and mail registration form with cheque or money order for $250 made payable to “Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador” to:

Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
PO Box 5171
St. John’s, NL, A1C 5V5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: ____________________________________________________

Organization: ___________________________________________________

Postal Address: ____________________________________________________

Phone: ______________ Cell:______________ Email:_____________________

Monday, June 16, 2014

Wooden Boat Heritage Workshops in Trinity this July



This July, the Trinity Historical Society & Wooden Boat Museum of NL are partnering with us at the Intangible Cultural Heritage office to offer 2 workshops in Trinity.

Session One: Lifting Lines Workshop
Tuesday, July 15
9am-4:30pm
Parish Hall, Trinity   

Naval architect Bruce Whitelaw will teach participants the process for recording the hull shape and construction details of traditional wooden boats.


Session Two: Interview Techniques Workshop Wednesday, July 16
1pm-4:30pm
Parish Hall

Join folklorist Dale Jarvis from the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador to learn digital recording and interview techniques for collecting local oral histories.

During the following week, interested participants will have the opportunity to join WBMNL’s Documentation Team in collecting boat lines, construction details, and oral histories in Trinity and the surrounding area.

To register contact Jim Miller at (709) 464-3599 or Crystal Braye at (709) 699-9570.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Nan’s Cookbook in the Digital Age


Digitizing and preserving family heirloom cookbooks and recipe cards.
Date: February 21, 2014, 1-4:30 p.m.
Location: ANLA office, Suite 201, 15 Hallett Crescent, St. John’s

Presenters: 
  • Dale Jarvis, Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer, Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
  • Nicole Penney, Intangible Cultural Heritage Programs Assistant
  • Mary Ellen Wright, ANLA Professional Development and Outreach Officer
Do you have your nan’s recipe cards? Did your mother keep a scrapbook of her favourites? Do family members reminisce about that old copy of the Cream of the West Cookbook with the comments and changes written all over its pages?

This workshop will teach participants how to create and preserve digital copies of these important family and community heirlooms. We’ll also talk about how best to preserve the original documents! Participants will be encouraged to bring examples from their own homes or collections.

Registration fee: $30
Registration deadline: February 17, 2014 Some financial assistance for transportation costs is available for ANLA
members: please contact the ANLA office for more information.

Mary Ellen Wright
Professional Development and Outreach Officer Association of Newfoundland
and Labrador Archives
(709)726-2867
www.anla.nf.ca

Monday, February 3, 2014

Expression of Interest - Looking for artists and tradition bearers



The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Cultural Connections Strategy allows teachers throughout the province to apply for professional development in and through the arts and heritage. As outlined under the Cultural Connections Strategy there are a variety of projects (i.e. Arts and Culture Infused Curriculum (ACIC), Legacy and Learning Partners) available to meet teachers' arts related professional goals and learning opportunities.

To assist teachers and NLESD programs staff in finding qualified artists and tradition bearers in their local areas for submitted projects, the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District (NLESD) is seeking artists who are interested in working with k-12 teachers.

For more information, look here!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

New one day workshop: How to create a GPS- triggered smartphone app

How to create a GPS- triggered smartphone app for walkers without having to be a technical genius. A 1-day WORKSHOP for heritage workers, community groups, oral historians, museum & tourism professionals, writers, artists, sound designers.

• Bring sounds, voices, memories, to the place where they happen • Take oral histories off the shelf and place them in a landscape. • Create location-based history, fiction, short stories, dramas. • Create a soundwalk in any location. • Place-based interpretation

Organizers Chris Brookes and Annie McEwan launched Inside/Outside Battery in October as a free smartphone app "walkers companion" to the Battery area of St. John's. You may have seen it on Here & Now, The Telegram or The Scope. Using GPS, it triggers sounds and stories as the walker passes different locations in the community. You can get an impression of how it works by watching a short video on our website: www.insideoutsidebattery.ca

One Day, One App: We can show you how to make this kind of app without being a computer wizard. You don't have to know html coding. You don't have to be techno-expert. We're not. We created Inside/Outside Battery using user-friendly web-based tools. We're offering a one-day weekend workshop that will guide you through the hands-on experience of making your own location-based app, using the methods we employed. You'll leave the workshop with a basic app that you've created yourself - something that you can continue to build and offer to your community. The heritage, tourism, and artistic uses of such an app are limited only by your imagination.

Workshop leaders: Independent radio producers Chris Brookes and Annie McEwen. Brookes' radio documentary features have won over forty international awards including the Peabody Award and the Prix Italia, and have been broadcast around the world. McEwen holds an MA in Folklore from Memorial University and has been working in the field of folklore and oral history for four years. Her work has aired on CBC Radio, PRX Remix, and Cowbird.com.

