1.TINSMITHING I Limit 8 Students
June 8-12 (5 Days) Fee: $440.00
An introduction to the art of tinning designed to provide a basic working knowledge of the late 18th & early 19th century tinning tools, construction techniques & pattern layout. The history of American tinning is covered. Students construct several pieces of tin ware based on traditional designs, using period tools & methods.
William McMillen, Master Tinsmith, Glenmont NY
2. SLATE ROOFING AND REPAIR Limit:6 Students
June 8 (1Day) Fee:$175.00
During this one-day session participants learn the basic history of the use of slate roofing as well as the details involved in the actual installation & repair. Students work on a ground level mock up of a roof & actually get to properly install the slates. They are taught to properly cut & make holes in slates using a variety of period & modern tools. Following that task, they are instructed in & practice the steps involved in repairing damaged slates in the completed unit.
Don Carpentier, Director of Eastfield Village, E. Nassau NY
3. REPRODUCING & REPAIRING HISTORIC MILLWORK
June 15-16 (2Days) Fee: $325.00
This course is designed to give students an understanding of the original methods and materials used to produce historic millwork as well as techniques for its repair. An in-depth survey of paneling, flooring, doors, windows and moldings are discussed through the examination of Eastfield’s extensive collection of period examples in order to help the student understand appropriate marks & textures of the original methods used to produce them. Through a combination of demonstrations & class participation we use both period & modern tools to repair & reproduce moldings, panels, door & window parts, etc. Students are encouraged to bring samples of original millwork for discussion and/or class work.
Robert Adam, founder and special advisor North Bennet Street School’s Preservation Carpentry program, Boston, MA
Don Carpentier, Director of Eastfield Village, E Nassau NY
4. TECHNIQUES FOR DATING HISTORIC STRUCTURES Limit: 12 students
June 18-20 (3 days) Fee: $425.00
Participants are guided through the difficult process of recognizing architectural changes made during various periods in the lifespan of a building. They learn to identify the specific elements relevant to the dating process. This includes the evolution of molding styles, hardware, window & door treatments, fireplaces, timber-framing methods; also tell-tale signs such as saw, hand plane & planer marks. Students gain a good sense of the amount of detective work required to date a pre-1875 structure & will spend the last day of the class investigating actual structures in the vicinity.
William Mc Millen, Consultant, independent scholar & retired supervisor of restoration at Historic Richmond Town, Staten Island NY &
Don Carpentier, Director of Eastfield Village, E. Nassau NY
5. OUT OF THE WOODS: A Staffordshire Family of Potters & Its Influence on 18th & 19th-century British Pottery
June 26-28 (3days) Fee: $465.00
Great changes swept across the British pottery industry during the era of industrialization. Many of the designs & innovations that propelled the advances were the work of members of the Wood Family. Whether it was furnishing models & molds for a myriad of items to other factories, designing & creating beautiful ornamental figures, or expanding their ventures to other countries, the Woods - Aaron, Ralph, John, & Enoch among them - were always at the forefront of the industry in the Potteries. In the past few years, a considerable number of new documents relating to the family have come to light. Their contents, as well as continued research on existing pots and archeological sites, have increased our understanding of just how important their work was to this industry.
We are fortunate again to have a large number of shards from several sites in Burslem that are associated with the Woods. This also includes a number of their marked pots. Shards include many from the 1831-35 deposit found at Burslem Town Hall Site by the Time Team in 1999.
New Feature: The schedule for this year includes something new. On Friday evening, we will have a period dinner prepared & served in the Briggs Tavern for all attendees at no extra charge. That evening will include an informal opportunity to display & discuss pots & shards as well as an informal presentation on dipped wares repeated from the 2009 New York Ceramics Fair Lecture Series.
Lectures include:
- The Wood Family of Burslem. Those who missed Miranda's superb lecture, The Early Life of Josiah Wedgwood, at the Ceramics Fair—based in part on newly discovered Wood family papers acquired by the Potteries Museum—will benefit from her Eastfield lecture based on those same sources. Miranda Goodby, Keeper of Ceramics, The Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent.
