Heart & Hand: People's Choice!

Thank you to all the artisans, wonderful guests, volunteers and staff (not to mention the beautiful weather we had) for another successful Heart & Hand Festival.

We encouraged you to vote for your favourite artisan display and you did!

Pysanky Artist - Anne Cline
Anne is a perennial favourite at the Heart & Hand Festival and we were so happy to have her back again this year. With her array of intricately decorated and detailed eggs she impressed visitors of all ages. She also gave people a chance to try the wax relief dying technique for themselves. Congratulations Anne on you People's Choice win!


Potter - Lisa Marcus
This was Lisa's first time at the Heart & Hand Festival and she made a big impression. Along with her display of whimsically decorated pottery Lisa brought a potter's wheel and invited visitors to try for themselves. She also taught visitors some clay hand building techniques. She surely inspired some new potters! Congratulations!













Fibre artist,Wendo Van Essen, performer and multi-talented 2013 Folk Artist-in-Residence, Sarah Granskou, along with Cabinet and violin maker, Phil Elsworthy, were also among the top favourites at this year's Heart & Hand Festival.

See you next year!

Heart & Hand: Tell Your Story

A special feature of the Heart & Hand Festival are the wonderful stories and musical performances presented by our guest storytellers and entertainers. 

Do you have a story to tell? Since Heart & Hand is a participatory event we’re inviting folks to bring a story. Put your name in the hat for a chance at the mic!

Here are the rules: Your story must be true, and it must be short. Two minutes is the maximum and there will be timers. And perhaps a gong, or a hook, but most certainly loads of fun for all. 

Polish up your best anecdote, time it, and come along to the music and storytelling tent at the Heart & Hand Festival.

Schedule of Events

10:30 a.m.     Drum Circle 

                       Nii Addico 

11 a.m.           Musical Performance

                       Sarah Granskou (with Amy Scott)

Noon              Baden Storytellers

                     Derek Brisland

                     Debbie Jones

                       Mary McCullum Baldasaro

1 p.m.             Musical Performance

                     Ian Bell                       

2 p.m.          Baden Storytellers

                   Gail Fricker

                   Stephen Van Vugt

                    Carolyn Wilker

3 p.m.          Drum Circle

                   Nii Addico

Heart & Hand: Woven Heart Basket

Paper craft is traditional to the Pennsylvania-German Mennonite culture celebrated at the Joseph Schneider Haus. 

Fraktur, or decorative calligraphy and Scherenschnitte, elaborate paper cutting, was used to decorate birth certificates, marriage licenses and for making Liebesbrief or love letters.  

Pictured above is Daniel Horst's birth record dated 1876. It's carefully decorated by Waterloo County fraktur artist Joseph D. Bauman. Pictured right is an example of traditional Scherenschnitte. 

Feeling crafty? Try some traditional paper craft! You can make this handy little woven paper basket at home.

Directions

1. Cut two rectangles of paper in contrasting colours. The length of each should be approximately 3 times the width. This basket was made using strips 3.5" x 10". 

For a smaller basket try 2" x 6".

2. Fold each rectangle in half by matching the shorter edges.

3. Trim the matched open ends of each rectangle into a semi-circular curve.

4. Starting at the folded edge of each paper, cut several equally spaced slits to a depth slightly longer than the width of the paper. These slits are 1/2" wide and 3 3/4" long.

5. To weave the first row, slip slit 1 into slit A, slit A into slit 2, slit 3 into slit A, etc. Continuing to alternate the slits so that the woven pattern appears on both sides of the paper.

6. To weave the second row, slip slit B into slit 1, slit 2 into slit B, slit B into slit 3, continuing as above. 

7. To weave row C, E and G follow the same weaving pattern as for row A.

8. To weave row E and F follow the same weaving patter as for B. 

9. Adjust the strips until they fit neatly, forming a heart of interlocking colours. 

10. You can add a paper handle and turn your paper heart into a basket!

Adapted from Phyllis Fiarotta's "Nostalgia Crafts Books" published by Workman Publishing Company in New York City, 1974.

Heart & Hand 2014: FAIR Sue Firkser

Meet Sue Firkser, 2014 Folk Artist-in-Residence at Joseph Schneider Haus. Sue discovered felting about six years ago and fell instantly in love! 

