Julie Deak writes: Started over 40 years ago by a enterprising group of local craftspeople, Sandwich Christmas in the Village has grown into a two-day holiday tradition, expanding and reinventing itself with each new generation. Keeping with tradition, the 44th Annual Sandwich Christmas in the Village will be held the weekend of December 5th and 6th.

Things will be a little different this year, as we face the challenge of organizing in a way that will help to keep customers and vendors safe. Detailed plans are still in the works, but we do know there will be return to smaller venues, and for the first time, some craftspeople will be “virtual” participants - selling their work only online.

Partridge Hill Farm is one location providing socially distance spaces for 4 vendors from Sandwich. Juli Hird will have her “woolery” open selling fleeces and roving for hand-spinning and quality yarns from her flock of Romney, Merino, and Romney-Dorset cross sheep.

In the spacious barn, will be Marci Greene selling her modern everyday bags handmade with lots of love, and Rachel Bartlett offer her high fired, functional ceramics, designed for everyday use. Donna and Ken Carlucci from Kindred Spirit Farm will be there as well with herbal soaps, scented candles and gourmet dog treats, along with warm, hand-knit hats, wool dryer balls, and yarns from their Fine Fleece Shetland sheep and nesting balls for your fine feathered friends.

That’s just a sample of what will be happening. As plans progress, all the details will be posted on the Christmas in the Village - Sandwich NH Facebook page, including a list of locations and links to virtual booths online. For more information, please contact Diane Johnson 603-284-7168 (call/text)  or email Julie Deak at sandwichchristmasinthevillage@gmail.com.

You are invited to attend a poetry reading of Deep Beauty, by Rosemary Winslow and Catherine Lee (editors) on Friday, September 4, 12:00 noon  on the Quimby Green in front of Sandwich Home Industries. Please feel free to bring a chair and lunch if you like. Rain date September 5, at 4 pm.

Poets from Sandwich and Tamworth are included in the new book, Deep Beauty. Rosemary Winslow, editor, will introduce the book and poets will read excerpts. Books will be on sale at the reading and inside the League of NH Craftsmen gallery (Sandwich Home Industries).

About Deep Beauty: As our global discourse continues to be dominated by border walls, white nationalism, sexual assault, and autocratic leaders, many of us find our basic human values under constant attack. Deep Beauty is one collective attempt to counteract this discourse. The essays presented herein offer curious and thoughtful inquiries into experiences of wonder and beauty through the eyes of a diverse group of beholders, at a time when such considerations are often lacking from public discourse.

These writers help create an emotional and psychological space for us to meditate on how peace, safety, compassion, and dignity are integral to a fulfilled and fulfilling life. These essays examine beauty from a number of different perspectives, including the arts, culture and counter-culture, the physical world (from our individual bodies to our embattled planet), successes and failures, remoteness, and spirituality. This collection is perfect for students of writing and philosophy--and for anybody who needs a moment of respite from the chaos exploding in the world around us.

League of NH Craftsmen Center Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery, 32 Main Street
Center Sandwich, NH 03227 www.centersandwich.nhcrafts.org Follow us on Facebook! OPEN for our 94th season . 2020 hours Thursday - Saturday 12:00 - 5:00

This Fall Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery is featuring the work of three local artists who are successfully emerging onto the NE art scene. The last exhibit of the season opens on Labor Day Weekend and continues throughout the month of  September. Ashley Bullard, Liz Wilson and Valerie Vermeulen are all from the Lakes Region. Each of their paintings reflects their very personal journeys connecting them to the world around them.  The exhibit is colorful, contemporary, playful and highly creative. 
 
Ashley Bullard lives and works in Sandwich.  Bullard’s abstract landscapes are painted with energy and emphasize color and texture to achieve their mark.  The series at the gallery this summer is about Ice Out on Squam Lake.  The subtle reflections seen in the snow and ice as it cracks and melts are rendered in delicate hews that transfer via the artist’s brush to canvas.   One can feel the cracks in the jagged lines and smell the spring in the pastel palette.   Bullard spent many days last spring perched above Squam Lake  watching the lake melt.  These painting are about new beginnings.

Liz Wilson lives and works in New Hampton.  Her work is colorful, active and to a degree playful.  It engages the viewer in a conversation, an invitation to look deeper and enjoy.   Wilson’s words best describe her work: These paintings are impressions of my experience in the world at a specific moment.  When I am able to focus inward, I see in my minds’ eye my sensory experience translated into shape and color.  This experience is a part of my reality: it is the author, creator of my painting language. In the process of making the images I simplify and to a degree caricaturize my experiences.  The source of the images is specific. However, what I am depicting is the sensation that I took from the moment.”

Valerie Vermeulen lives and works in Holderness.  The subtle color and undefined shapes in her abstract landscapes challenge, soothe and engage.  Vermeulen talks about her work: “I spend my days studying and recording the constant, subtle, changing elements of nature and life. My work provides a nostalgic sense of place and simplicity, yet is ultimately defined by the infinite. I hope to elevate the viewer, both aesthetically and spiritually. The images are reflective, surreal, and organic in nature. The work also explores the mystery and the solitude of the anonymous human experience. I am driven to capture the changing atmosphere and the endless nuances of a landscape, both physical and psychological, to reveal the truth of a limitless reality. In the image, a dream is reflected, and the esoteric quality of a moment has been remembered. 

Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery is located at 69 Maple Street in Center Sandwich.  Gallery hours are from 10 to 5 Monday through Saturday and 12 to 5 on Sunday.  You will also find work by all our artists on line at patricialaddcaregagallery.com. 

Ole Anderson writes: Hi all, There will be an Old Home Week this year, but it will be different than years’ past.  Old Home Week is Sunday 8/9 – 8/16.  We are doing our best to create activities and events for the community to safely engage. Many of the groups who usually offer events and activities are working on dynamic planning in order to deliver a safe and meaningful experience for community members.

I can say with certainty that there will not be an Old Home Week Brochure. The nature of planning for the week with attention to Covid-19 guidelines and recommendations, or the potential of rising confirmed cases in our area, make it necessary for each group to have the ability to adjust their event rather than feel committed to what is published in a brochure weeks in advance.  

We will be populating the town website with a schedule at sandwichnh.com. This page is currently blank, but as events and activities are confirmed, we will add them, starting on July 14.  We will try and post on the SandwichBoard as each new activity and event is added. We will certainly post an update if an already posted event has been modified or canceled.

Please know we are doing our best to create safe, fun, and interesting events and activities; however, this means many of the traditional Old Home Week events will not be able to take place this year.  Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work on Sandwich’s 122nd Old Home Week.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Ole Anderson, Sandwich Parks and Recreation Director, 284-6473, sandwichrecreation@gmail.com

Center Sandwich, NH: July 4th, 2020 – Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery is pleased to open Sandwiched in Seasons, an exhibit of new work by artist, Kathryn Field.

Field is a painter, sculptor and art teacher who lives and works in Sandwich, NH. Follow Field through her spring and summer walks, hikes and swims into intense fall color and icy winter streams.  Each painting is a personal experience, and adventure in color, light and shadow.  This series is an exquisite testimony to the artist’s talents.  

Preview Field's work at her website or even better visit Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery at 69 Maple Street in Center Sandwich, NH.  We will open July 1 for the summer.  Though there is no opening reception to meet the artist this year, the paintings will be on exhibit until July 25th.  Gallery hours are from 10 to 5 Monday through Saturday and 12 to 5 on Sunday.  For more information about the artist or the gallery please visit the website or give us a call at 603 284 7728.

Three of Sandwich's wonderful establishments doing what we do best in this community: bringing creativity and caring to the needs of the day.

The Sandwich Home Industries, Patricia Ladd Gallery, Sandwich Historical Society, and Wentworth Library have put their hearts and minds together to create some fun for the community. Maybe you have heard of the Getty Challenge where people recreate famous works of art? We have borrowed the idea and challenge you to do the same! See below for more information...