- Comparison of wasters to extant examples of dipped wares & attribution to the firm of Wood & Caldwell. Jonathan Rickard, collector and author, Deep River CT
- Discovery of a waster pit in Burslem, ca. 1800, with an extraordinary array of engine-turned dipped wares. Don Carpentier, Director of Eastfield Village, potter, & lecturer, E Nassau NY
- American views on transfer-printed earthenwares from Staffordshire. Ted Gallagher, attorney & collector, NY
- Expanded information on the connection of the Woods to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Louise Richardson, research associate, Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH.
- Evidence of the importation of Wood & Caldwell and Enoch Wood products to Alexandria VA. Barbara Magid, laboratory director, Historic Alexandria Archaeology, Alexandria VA.
- Staffordshire figures & how various members of the Wood family contributed to their development & manufacture. Miranda Goodby
- The Enoch Wood & Son wasters (1831-35) from the Burslem Town Hall Dig in 1999 & an array of similar extant wares with matching characteristics. Don Carpentier.
- Demonstrations of early British pottery manufacturing techniques including hand & machine jiggering, jollying, lathe turning & decorating, press molding, sprigging , etc. This is a rare chance for participants to see the complete series of processes in the manufacture of a number of items from the period.
Stephen Apisa & Don Carpentier
6. EARLY AMERICAN FIREPLACES, BAKE OVENS & COOKING EQUIPMENT: 1650-1840
Aug.10-11 (2 Days) Fee: $295.00
The heart of the Early American home was centered on the fireplace that was used constantly for heat, light, & cooking. Until the advent of stoves & furnaces, all rooms were essentially built around a fireplace or chimneystack. Many regional characteristics defined fireplaces from New England to the Mid-Atlantic States. Construction details can vary widely from town to town. In this program, we examine in detail many of the changes that have occurred from Maine to Pennsylvania in fireplace & oven construction during the period 1650 - 1840. We take a detailed look at evolution of fireplaces as fuel sources dwindled & new designs were introduced to increase efficiency. We explain how fireplace cooking equipment changed over time as well as an array of items currently used as historic fireplace furnishings that in fact were not used in period fireplaces at all. There is a large selection of original materials available for examination – bricks, lintels, lug poles, oven mouths & doors, hearth tiles, cranes etc., as well as a large collection of period cooking equipment.
William Mc Millen & Don Carpentier
7. EARLY AMERICAN TRADITIONAL WOODCARVING Limit: 6 Students
August 17-19 (3days) Fee: $425.00
Designed for novice-to-intermediate students, this workshop emphasizes the tools & techniques for relief woodcarving used in the creation of Early American carvings. It gives beginning students a good foundation in traditional woodcarving & intermediate students the opportunity to build on their skills. Through demonstrations, exercises & individual hands-on instruction students learn to adapt & transfer a historical design; the various uses of woodcarving tools, how to get & keep them sharp; the proper use & control of tools for incising, setting in, grounding & surface modeling, plus wood types & finishing options.
Wood, basic tools & prepared designs are provided. Intermediate students are invited to bring their own tools & to speak with Deborah in advance if they would like to work on their own designs. Because class size is limited & our setting informal, Deborah can respond to each student's goals & instruct them one-on-one. We have ample inspiration surrounded by Early American buildings and furnishings!
Deborah Mills, Brooklyn NY-based custom woodcarver with over 18 years of professional experience.
8. HISTORIC PAINTS, PIGMENTS, & PAINTING TECHNIQUES Limit: 15 Students
August 21-23 (3 days) Fee: $425.00
Participants learn the basics of making traditional linseed oil-based, milk (or casein)-based, & distemper (animal glue) paints. Pigments are ground by hand both on a muller & slab & in antique paint mills. Rudimentary pigment making is demonstrated. Illustrated lectures on the history of pigments & paint varieties & techniques precede each working session. Participants should wear clothing that can get dirty or bring coveralls, smocks, or aprons. All participants are required to bring HEPA- and VOC- (volatile organic compound) filtering respirators as we will be working with some solvents & pigments that are known to be hazardous. All work with hazardous materials is carried out in a thoroughly informed & careful manner.
Christian Goodwillie & Erika Sanchez Goodwillie. Involved in the making & installation of traditional paints at Shaker sites, private homes, Metropolitan Museum of Art, & other venues.
