On NJN2: Friday, August 13 - Thursday, August 19, 2010 @ 5:00 am • 11:00 am • 5:00 pm • 11:00 pm

also visit
Culture in Context extended Web site
www.cultureincontext.org

Visit Culture in Context Press Room

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Guest curator Rita Z. Moonsammy, who is a featured interview, states, “One of the reasons that I love folk arts and working with folk life so much is because I love stories. I love the stories of people’s lives. And folk art objects are also stories. They’re stories of an individual, they’re stories of a community and they’re so encapsulated.  We’re helping unfold stories so that people can understand more of what is within this artifact and see the person behind it and see the community and the history.”

Moonsammy, a resident of Tabernacle, New Jersey, has a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.  She has conducted field research on and documented the traditional life of ethnic, regional, and occupational communities in several states, most extensively in the Northeastern and Delaware Bay areas of New Jersey.  In 1995 she developed the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant program.  The twenty-six artists in the Culture in Context exhibition are just some of the over 100 traditional artists who have participated in the NJSCA’s Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant Program. The grants provide support for artists to pass on their skills to other community members.

The State of the Arts special features some of the artists in the exhibition, going behind the scenes and talking to them about their crafts.  One is Forked River basketmaker Mary May.  She began making baskets as a hobby, but soon developed an interest in making the type of baskets once used to trap fish, gather berries, and do other tasks in South Jersey. She was drawn to the white oak baskets of the Pinelands region and became skilled in recreating their traditional forms. May describes the process of splitting the white oak in almost musical terms, “When you pop the grain right, it’s like a song.” Mary has developed skills in identifying and splitting the best white oak logs, separating and shaving the splints and weaving them into berry baskets, pound fishing baskets, eel fykes and grocery baskets among others.   State of the Arts visits May in her home studio and at Tuckerton Seaport where she teaches children the process and history of basketmaking.

Also in South Jersey, State of the Arts learns from woodworker Robert Broschart about the traditional wooden molds he has learned to make.  Studying with a master in West Virginia, Broschart has learned to make the molds which are used in making certain blown glass objects at historic glass factories.  We visit Broshart’s shop in the Petersburg/Woodbine area and go to Wheaton Arts in Millville for a glassblowing demonstration using the molds.

also visit
Bob Broschart in Culture in Context extended Web site
www.cultureincontext.org

Bob Broschart
Woodworker from Petersburg/Woodbine area

On the other end of the spectrum and the state, State of the Arts visits with Alpa Thakkar in Secaucus, a Gujarati Indian skilled at traditional Kutchi embroidery.  Alpa is by profession a jeweler, creating original designs with a computer assisted design program.  However, in her off time, she enjoys making the colorful embroidered clothing worn by Indian women for Navrati and other festivals.

also visit
Alpa Thakkar in Culture in Context extended Web site
www.cultureincontext.org

Alpa Thakkar
Gujarati Kutchi Embroiderer from Secaucus

Isi Igetei is a storyteller from Nigeria who now resides in Hillside.  His art form is represented in the New Jersey State Museum’s exhibit by a display of his traditional full length costume and props.  State of the Arts visits Igetei at home where he tells an engaging traditional story to a group of children from the neighborhood and describes his own youth learning from the local griots and his hard times during the war.

also visit
Isi Igetei in Culture in Context extended Web site
www.cultureincontext.org

Isi Igetei
Etsako Storyteller from Hillside

Another artist marked by war is Sojaita Jenny Hua.  Born in America, raised in Cherry Hill, and currently a student at Temple University, Hua is in many ways an average American girl – but she is also a skilled Cambodian Court Dancer.  Her folk art is represented at the museum by costumes and through fantastically carved masks and headdresses.  State of the Arts visits Hua at home and meets her parents, ethnic Khmers who escaped from Vietnam and Cambodia during the war.  Hua talks about why she decided to learn court dancing, once reserved for royalty but now an important source of ethnic Cambodian pride.  From age 14, she has studied with master dancer Chamrouen Yin in Philadelphia, and now also teaches younger students herself. She has performed at the United Nations and the Cambodian Embassy, and this summer will be strengthening her ties to Cambodia by interning with an NGO.  State of the Arts goes behind the scenes for the elaborate ritual of dressing in full costume as Hua prepares to perform in a celebration of the Cambodian New Year at the Khmer Art Gallery in Philadelphia.

also visit
Jenny Hua in Culture in Context extended Web site
www.cultureincontext.org

Jenny Hua
Cambodian Court Dancer from Cherry Hill

Gail Dufresne is a Rug Hooker based in Lambertville. Rug hooking is one of the traditional textile crafts that continue to be practiced by women around the country. It originated in the 1800s, and is believed to have come to the New England states through Maine from the Canadian Maritime provinces.  Women began making hooked rugs for their floors out of old clothes, using simple handdrawn patterns.  Today, the process has remained the same, but the materials and patterns have evolved, with many artists creating extremely detailed and involved rugs.  Gail began hooking more than 20 years ago as a way to spend time with her mother and sister, who had become very involved in the craft. Over time, Gail became active as a teacher, creating original patterns for others to hook.  She attends shows and "hook-ins" where women get together to learn more about the craft.

also visit
Gail Dufresne in Culture in Context extended Web site
www.cultureincontext.org

Gail Dufresne
Rug Hooker from Lambertville

“This show really honors the diversity of communities and their traditions in New Jersey, which we all know is a very diverse state,” says Dr. Moonsammy. “It brings into visibility people and traditions who most of us don’t realize are there…people really just in their community and in their own lives really have done a lot and work very hard with a lot of passion and a lot of dedication to keep tradition and traditional crafts alive for many, many wonderful reasons.”

Culture in Context is a special NJN Public Television/State of the Arts program produced by Susan Wallner with the assistance of Christopher Benincasa.  The show is accompanied by an extended website, www.cultureincontext.org, created in partnership with the New Jersey State Museum. Nila Aronow is the executive producer.