Meet The 2011 Traditional Arts Masters

Four Maine artists have been awarded the title of Traditional Arts Master through the Maine Arts Commission’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program. These masters will seek to preserve Maine’s cultural traditions by teaching them to apprentices in the coming year.

Ellen Gawler, a fiddler and caller from Belgrade, Harry Richter, a violin maker from Waterville, Brian Theriault, a snowshoe maker from Fort Kent, and Cindy Larock, a Franco stepdancer from Lewiston, each received $4,000 in order to facilitating the handing down of Maine’s treasured traditions to a new generation.

The 2011 Traditional Arts Masters:

Ellen Gawler, fiddler and caller, (Belgrade)
Camdyn and Marissa Heikkinen, apprentices

Maine’s unique legacy of fiddle music is a blend of styles from England, Ireland, the Maritimes and French Canada. Traditionally passed down in such community settings as dances and family get togethers, it is best acquired by ear. Ellen Gawler, this year’s master fiddler will be doing just that when she teaches calling and fiddling for contra dances to her apprentices Camdyn and Marissa Heikkinen. A long time fiddler and caller for contra dances throughout New England, Gawler learned the art of fiddling and calling from master old time fiddlers as Alfred Omar and Lucien Mathieu.

Harry Richter, violin maker (Waterville)
Nate Rudy, apprentice

Harry Richter can be found at Somerset Violin building, repairing and restoring violins. A busy place, many of his regular customers play in orchestras throughout Maine. Richter came to violin making later in life and studied with Karl Roy in Mittenwald, Bavaria, Germany as well at the Violin Craftsmanship Institute in New Hampshire where he learned violinmaking, violin repair, bow repair and rehairing. In 1994, Richter opened his first shop in Waterville, Maine. As a first year Master artist in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program, Harry Richter will be sharing his skills with apprentice Nate Rudy.

Brian Theriault, snowshoe maker (Fort Kent)
Glenn Labbe, apprentice

Continuing a Native American tradition that began centuries ago, Brian Theriault has been making one-of-a-kind snowshoes for over 35 years. As a young man, his father, Edmond Theriault taught him how to both make and repair snowshoes. Brian Theriault continues the family tradition of this endangered art. Based in Fort Kent, Theriault specializes in hand made, custom designed snowshoes perfect for exploring the snowy northern woods. As a master artist, Brian has taught several apprentices including his current apprentice, Glenn Labbe of Fort Kent.

Cindy Larock, Franco step dancer (Lewiston)
Emma Jacques, apprentice

Cindy Larock is a master folk dancer who specializes in traditional French Canadian step dancing (la gigue) and social dancing (contre danse, quadrille, etc.). In the early days of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program, Cindy studied for many years with master French Canadian step dancer Benoit Bourque of Quebec. Now an accomplished dancer, Cindy is also a great cultural advocate, eager to pass these important dance traditions down to younger members of Maine's Franco-American community. Cindy Larock is the founder of the Les Pieds Rigolants (The Giggling Feet) and actively organizes community dances in Lewiston. She is taught several apprentices and is currently working with Emma Jacques.

As this is the 20th year of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program, the Maine Arts Commission is presenting an awards showcase at Bangor’s Gracie Theatre at 6:00 pm on Friday, October 29 that will feature some of this year’s Masters, and some from previous years. This event is free, for more details please visit MaineArts.com.

Take the Performing Arts survey today!

The Maine Arts Commission Performing Arts Survey will evaluate performing arts assets of organizations within the state of Maine. It is designed to be completed in under 10 minutes and the data will be used in a number of ways. If you represent a performing arts organization please take the time to answer the survey questions.

The near-range application of the data will be for the 2011 Governor’s Conference on Tourism, to highlight the economic and cultural contribution of the performing arts sector. The mid-range application will be in helping the Maine Arts Commission advocate for improved funding and grants for the performing arts. The compiled information will also be shared with the field so organizations can use the statistics to get additional support and funding themselves. The long-range plan is to send a survey out annually so that trends within the sector can be identified over time. The data received will remain confidential and any information given out will be in an aggregated form.

Click here to take the survey

or go to
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e32l2w5fgfb33sau/start

Maine Arts Commission Fellowship Recipients Announced

The Maine Arts Commission has announced the recipients of the 2011 Artists’ Fellowship Awards – one of the nation's highest awards for individual artists made by a state arts agency. The four recipients will each receive a $13,000 grant award and will be publicly honored during an awards showcase at 6:00pm on Friday, October 29, at the Gracie Theatre in Bangor. This event is free to attend and details can be found on MaineArts.com.

This year’s four Fellows are Theresa Secord from Waterville (Traditional Arts), Ethan Hayes-Chute from Freeport (Visual Arts), Elizabeth Kirschner from Kittery Point (Literary Arts), and Deborah Wing-Sproul from Cape Elizabeth (Performing/Media Arts).

Theresa Secord is a Penobscot basketmaker who began making baskets in the late ‘80s under the guidance of master Penobscot basketmaker Madeline Shay. Secord went on to help found the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, a native run cultural organization whose mission is to preserve traditional ash and sweetgrass basketry among all four tribes in Maine.

Visual Arts Fellow Ethan Hayes-Chute graduated with a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has received recognition through various fellowships and has exhibited his work extensively throughout North America and Europe.


Elizabeth Kirschner, the 2011 Literary Arts Fellow, has published five books of poetry, most recently, My Life as a Doll, brought out by Autumn House in 2008 and nominated for the Lenore Marshall Prize. She taught at Boston College, at varying degrees, for seventeen years and has collaborated with many classical composers who have set her poetry to music for both national and international venues.

The 2011 Media and Performing Arts Fellow, Deborah Wing-Sproul, is the co-founder of Portland Film and Video Artists Collective and has taught at Parson‘s School of Design, SUNY New Paltz, Maine College of Art and the University of Maine at Orono. She is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily in live performance and performance-based video.

For a comprehensive look at all of this year’s individual artist grantees, or for details of the awards night in Bangor, visit www.MaineArts.com.

Fractured Atlas Workshops, October 5 and 6

Fractured Atlas is a nonprofit organization that serves a national community of artists and arts organizations. They help artists and arts organizations function more effectively as businesses by providing access to funding, low-cost insurance, education, and more, all in a context that honors individuality and independent spirit.

Adam Natale, Director of Membership & Program Development at Fractured Atlas, will talk about some key services, programs, and resources that can help artists and organizations with the business side of their work -- the "unsexy" side that artists generally do not like thinking about.

Workshop engagements are free and open to the public, they include:

Tuesday, October 05, 6:30pm
SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress St Portland, ME 04101
http://space538.org/event_details.php?id=580

Wednesday, October 06, 7:00pm
Studio 4, 256 High St. Belfast, ME 04915
http://www.waterfallarts.org/Maine-Art-Centers/waterfall-arts-calendar/details/122-speaker-adam-natale-artist-survival-guide

More information about the organization can be found at http://www.fracturedatlas.org/

New International Support from NEFA

Center StageSM is an international exchange program that will allow international performing artists to tour throughout the U.S. in 2012. The program will:

* build cultural awareness,
* develop long-lasting relationships between people,
* enhance mutual understanding.

Center StageSM will bring ten ensembles from several countries for month-long tours of the U.S. in 2012, connecting artists with diverse communities in primarily small and mid-sized cities and towns across the U.S. Artist ensembles will be selected from three to four of the following seven countries: Haiti, Mali, Pakistan, Indonesia, Senegal, Syria, and Turkey.

Center StageSM will provide each ensemble with an honorarium and arrange and pay for travel and direct on-tour expenses. U.S.-based staff will accompany each ensemble on tour.

More information about this opportunity can be found on the NEFA website.
http://www.nefa.org/grants_services/nomination_and_selection