9. MODERN AMERICA: A DECADE OF REMARKABLE CHANGE 1840-1850
August 24-26 (3Days) Fee: $425.00
The beginning of the American Renaissance lies in the industrial revolution that slowly changed the way we Americans lived & worked for most of the early decades of the 19th century. It wasn't until about 1840 that all of these social, technical, scientific & economic segments merged into a remarkable new American culture that was the beginning of our modern times. To understand this decade in history we must look at all aspects: social, scientific, architecture, material culture, class, design & politics.
We will examine three different situations - a rural family farm, a tradesman in a town, & the urban household of a wealthy manufacturer & see what life was like for these different families.
There is a special session on Monday evening for the presentation of Dan Mattausch's lecture on historic lighting. The lecture is held in the 1836 Universalist Church. This evening session is preceded by an included dinner at the 1793 Briggs Tavern prepared by chef Chip Leis, specialist in open hearth cooking.
Lectures include:
- Age of Experiment, Invention, & Reform
An overview of social & material changes derived from new technologies in printing, manufacturing, & communication, as well as the impacts from religious experiments, intellectual movements, mass migrations, & increasing urbanization that helped transform the nation. Jill & Jon Maney, authors, collectors, & independent scholars, Cooperstown NY
- The Age of Technology in American buildings
New framing systems & an explosion of designs in rural & urban homes increased the speed at which communities developed & created a whole new generation of commercial buildings. We will examine additional developments in heating stoves & furnaces, and sanitary improvements from water closets to showers that were just part of the changes created by the impact of technology for the home. John I Mesick, Restoration Architect, & Partner & Jeff Baker, Restoration Architect, Mesick, Cohen, Wilson, Baker Architects, Albany NY
- From Fashion to Furnishings
Advances in textile production increased the availability of inexpensive clothing, American Ingrain carpets, draperies, & upholstery materials, which were made by both independent fancy weavers in rural settings, as well as the explosion of power looms and mills for textile printing in urban areas. This substantially increased the production of many new complex goods for the wealthy. Rabbit Goody, textile historian & owner of Thistle Hill Weavers, Cherry Valley NY
- Burning Down the House: the Challenge of Illumination from Lard Oil to Camphene and Gas
As whale oil became scarce in late 1830's, new forms of lamps were developed to burn less expensive fuels which in turn allowed the growing middle class to stay up evenings, extending their family hours for the first time. Cheap lighting in factories, commercial buildings & homes changed Americas work and sleep habits forever, but explosive new fuels required new lighting technology. Dan Mattausch, Smithsonian, National Museum of American History, Washington DC
- The Beginning of Now: Food in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
Advances in technology had an enormous impact on the American food culture - in not only the way it was prepared, but also the way that plants and animals were developed, harvested, stored, transported, & packaged. We will learn who was eating what & where it came from. This decade saw an unprecedented increase in printed recipe books & self-help manuals that encouraged even the lower classes to strive for the niceties of a good meal & well laid out dining table. Sandy Oliver, food historian, publisher of Food History News & author of numerous cookbooks on historic foodways.
- Horticulture: A Growing Business
While the common kitchen garden continued to define horticulture for many families, an expanding number of households took up gardening with ornamentals as evidence of their education, refinement, & prosperity. They planted dooryard flower gardens & created elaborate "pleasure grounds". Advances in manufacturing, printing technology, & transportation brought an explosion of information, tools, seeds & plants. Garden centers and nurseries blossomed in urban centers. Wealthy gardeners competed with one another to collect rare & exotic plants for their heated parlors, conservatories & greenhouses. Newly organized horticultural societies & public gardens promoted these fashionable indulgences & became popular social venues for the elite. Christie Higginbottom, research historian, specializing in horticulture & landscape, Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge MA
- The Grecian Plain Style & Related Furnishings in America
Much of the furniture produced in the two decades prior to 1850 has long been dismissed by scholars & collectors alike as poorly designed & lacking quality. Through examination of newly developed manufacturing practices, social & economic conditions of the time, as well as objects made in the Grecian Plain Style, we will endeavor to understand & perhaps better appreciate this much-maligned furniture. John Kovacik, Conservator/Restorer, Fort Plain NY