Date: Sunday, January 26th Time: 9am – 5pm Fee: $100 preregistration required (there are 8 spots available)

Location: 29 Outer Battery Road, St. John’s To register call Annie at 709-770-3201, or email annierosamcewen@gmail.com

Registration deadline January 22

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Digitizing Intangible Cultural Heritage : A How-To Guide


A while back, Lisa Wilson, one of our staff folklorists, worked for the the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador to prepare a guide to assist museums, archives and independent researchers, for the Canadian Heritage Information Network.

This manual assists museums, archives and independent researchers in digitizing their existing collections of intangible heritage-related material. Aside from providing step-by-step digital transferring instructions, it also offers definitions for heritage-related terminologies, as well as a significant number of technological terminologies. While this digitization guide aims to be user-friendly, familiarity with basic audio/visual equipment and media software is a prerequisite. Digitization instructions are provided for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

The guide is now out, and available online!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Intangible Cultural Heritage: Digitization Workshop

Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador
9:00 – 4:00 Tuesday, 25 June 2013 

Location: MANL Offices; 
15 Hallett Crescent St. John’s, NL 

This workshop is part of our Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) series.  ICH is also known as “living heritage” and it encompasses many traditions, practices and customs.  These include the stories we tell, the family events we celebrate, the songs we sing, our healing traditions, the foods we eat and cultural practices.   There are many ways of documenting ICH that should be considered when safeguarding the living heritage of a group or community. Some documentation methods might include taking photographs of people, places, architecture, and cultural objects, such as tools and costumes. For audio, this means doing recorded interviews to collect stories, memories, songs, beliefs, and descriptions of how to make crafts or how to perform certain customs and traditions. You can also use video recorders to document cultural activities and performances, conduct interviews, or to show how a place looks and operates.

Existing collections of ICH held by museums and archives are likely in many formats, but quite often have not been digitized for proper storage or exhibition. This workshop aims to guide museums, individuals or organizations in digitizing their existing collections.  These skills will help museums to meet standards around safeguarding of ICH collections, making collections accessible to the public, and ensuring the long-term preservation of ICH material.  This is an elective course with MANL’s certificate in museum studies program.

Instructor: Dale Jarvis, Intangible Cultural Heritage Officer, and Lisa Wilson, Heritage Districts Officer; Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
Enrolment Limits: Maximum of 15
Registration fees:  $70 for MANL members,   $95 for non-members
Registration Deadline: June 18, 2013

Space is limited!!  Reserve your seat early!!!


Financial assistance for transportation costs is available for MANL members: please contact the MANL office for more information. You may also visit www.museums.ca to find out more about the Canadian Museums Association Travel Bursary. For further information, please contact the MANL:
manl@nf.aibn.com ¨  Ph 709-722-9034 ¨  Fax: 709-722-9035



Cancellations received less than 5 days in advance are not eligible for refunds.
Participants who do not attend remain responsible for full payment.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Ponies, Perogies, Skateboarding and more

ICH Update for January 2013

In this month's edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador: the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador is conducting a needs assessment survey to measure the type and amount of ICH related training needed in the province; work continues on the Foundation's documentation of the Heart's Content Registered Heritage District; intern Joelle Carey starts work on a project identifying living Newfoundland Ponies; new ICH intern Christina Robarts works with Memorial University Department of Folklore professor Dr. Mariya Lesiv on "Newfiki" - celebration of eastern-European cultures in Newfoundland; the Rooms announces a scrapbooking workshop; and Nicole Penney presents on a collection of skateboard videos which will become part of the province's inventory of intangible cultural heritage.

Contributors: Nicole Penney, Lisa Wilson, Joelle Carey, and Christina Robarts
Download the PDF

ICH Conference in Flanders

Recently, ICH Development Officer Dale Jarvis was invited to take part in an ICH conference in Mechelen, Flanders. The topic was participative methods for inventorying or documenting elements of ICH, and the conference included presentations from Joanne Orr - Museums Galleries Scotland (Scotland), Paulo Ferreira da Costa - Institute for Museums and Conservation (Portugal), Hans van der Linden - Agency for Arts and Heritage Flanders (Belgium), Jorijn Neyrinck & Ellen Janssens - tapis plein – Center of Expertise for heritage participation and intangible cultural heritage (Belgium), Eva Van Hoye & Kim Van Belleghem - Heritage units Mechelen & TERF (Belgium), and Marc Jacobs - FARO. Flemish interface for cultural heritage; VUB - Free University Brussels – Heritage Studies and Ethnology (Belgium).