She has always been a painter, in various mediums, but enjoys using felt as a means to express herself in a painterly way. Sue uses colour (wool roving) and line (silk) to lead the viewer through her artwork and although the pieces have a fragile appearance, they are in fact quite strong due to the blending of the fibres during the felting process. Wool is one of the oldest and strongest fibres known to man.

Sue’s training in environmental design gave her the chance to explore commercial fabric and upholstery design and in later years contributed to a successful business of the surface design and production of a line of flannel pajamas. 

More recently she has begun to play with felt and fibres to create functional clothing, hollow form sculpture and decorative arts for the home. Sue enjoys pushing the boundaries of this ancient craft. 

Sue will be demonstrating wet felting at the Heart & Hand Festival this year. Drop by and say hello! 

Demonstrations
Saturday, Sept. 27 - Wet Felting  at the Heart & Hand Festival

Workshops
Saturday, Sept. 20 - Painting in Fibre II - 10 a.m. to 4 p.m
Full-day workshop - $158, taxes and materials included

Saturday, Oct. 25 - Cozy up Making Hats or Mitts - 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Full-day workshop - $158, taxes and materials included

Saturday, Nov. 8 & Sunday, Nov. 9 - Felted Fashion:Make a Felted Jacket
- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Two-day advanced workshop - $300, taxes and materials included

Saturday, Dec. 6 – Christmas Stockings in Felt
1 to 4 p.m. (half-day workshop)
$75, taxes and materials included.

Heart & Hand 2014: Artistans

We're getting geared up for another great event this Sept. 27. 

If you, or someone you know, is a traditional artisan eager to take part in this event get in touch with us.

Is there something you would like to see at the festival? Let us know and we will try and make it happen!

Did you have a great time last year? Share your memories and photos.

Contact jsh@regionofwaterloo.ca or call 519-742-7752
Follow us @jschneiderhaus or @hearthandfest

Heart & Hand: Rain or Shine!

When was the last time you played in the rain? ...and then dried off by an open hearth or a wood stove? Today is your chance! The Heart & Hand Festival starts today at 10 a.m. lots to do and see, inside and out! Find that perfect treasure and see traditional artisans at work!

Our assistant curator Antoinette is ready for the weather. Lets see your rain gear fashion! Tweet us @hearthandfest!

Heart & Hand: First Nations Artist and Educator Naomi Smith

Bead and quill work pieces

Meet Naomi Smith, First Nations artist and educator. In this video Naomi tells us about her art and what it is that inspires her to create her beautiful bead and quill work pieces. Naomi is passionate about sharing the history and traditions of the First Nations people of the Woodland and Northeastern area. 

Exploring the story of beadwork is one way that Naomi shares her traditions and culture. She creates contemporary pieces based on traditional examples. For over 15 years Naomi has designed and created traditional Native beadwork, leather craft, moose hair embroidery, quill work, sweetgrass or birch bark basket making and adornment, always valuing these sacred materials throughout her creative process.

Come out to the Heart & Hand Festival this Saturday, September 21 to learn more! 

Contemporary and traditional examples of  beadwork pieces

Some of these traditional beadwork pieces are over 200 years old 

Heart & Hand: Event Schedule!

Mary-Eileen McClear, founder of the Baden Storytellers
entertaining at last years Heart & Hand Festival.

We are very pleased to welcome members of the Baden Storytellers Guild to entertain and inspire with their dynamic storytelling skills at this year's Heart & Hand Festival! 
Established in 1989 the Baden Storytellers Guild encourages individuals to hone and practice the traditional art of storytelling. Interested in finding out more or telling a story of your own? Join the guild for their Stories Aloud evening, an open mic night for adults held the second Friday of every month from September through June from 8 to 10:30 p.m at the Button Factory, 25 Regina St. South, Waterloo. Doors are at 7:30. The price is $5 and "lug a mug" for hot cider!Visit the Baden Storytellers Website for more information or to find out how you can become a member!

Join us for this year's drum circles!

The Baden Storytellers along with Master Drummer Nii Addico and musician Ian Bell will be entertaining under the tent. Below is a schedule of events to help you plan your day!

Heart & Hand: Lace Maker Pamela Glew

Pam at last year's Heart & Hand Festival 

We are very happy lace maker Pamela Glew will be joining us again this year for the Heart & Hand Festival. We asked Pam a few questions about her work, what it is about lace making that she most enjoys and how this art form will survive in the future.  

Pamela Nottingham Bobbin Lace making book

What was your first experience with lace? What initially drew you to this art form? 

From childhood, I was attracted to lace because of its translucent  and fairy-like qualities. I failed to get my grandmother to teach me her crochet lace skills, but taught myself shuttle tatting while in my teens.  In my twenties I discovered that I was the namesake of Pamela Nottingham, one of the pioneers of the UK lacemaking revival, and bought her book on bobbin lacemaking, but didn’t start lace classes for another ten years,  when I realized that “it was meant to be!”

Needle lace (left) and
Carrickmacross, organdie applique on net (right)

Are there different types of lace? What is special about the type of lace you make?Depending on how it is defined, there are hundreds of types of lace, grouped for convenience by their method of construction. Some are made with a single continuous thread, looped as in knitting or crochet, or knotted as in tatting or filet. Others are based on embroidery stitches, either applied to woven fabric or net, as in Hardanger and  tambour, or built up from rows of buttonhole stitches, as in true needle lace. The bobbin or pillow laces are  woven or plaited from multiple threads, wound on stick-like bobbins and hanging from pins placed in the pattern supported by a tightly stuffed pillow. Further sub-groups contain laces which combine two or more of these techniques, such as Battenberg or Ayrshire work, and of course, nearly all these types can be imitated by machine-made versions that look good enough – to the uninitiated! I am mainly attracted to some of the bobbin laces, because of their versatility, but I would need several more lifetimes to try them all, and new laces are being invented all the time, by teachers and designers. I also enjoy “dabbling” in other types of lace, especially Lier/Tambour from Belgium, Carrickmacross from Ireland, English “Hollie Point”/needle lace and still, occasionally, tatting!

Is lace making a dying art form? How can we ensure that the tradition of lace making survives?

Lacemaking as an economic activity/industry has all but died out, to be replaced by  its role as a medium of artistic expression appropriate to our rapidly changing cultural scene. My interest in keeping it alive springs from my background in history, textiles and costume (for humans and dolls!) but I also like to explore new ways of using  the techniques with non-traditional  fibres, wire, beads etc. in contemporary designs and functions.

Lace making techniques used in new ways

There are indications that many of the coming generation are interested in History as a means of interpreting our future, and if this interest extends to discovering the skills of traditional crafts and employing them to create the cultural objects of the future, lacemaking should survive along with the more obviously “practical” trades. The role of electronic communication will be crucial to this survival, enabling fibre artists from across the world to exchange ideas on dedicated chat sites, international and local guild websites, through educational initiatives with how-to videos, online courses with links to live teachers, downloadable documents, patterns and suppliers’ catalogues for ordering previously obscure materials with a few mouse clicks! Aspiring younger lacemakers used to search out the aged practitioners, to make notes on the  fine points of the craft before it and they, passed away; now the next generation can go to the aged lacemaker’s website or watch her manipulate threads tirelessly on Youtube, but will also be made very welcome at the many live craft guild meetings, shows and demonstrations.  

Bobbin lace in progress

Do you have plans for any future projects? What is one thing you hope to achieve or piece you hope to make? 

I have ongoing projects to make a replica 19^th c. Bedfordshire lace fall cap, to be worn with my historical interpreter’s costumes, and to make a full-size, rather than miniature fan leaf, to fit some antique bone fan sticks. 

Three dimensional lily as decorative hair piece

Having made modern, 3D lace lilies for my daughter-in-law’s bridal headpiece, I am now contemplating making something in lace for my first grandchild, a baby who will not need a christening gown, but who deserves something very special!

            

       


   

Three dimensional lilies made using traditional lace making techniques

Have some more questions or would like to see bobbin lace in the works? Come out to the Joseph Schneider Haus this Saturday, Sept. 21!

Heart & Hand: Pysanky Artist Anne Cline

Decorated Ukrainian Eggs aren't just for Easter! Pysanky artist Anne Cline (Heart & Hand Best of Show Winner in 2012) is joined by her granddaughter as they explain the traditional meanings of Pysanky designs and demonstrate this unique art.

What do the different designs mean? How are they made? Where does this tradition come from? Watch this video and find out!

Visit Anne at the Heart and Hand Festival Saturday, September 21 as she demonstrates her traditional folk art.