September 2008

Crafts are an integral part of the Folk Festival

Phyllis Alden returns to the folk festival this year with her palmcats, feline portraits painted on smooth stones.

by Laurie Summers

30- to 45-year career as an artisan has given Bryon Williams many rewards. He makes baskets and gourds, combining his talents with nature’s gifts.

His love of basketry began with an Easter basket he made for his son. With his creativity unleashed, Williams began experimenting with different styles. For a while, he made pottery, and then he decided to focus on baskets. Because many basket makers were also making gourds, Williams decided to try that as well. Over time, his work with both mediums evolved into two rewarding art forms, reflecting elements of nature through a wonderful mix of innovative design and creative genius.

“I’ve been working 30 years, doing what I want to do. It’s very rewarding. I like doing shows and hearing people’s comments about my work,” says Williams.
Now, Williams will show his work for the first time at the Takoma Park Folk Festival on Sunday, September 14. He will be one of 44 artisans who help make the Festival much more than a music-and-dance event.

The Craft Show has always been an integral part of the Folk Festival. “Each year, we try to include new talent along with long-time artisans whom Festival-goers look forward to seeing again and again,” said Fran Tall, one of the members of the Crafts Committee. “Each artist is judged based on the originality and execution of design and use of materials.”

Selected by a professional jury, the artisans will represent a variety of crafts: Papier-Mache rod puppets and masks, photographic collages, lathe-turned wooden bowls, wheel-thrown pottery, and three-dimensional wall hangings are included in this year’s selection. “A balance of crafts is also a consideration in the selection of crafts to be shown,” said Tall, which is why the judges and the committee are always eager when new artisans apply for consideration. One new artist this year will bring an extra level of interactivity: Marjorie Perrin, a pastel portrait artist who will do portraits throughout the day, upon request.

Meanwhile, visitors will again have a chance to visit with and see works by past Festival participants such as Cindy Blackburn and Marla Rudnick.

Rudnick will be making her third appearance at the Festival, showing her unique knitted metalworks. Rudnick learned to knit as a child, and then in high school she learned how to work with metal and devoted herself to discovering a craft form that would uniquely become her own. A book on metalwork inspired her to combine knitting with metal, but she could not get the results she wanted—the dreams that were in her head.

A New York Times article featuring a knit-metal glove by Arlene Fisch mentioned using a knitting machine to combine both mediums. Rudnick discovered that by hand-knitting through the rows of metal instead of using the carriage to automatically knit, wonderful things could happen. Her work is a variation of spool knitting, using needles of the knitting machine instead of the traditional nails to create the intricate patterns of her knitted precious metal jewelry.

“It’s wonderful to be driving along, thinking and conceptualizing about what you want to do…and then, going home and actually doing it,” she says.

Blackburn is a silver and gold jeweler whose work reflects the intrinsic nature of gems, glass, minerals, and other objects. She studied jewelry at the Maryland Institute of Art and worked for a designer for eight years while honing her craft. In addition to custom designs, she teaches cold-forging of non-ferrous metals at the Gem Cutters Guild in Baltimore. “Being an artist is wonderful. You stay stimulated and the source of the stimulation is always changing,” she says.

For more information about the Festival, go to www.tpff.org. A complete list of the Crafts artisans (with contact information) is on the Website.

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