Download Dale's presentation on ICH inventory work in PDF

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Art, Archaeology, History and Heritage of Graveyards



Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
1pm - 5pm
Johnson Geo Centre Celestial Gallery
175 Signal Hill Road, St. John’s


Cemeteries throughout Newfoundland and Labrador are revered as special, sacred places.They occupy both emotional and physical space in our communities. Cemeteries are also expressions of our spiritual beliefs and cultural values, as well as rich repositories of genealogical and community history. This half-day workshop offered by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador looks at the history, folklore and conservation of historic graveyards in the province, and will give opportunities for participants to ask questions of the experts.

Moderator: Dale Jarvis, ICH Development Officer, Heritage Foundation of NL

Art and Archaeology Session
Gerald Pocius, MUN Folklore - Reading Newfoundland Gravestones
Martha Drake, Provincial Archaeology - Archaeology and the Portugal Cove Cemetery
Melanie Tucker, The Rooms Archive - Stone Pics Database

Conservation and Heritage Session
Andrea O’Brien, Heritage Foundation of NL - Cemeteries and Municipal Heritage Designation
Lisa Wilson, Heritage Foundation of NL - Port Royal Restoration Project
Annie McEwen, Folklorist - Headstone Rubbings and Maker’s Marks

Cost to participants:
$40.00 for the day, includes break

To register, contact Lisa at:
1-888-739-1892 ext 3
lisa@heritagefoundation.ca

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Making Memory Maps

On Saturday November 10th, the ICH team at the Heritage Foundation put on a Memory Map Workshop facilitated by visual artist Marlene Creates. We had a good turnout with around 20 participants ranging from Memorial University students and faculty to community organization representatives and other people who have an interest in mapping projects.

Marlene first talked about some of her previous mapping work, including an excursion to Labrador to make memory maps with elders, as well as projects which involved asking community members to give awards to special places in their towns. After setting a foundation for how memory maps are made and how they can be useful tools in learning more about a community, she asked the participants to make a map of their own. We all sat down with paper, pencils and pencil crayons to draw a map from memory of a place that we feel closely connected to. One of Marlene's techniques that I found quite useful is to put tracing paper over a foundation map in order to create layers with specific themes. For example, on tracing paper above my memory map, I indicated where all of the vanished buildings once stood in my Mother's hometown. Other layers that I could have chosen to add include green spaces/trees, waterways and footpaths. Doing such layers asks the map maker to think about the space and visualize what it looks like (or looked like in the past) and how it makes use of space. My map, along with all the others made on that day, became a celebration of our special places, both past and present, from very personal perspectives.

Marlene Creates giving a talk on making memory maps.

Workshop participant working on the foundational layer of her memory map. 


Workshop participants working on their personal memory maps. 




A second layer is added to the map using tracing paper and colored pencils. This participant marks off the social spaces of her hometown, with indications of gender and frequency through the size and color of her dots. 



Workshop participant showing the map that she created for the workshop. After this we added a third and final layer which involved writing down information about the places marked off on our maps. We were encouraged to be as creative as we wanted to be!
One of the last things we did together during the workshop was share the contents of our maps with the other participants. It was very interesting to see how diverse the range in topic and style was. Some maps were very traditional with streets and buildings, others with more innovative with only one building and it's associated memories, plants, animals, and other unexpected features showing up. It was clear to us how mapping from memory can be used in many ways for all kinds of different personal and/or community building activities. More documentation and information regarding Marlene Creates' mapping projects can be seen on her website: http://www.marlenecreates.ca/ .
-Lisa

Monday, November 5, 2012

Weaving in the Woods

This past Saturday the ICH office, in partnership Memorial University's Folklore 6740 graduate class, put off a pillow top making workshop.

Pillow tops are woven with wool on wooden frames and were traditionally crafted by Newfoundland lumber camp workers to be gifted to their wives, girlfriends or mothers. They are sewn onto pillows, used as throws, pot holders or place mats.

Today this handcrafted tradition is being carried on by Elizabeth Murphy of the Burin Peninsula. She grew up in a house where crafting pillow tops was a winter pastime and learned to make them from her parents in the early 1960s. This is a skill which she has gone on to teach for several years and we were fortunate to have her lead this workshop. The event was a great success and everyone who participated walked away with a lovely pillow top and the skills they require to continue this traditional Newfoundland craft.
 Susan Lee, June Russell, Arlene Penney, Nicole Penney, Elizabeth Murphy and Raymond Russell (left to right) examine the differences between the Russell's pillow top and the three Murphy brought. All these pillow tops are between 30-50 years old.  













The beginning step of making a pillow top is layering the wool on the wooden frame.
Raelene Thomas

  
Jillian Gould teaches Folklore 6740 and
 partnered with the ICH office on this project

Elizabeth Murphy instructing Jenny Taroff,
a student in the Folklore 6740 class
Caitlin Bethune of the Folklore 6740 class (blue hat/shirt) works alongside a workshop participant

After layering the wool the next step is to tie off the back. We were shown by Murphy how to use fish net twine and a twine needle for this step. 

Raymond Russell, who made a pillow top while working in the lumber camps in 1958, helps his daughter, Arlene Penney, with her pillow top. 

Murphy (back) looks over some of the workshop participants as they weave their pillow tops. 

The Next step, after layering all the wool and tying off the back, is to cut the wool. This  cutting will  form the  pom poms on the pillow top. Be careful not to cut all the way through! As you can see in the picture above, a few strands of wool are not cut in order to form the backing of the pillow top.

Dale Jarvis and Nicole Penney, of the ICH office, cut their pillow tops to form the pom poms
Shamus MacDonald, of the Folklore 6740 class, tries his hand at cutting wool.

The very last step is to steam the wool in order to fluff up the pom poms

A close up on the pom poms

Two of our participants showing off their finished pillow tops. 

If you have any pillow top memories please contact Nicole Penney with the ICH office. We are actively collecting information about this interesting Newfoundland craft. Nicole can be reached at (709) 739-1892 ex. 6 or via email at nicole@heritagefoundation.ca.

Photographs courtesy of: Christina Robarts

Making Memory Maps Workshop with Marlene Creates


Memory maps are subjective drawings based on personal experience in, and perception of, a specific lived place. This is a device Marlene Creates has used in her teaching and in her own artwork for over 30 years. Drawing memory maps can help you remember, record, interpret, investigate, and communicate both present and lost attributes of local places and everyday life –– ones not normally registered in the larger historical record. This is an excellent device to stimulate conversation for anyone doing oral history research.

Marlene will show examples from her own works based on memory maps that were drawn for her by elders in various areas of the province: Inuit and Settlers in Nain and Hopedale, Mushuau Innu in Davis Inlet, and her own elderly relatives in Lewisporte and Joe Batt’s Arm, as well as from some of the multi-disciplinary place-based projects she has done with other adults and over 2,000 schoolchildren in the province.

About the instructor
Marlene Creates is an environmental artist and poet who lives in Portugal Cove. She was born in Montreal and in 1985 she moved to Newfoundland, the home of her maternal ancestors who were from Lewisporte and Fogo Island. Her artwork, spanning more than three decades, has been an exploration of the relationship between human experience, memory, language and the land, and the impact they have on each other. Since the 1970s her work has been exhibited in over 300 solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally. She has been a guest lecturer at over 150 institutions, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Glasgow School of Art, the University of Oxford, the University of Kent at Canterbury, the University of Hartford, and many Canadian universities. This year, she was a plenary speaker at Space + Memory = Place, the biennial conference of the Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada.

Workshop Details

Saturday, 10 November 2012, 1pm-4pm
MMAP Gallery (Old Art Gallery Space)
Arts and Culture Centre, St. John’s, Newfoundland
Workshop fee: $20
Pre-registration required.
Contact Nicole at nicole@heritagefoundation.ca or call 709-739-1892 ext 6

Materials list for the participants to bring:
  • plain HB pencil
  • colour pencils
  • white art eraser
  • glue stick
image credit: Memory map of Freake land in Joe Batt's Arm drawn by Bert Freake for Marlene Creates, 1989; excerpt from where my great-grandmother was born, in the series Places of Presence: Newfoundland kin and ancestral land, 1989-1991.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Mapping the legacy of resettlement in Arnold's Cove, Newfoundland



"Overall, some 307 communities were abandoned between 1946 and 1975, and over 28,000 people relocated. Captured in film, poetry, visual art and music, the response to resettlement was an important political thread in the province's cultural renaissance in the 1970s. The programme had a profound impact on the lives of those affected, and continues to resonate in the culture and collective psyche of the province today."

- excerpt from “No Great Future” Government Sponsored Resettlement
in Newfoundland and Labrador since Confederation


I had an interesting day today, with a trip out to Arnold's Cove to meet with representatives of the town's heritage committee. I was there to help provide some advice on project focus and preliminary project planning around a few ideas they have for future heritage projects.

I'm always encouraging communities to focus on projects that are somehow unique to their communities. One of the interesting facts that came out of today's meeting is that the town has a large number of buildings that were moved into the community from now abandoned Placentia Bay towns during the resettlement period.  A lot of communities in the province have resettled buildings, but the heritage committee has tentatively identified 71 houses still standing in Arnold's Cove, with a few additional buildings yet to be added to the list.  They are clustered, perhaps unsurprisingly, with people from the same home towns, with people setting up their houses in Arnold's Cove close to their original neighbours. You can see a rough version of a preliminary map above.

We are talking about setting up a public workshop in Arnold's Cove around the topic of mapping cultural resources, using this as a case study, and possibly incorporating features from of one of our old Google map workshops. Stay tuned! If you'd like to be involved in some way, you can drop me a line at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Resettlement Links: