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News & Views

Photo of Sandwich Village by Joe Janis

Artists on the Porch & Lakes Region Guest Artist space at Center Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery

9/6/2023

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Our next Artist Demonstration on the Porch will be Saturday, September 16, 2023 from 10:00 to 1:00. League of New Hampshire Craftsman Larry and Victoria Elbroch will demonstrate their process of combining Larry's photography of trees with Victorie's printmaking. Together they create beautiful, amazing prints in addition to their own individual work. Hope you can stop by and meet the artist!​
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Photographer Larry Elbroch, along with his wife Victoria, both juried artists in the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, will be demonstrating their process on the Gallery Porch on September 16th.
Sandwich Home Industries, which will be celebrating its 100th birthday in just two years, is offering something new this fall, a Lakes Region Guest Artist space in the Gallery. 
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The brainchild of Sandwich resident Mary Coolidge, the Home Industries was founded to help local craftspeople on the eve of the Great Depression earn an income from their work. The building supplied a space where local craftspeople could display and sell the fine crafts they made at home and where they could teach others, so traditional NH crafts would be passed down through the years. When the League of NH Craftsmen was formed a few years later (with Mary Coolidge as its first president) those goals expanded to craftspeople throughout NH.
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Continuum II by Larry and Victoria Elbroch- a work that combines photography and printmaking.
Four years ago the SHI Board of Directors re-dedicated itself to the original mission of supporting local artists and the local economy, at first by expanding opportunities for all local artists to display and sell their work and to teach classes. We’ve expanded the number of artists at Artisans on the Green, and sought new classes and porch demonstrations by local craftspeople. We are thrilled now to be able to offer a space in our Gallery to these folks. 

On Thursday, August 31, the Gallery welcomed visitors to a reception for local artists. It was received with great enthusiasm from both artists and visitors alike. Local Guest Artists' work will be available in the Gallery through October 9th, after which the Gallery is closed for the winter. We have SO MANY talented artists in our local area! Do stop by! 

​The Board of Directors for The Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery
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The Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery at 32 Main Street in Sandwich, is open 7 days a week until October 15, 2023. Hours are from 10:00-5:00 Monday thru Saturday and 12:00-5:00 on Sundays. We hope you will stop in and check out the amazing work of artists from all over the state of New Hampshire! ​
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​Sandwich Historical Society Opening Day, 2023

6/4/2023

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Please join us for Opening Day festivities at the Sandwich Historical Society, on Saturday, June 24th, from 12pm-3pm.

There will be live Traditional Skills Demonstrations outside the Quimby Barn Transportation Museum, and the opening of the Annual Exhibit in the Elisha Marston House. We will also show the rare 19th century curtain painting of Mount Israel in the upper level of the Grange Hall. 

All of this, plus an outdoor food grill near the demonstrations, outside of the Transportation Museum! First, Live Demonstrations of Traditional Arts, outside of the Quimby Barn Transportation Museum will feature:
 
Brian Stockman, of Tuftonboro, NH, has dedicated his life to the study and practice of a variety of traditional indigenous and colonial artisan craft media, and large-scale figurative sculpture. For our event, Brian will demonstrate the art of scrimshaw carving. His work is in numerous private and public collections.
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Carved antler by Brian Stockman from his FB page.
Alli Plourde, from Durham, NH, is a seasoned potter and figurative sculptor working in clay who currently teaches art at Oyster River HS, and formerly at Holderness School. Alli will demonstrate throwing functional pottery on the potter’s wheel. She has a BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a Master’s degree from RI School of Design, and is a member of the NH Potters’ Guild. ​
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Mug by Ali Plourde. Photo from her Instagram page.
Tina Greenfield, from Rensselaer, New York, will be sharing her skills in decorative painting, often known as “tole” painting. It is the folk tradition of embellishing household utilitarian objects with surface paint to transform that object into one of beauty. Ms. Greenfield has been painting in this style on wood and metal for close to thirty years, and has received both regional and national recognition for her work. Her pieces have been shown at the Library of Congress and the White House, as well as at several New England conventions in this field.
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Two painted boxes by Tina Greenfield. Photo by Franz Nicolay.
Corey Slater, from Ashland, NH, is a second-generation pack basket weaver. He will be showing and creating backpack baskets out of traditional materials. They are especially loved among mushroom collectors. Corey has been making custom heirloom pack baskets for people worldwide for about ten years.
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Backpack by Corey Slater. Photo from his Instagram page
Second, the Annual Exhibit entitled, “Tiny Treasures, Great Joys”, will open its doors as well. It highlights and celebrates vintage, handmade dollhouses, and other unique, miniature objects from our vast collection; In the Wentworth Room of the SHS.
 
Please join us for this festive day. And stay tuned for other summer events hosted by your Sandwich Historical Society. 
 
—Franz Nicolay, 
with the Sandwich Historical Society
Programs and Education Committee
Summer, 2023
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Artisans on the Green ~ August 10th, 2023

4/19/2023

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Artisans on the Green is a one day fine craft fair on the green in downtown Center Sandwich. This event is sponsored by The Center Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery (aka Sandwich Home Industries) during our town's Old Home Week and it has been a tradition for many years.  Artisans on the Green will be held on August 10th from 10 am - 4 pm. 

There is still space for artists and craftspeople at our one day, well-attended fine crafts and art fair. We are looking for artisans who might be interested in securing a tent space for that day.  We are always excited to have new artists join us, both young and old.  A committee will review the applications and will select participating artisans.

Please read through the attached application and let me know if you have any questions. It is best to email [email protected] with questions.
If you are ready to apply, please download the form from our website, fill it out, and mail it in with your check.
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We just extended our due date for applications to May 15th. The last date to cancel is June 15th. If you have any questions, please feel free to call Ralph, the gallery manager at the number below or check out the Artisans on the Green info on the website. 
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Sandwich Home Industries
The mission of the Sandwich Home Industries is three-fold: to support local artists and the local economy; to provide a welcoming gallery and educational program for area residents and visitors to Center Sandwich; and to collaborate with the League of NH Craftsmen to nurture and promote the creation, use, and preservation of fine contemporary and traditional crafts in New Hampshire.
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Ralph Watson, Gallery Manager
League of NH Craftsmen
Center Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery
603-284-6831
centersandwich.nhcrafts.org
Open daily mid-May through mid-October
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46th Annual Sandwich Christmas in the Village ~ Dec 3 & 4, 2022

11/28/2022

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Christmas in the Village 2019. Photo by Franz Nicolay

Everything you need to know about this year's Christmas in the Village!

For over 40 years, a two-day holiday fair and sale has magically appeared across the town of Sandwich on the first weekend in December. This year’s Christmas in the Village features 19 locations with over 40 participants, selling a wide variety of crafts, fine art, gifts, goodies, and holiday ornaments, greens and décor. 
You’ll find the holiday spirit everywhere with with many venues offering hand-crafted ornaments and holiday décor. 

Your Neighbors Flowers and Something Wild Farm is a collaboration between two North Sandwich Farms offering local and sustainably harvested spruce and fir Christmas Trees, table top trees, wreaths and other handmade gifts Saturday 12/3 & Sunday 12/4 9am to 2pm on both sides of the Green in Center Sandwich.

Pam Urda will have beautiful evergreen wreaths and centerpieces at Wayside Farm, Amy Brown will have holiday wreaths, kissing balls, centerpieces and ornaments at the Doris Benz Center, and Shirly Glines will show fresh holiday arrangements at the Sandwich Home Industries.

Craftspeople and makers will set up in small groups at various locations.  At Partridge Hill Farm, you’ll find four vendors in a spectacular barn, open only on Saturday 10am - 2pm only. Rachel Bartlett will have her hand thrown, high fired, functional pottery, glazed to reflect colors of the natural world. Macrame Christmas ornaments, winter paintings, & gnomes are available from Jodi with an Eye. Vicky Dworkin will bring her Fabrications:  fabric collage landscapes of local scenes; as well as table top Christmas arrangements from recycled and vintage materials. Laser Focused Designs & Gifts will have unique gifts ranging from charcuterie boards, earrings coasters, holiday ornaments & more. Custom orders are available to make your gifts more personalized.

​The Doris Benz Community Center will be open Saturday only 9 am- 4 pm, Little Apiary on the Hillside will have local raw honey, beeswax candles, honey based soaps, lotion bars & lip balm, as well as handmade patchwork quilts. You’ll also find hand-dyed napkins, dish towels & clothing, hand carved block printed, silkscreen and real leaves from Robin Cornwall and original photo card of flowers, animals and local landscapes by Jessica Kelly. 
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Christmas in the Village 2019. Photo by Franz Nicolay
Wayside Farm will be open Saturday and Sunday 10am-3pm, featuring pottery & wood-turned candlesticks by Ben Shambaugh, jewelry & quilled paper Christmas cards from Amanda Twaddle, Photography, prints & ink drawings by Liz Shelley and a variety of Christmas ornaments, bucket hats, Ukrainian eggs & hand-stitched pillows  by Wendy Shambaugh.  Get a reallyy sweet treat  of fudge and peanut brittle from Jennifer Simpson.

Early on, the event featured open studios and workshops, a tradition that continues today.  Field Fine Art, the studio of artist and sculptor Kathryn Field will be open Saturday 10am - 4pm and Sunday 10am - 3pm. At MuMandi Glass Studio, Ann Lambert creates colorful fused glass ornaments, dishes and more, open Saturday only 10am to 4-ish. Weaver Suzanne Rowan will have hand-woven items to wear and for the home, rug-hooking & other handmade treasures, also on Saturday only 10am - 4pm. The workshop of Will Lehmann Frames will open Saturday 12/3 10am - 4pm & Sunday 12/4 10am - 3pm. He’s been doing custom picture framing, custom woodworking & finishing for 49 years. Enjoy cookies and cocoa at Kindred Spirit Farm and shop  for hand-knit hats, hand-crafted felted soaps, jams, salsas, dog biscuits, & nesting balls for your fine feathered friends.Open Saturday  9 to 4 and Sunday 10 to 3.

Of course, the shops in Center Sandwich village will be open, and will also host special guest makers and sellers. The Sandwich Home Industries be open Saturday 10am - 5pm and Sunday Noon -5pm. Along with the fine crafts from The League of NH Craftsmen, you’ll find photography and photo cards from Susan Lirakis who also makes cozy Polartec hats, Marcy Greene’s handmade bags and accessories, small batch, hand-thrown stoneware pottery by Suzanne Weil and whimsical hand-knit Climate Critters from Anne Richards to benefit .
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Christmas in the Village 2019. Photo by Franz Nicolay
The Porch will be Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 5pm with a selection of gifts, holiday decor, seasonal apparel, and antiques. Stop in to sop and enjoy complimentary home-made cookies and refreshments. Willow Pond Antiques & Goods is unique and whimsical shop featuring antiques and vintage item, home decor, local crafts and unique curiosities, with Sandwich’s own talented ANNE MADE crafts and homemade delicacies Saturday 12/3 & Sunday 12/4 10am to 5pm. 

Looking for an old or rare book? Hill Country Books will be open Saturday 12/3 & Sunday 12/4 10am to 4pm. The Sandwich Historical Society will also have books, along withcards, ornaments, Sandwich Fair posters, vintage travel posters, Sandwich Hoodies and Crews, magnets, White Mountain puzzles & more! Also showing at there are Hannah’s Handmade Crafts crochet holiday garlands, scarves and shawls and Kathie Fife Photography & Fabric Art - Fine Art Photography greeting cards, bookmarks, ornaments; art of New Hampshire’s nature, landscapes & historic sites, handmade fabric art gift bags, gift card holders, bowl cozies and napkins, hand-warmers & organic catnip toys. Custom orders available. Open Saturday & Sunday 10 to 3

Visit the Marigold Moon Wildcraft Apothecary for locally wild-crafted plant medicinals in the form of tea blends, tinctures, oils, balms, salves, and more.  Beverage teas available. And featuring books by MJ Pettengill, local author, historian & wildcrafter. Saturday & Sunday 10am to 3pm.

Feeling hungry? Stop by and warm up at the Ladies Aid Soup & Chowder Luncheon on Saturday from 11am -2pm at Sandwich Community Church. Or stop by the Doris Benz Center whose young pastry chefs have been busy baking up their specialties on Saturday from 10am to 4pm.  Enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner, or just a cup of coffee at The Foothills Café and Curio, open Saturday 8am - 9pm and Sunday 9am -10pm and enjoy live Christmas and Celtic music by the CaravanBand from 10am - 2pm both days. 

Foothills Café will also be hosting local artist Blair Newcomb with oil paintings and card, and Fraser Design’s fabulous winter hats with a Polartec lining by Linda Danielovich. Art by toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners at the Sandwich Children’s Center, a fundraiser to benefit the Center. And before you leave the Fair, have your gifts wrapped and ready to go at Wrap-a-thon Fund Raiser to benefit Advice To The Players, Sandwich’s own Shakespeare Theatre

For more tasty treats visit the Young Maple Ridge Sugarhouse for Papa Beans small-batch homemade ice cream and pick some sweet gifts of maple syrup, maple cream, maple candy, maple sugar & maple bourbon syrup -all made on site. Open Saturday and Sunday 9am to 9pm.  Or stop by the Mount Israel Grange Hall Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning 9am to noon, and shop for local farm products, garlic, onions, herbs, squash, maple syrup, jams, beef, pork, baked goods & more from Chestnut Meadow Farm and Mountain Breeze Farm to take home.

Each venue has set its own hours, and some are only open on Saturday.  You’ll find everything you need to know about who’s selling what, where and when, along photos and descriptions of each participant offerings on our website http://sandwichchristmasinthevillage.com, including a printable map to plan your shopping tour. Email [email protected] for more information, or contact Julie Deak at 603-707-0140 or find us on Facebook.
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Meet Our Members ~ Carl Parker Hansen of Lower Corner Millworks

11/3/2022

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Parker Hansen took the photo and designed the logo!
​What is your name and the name of your business?
My full name is Carl Parker Hansen. Named after my father Carl, but not junior. To my closest friends and the government I'm Carl but I've gone by Parker my whole life. The name of my business is Lower Corner Millworks, named after our family home in the old brick store at the historic Lower Corner.
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The old brick store and post office at Lower Corner.
How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
My relationship with Sandwich goes back as far as I can remember. We summered in our small family cottage on Dinsmore Pond until we moved here permanently in 1999 to renovate the old brick store. My parents met in Sandwich in the early 80s doing theater with the Sandwich players in a production of Our Town.

My father owned and operated the only gas pump by the only "traffic light" in town. Generations of our family on the Howe side (my father’s mother was a Howe) have lived on Diamond Ledge and Howe Hill, including Rev. Chester Howe. My father has cousins who still live on Howe Hill in Sandwich. I had moved away to Portland, Maine in 2014 after college, but returned in 2020 to start my own cabinet shop. 
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Parker and his mother Nancy circa 1989. Photo by Carl Hansen
What got you started in this profession?
My father has always been a carpenter and cabinet maker, so growing up I would help him as much as I could. After gaining my degree in Environmental Studies from The University of Vermont, I pursued a career in teaching but after being waitlisted for grad school, I began working at a cabinet shop in South Portland, Maine.

​For five years I worked my way up to production supervisor at one of the largest cabinet shops in New England, while simultaneously attending Southern Maine Community College to earn an Associates Degree in Architectural and Engineering Design. I then saw an opportunity to return to Sandwich with the skills I had gained, to try my hand at running my own cabinet shop. I knew my father was retiring, as well as a few other cabinet makers/carpenters in town, so I felt that there would be an eventual void that needed to be filled. In the winter of 2020 I started Lower Corner Millworks.
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Lazy Suzans, photo by Parker Hansen
Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
Initially I began making signs and small wooden crafts like cribbage boards, catch-all trays, cutting boards, etc., but knew I wanted to be making cabinets and furniture. It took about six months but I eventually built my first kitchen for a client. I’ve made several tables and I was hired to fill an entire home with bookshelf built-ins, bunk beds, an entertainment unit and a full kitchen. I still provide sign engraving services, custom gifts and other misc. products, including 3D topographical maps, flight boards for breweries (a flight board is a serving tray for small glasses of beer or wine or spirits)  and the occasional cutting board! 
I also have a relationship with The Shaker Furniture Company to make furniture parts and I use a CNC router for some projects. A CNC Machine or Computer Numerical Control Machine is a computer-aided router that allows the user to program text or shapes to be cut out or engraved onto a designated material. In my case, I engrave signs into wood or signboard, cut out furniture parts out of wood, create 3D landscapes out of solid wood or cut cabinet parts out of plywood. ​
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Walnut Live Edge Slab Table, photo by Parker Hansen
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A full home renovation in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, photo by Parker Hansen.
​How did your business get started?
My business began pretty easy. Registering my LLC, acquiring start-up funds from The Wentworth Economical Development Corporation and finding a shop space to rent all happened very quickly. My first client was The Shaker Furniture Company, who hired me to make furniture parts before I even had my shop set up. 
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North Sandwich Cabinet Shop, photo by Parker Hansen
What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
The best part of my job is setting my own hours, deciding what jobs to take and basically just being able to do what I love every day. I could be working on a live edge table one day and then making a custom charcuterie board the next. The scope of my work is diverse, which I love. I also get to bring my dog to the shop which is probably the best part.
What is the hardest?
There are a few difficult aspects of my job. I make my own hours which is fantastic, but not having a "clock-in" time sometimes results in sleeping in a little longer than I should some days! Definitely the most difficult part of the job is juggling every task that goes into running your own business, specifically, bookkeeping. I cannot stress enough how boring yet important it is to keep track of all the ins and outs of my business and  I'm learning quickly that hoarding receipts in a manilla folder until tax season is not a great habit to get into. 
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Pippa and Parker at the shop, photo by Charlotte Chico
What are your goals and hopes for the future?
My goals when I started this adventure were pretty straightforward; to build what I wanted and continue the tradition of craftspeople in Sandwich. I had to leave Sandwich to really appreciate the town I grew up in. When I knew my father was retiring from his long career as a cabinet maker and carpenter, I knew that there would be opportunities to fill the void he left behind. 

The first year of operating I made four signs for local businesses, several large cabinet jobs, and a contract to provide Sandwich-based Shaker Workshops with furniture parts. I have made countless gifts and game boards for people I grew up around. I joked in my college essay that "Sandwich is a vibrant town full of carpenters and yoga instructors, where the post office parking lot looks like a Subaru dealership." Fifteen years after writing that essay, I find myself driving my Outback to the post office to pick up mail for my own woodworking business.     
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Cherry & Maple Chess Board, photo by Charlotte Chico
What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
I'm learning something new everyday. Working in Sandwich means a lot to me. Personally, Sandwich has always been my home, whether it be summers as a small child, becoming our "new home" when I was in 5th grade or when I returned after years away. Creating my business in this small town full of hardworking men and women makes me very proud. Carrying on the traditions of these people is something I take very personally and I hope I can make my family and neighbors proud.

To learn more about Lower Corner Millworks visit: lowercornermillworks.com
or get in touch with Parker at: 603-986-8391, [email protected]. Facebook and Instagram people can search Lower Corner Millworks
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SHS opened on June 25th with traditional skills demo outside the Transportation Museum.

6/30/2022

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Thank you so much to those who came out to support live demonstrations of traditional skills, and the summer opening of the Sandwich Historical Society! We enjoyed your presence and participation. —Franz Nicolay, Programs & Education Committee.
​All photos are by Charlene Oulette, except where otherwise noted.
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Visitors enjoy SHS traditional skills demonstrations by Tina Greenfield, Suzanne Weil and Franz Nicolay, as SHS Opening Day on June 25.
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Tina Greenfield demonstrating traditional decorative painting. Franz Nicolay stripping bark from hardwood saplings in the creation of hiking sticks.
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Suzanne Weil gave a demonstration and showed her pottery. Photo by Franz Nicolay
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Geoff Burrows, president of SHS, speaks at the dedication of the “Slade Room,” housing the Concord Coach, at the Quimby Barn Transportation Museum.
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John Taylor, grill master for the day, along with Jennifer Wright, on SHS Opening Day festivities.
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Susan Davies, chair of the collections committee at SHS, and Lauren Hanson, Museum and Collections Coordinator, greet visitors at the Elisha Marston House.
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Helen Ingalls presents the antique, painted backdrop curtain of Mt. Israel to visitors. It was painted by Fred Quimby sometime after 1892, and resides in the Grange Hall.
Summer hours at the Elisha Marston Museum, Barn and Gift Shop will be Friday and Saturday, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM, from Saturday, June 25 to Saturday, September 3.  The Quimby Transportation Museum will be open every Saturday from 10:00 - 2:00 PM.  Our other buildings will be open during Old Home Week.  For the most up-to-date information, please visit our website:  http://www.sandwichhistorical.org or email us at [email protected].
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New Exhibit at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery

6/28/2022

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The Mill, woodcut monoprint, 12 x 12 inches

The Mill, by Wendy Ketchum

July 9th through July 26th. Local artist, Wendy Ketchum, has created an intriguing series of woodcut monoprints based on 19th century New England textile mills.  Her exhibit will open at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery on July 9.   

The series was inspired by her love of history, 19th century photographs and the “many long rows of massive brick buildings” that dot the New England landscape.  Her meticulous technique combines with her subject matter in a series of poignant pictures relating to the history of the “Mill Girls.” The work is inspired by old photographs of mill workers, as well as actual patterns made from fabrics created at the mills.

Join us for a reception to meet the artist on Saturday, July 9th from 5 to 7 pm.   Ketchum will also host a “conversation” about the “Mill Girls” and their place in our history on Saturday, July 16 at 9:30 am. 
 
Ketchum’s artist statement best describes The Mill, a project that has taken her several years to complete:  “In the years between 1830 and 1860 tens of thousands of young single women were recruited to leave their family farms in northern New England to seek social and economic independence through employment in the textile mills. Despite the yoke of corporate paternalism, millwork put a new kind of power into women’s hands economically, providing them with the highest wages offered to female employees anywhere in the US at the time.
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Ten Hours, woodcut monoprint with collage, 12 x 12 inches
Coming from farms where time was dependent on the seasons, the “mill girls,” as they were called, were faced with the tyranny of the bell and clock tower dictating every minute of their working day. The cotton that fed the mills was grown and processed by slave labor in the American South, and a portion of it was woven by mill girls into coarse cloth to clothe those very slaves creating a closed circle of labor. Many of the mill girls became ardent abolitionists, in addition to becoming labor reform activists fighting for better working conditions through walkouts, mass rallies, strikes, and the creation of one of the first labor reform leagues in the country. 
 
The exhibit will be on view through July 26th. The gallery is located at 69 Maple Street in Center Sandwich.  Gallery hours are from 10 to 5 Tuesday through Saturday.  Sunday and Monday, if the door is open, come on in. www.patricialaddcaregagallery.com, 603 284-7728 ​
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Meet Our Members ~ Nancy Hansen, Sewing.

11/9/2021

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Nancy Hansen, photo by Susan Lirakis
What is your name and the name of your business?
Nancy Jones Hansen, my business name is Sewing. It leaves no question as to what I do!  ​

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
I met a guy....! I came to Sandwich in 1980, married a local. We lived here for several years and then moved to Bethel, Maine for 15 years, returning in 1999. On our first date, my husband, Carl, looked at the Brick Store and announced he was going to live there some day. So here we are in the Brick Store, running our businesses from one of the most iconic buildings in town. 
Brick Store, then
The Brick Store then. Photo courtesy SHS.
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The Brick Store now.
What got you started in this line of work?
My mother was a sewer, and taught me to sew over Easter vacation when I was 12, on my grandmother's treadle sewing machine. (Sounds like I'm really old, but it was a really old machine at the time.) I've been sewing ever since.  

Once out of college I realized I could make money sewing. I applied for a job with a small wallpaper/fabric store. I had a basic  book on how to sew everything. The owner would ask me if I know how to do... whatever. As long as it was in the book I said yes and got the job.  I've been sewing for people in Sandwich for 30 years.
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A custom quilt that started out as a 1x1 inch stamp and became a king-sized quilt, 2017.
Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
There is no Home Economics any more in schools, so people are not learning sewing as a craft or vocation. I think it's a dying art. I am fortunate that I have sewed for over 50 years and have done just about everything in the field, from simple alterations to designer drapes and swags. I've done prototypes for people with new ideas, and repaired antique quilts.  

When/how did you begin your business?
In the 80s Carl worked as a contractor and I became a division of that, Hansen Homes & Interiors/Sewing. Carl has retired from building, mostly, so now he works for me.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job?  
I like to see people happy with something they thought was ruined and now it's good. Weird is fun, repetition is repetitive, but it pays the bills. Quite often I get clothes or ties from someone who has lost a loved one and want a quilt made from them. T-shirt quilts are fun because usually all of the shirts have meaning to those who receive it. If I know the person, even better, then I can add to what I know of their personality. My business is my hobby, so I get to do it everyday.
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A memorial T-shirt quilt, 2019
What is the hardest?  
The hardest is being sure people are happy. Even after all of these years making things for people, a little voice always wonders, "will they like this?"  So far so good.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year?
I had the best job during Covid. People still needed things fixed. I just did a lot of business out on the porch. Of course I made many, many masks. Both donated and some for sale. It was a good way to use up small pieces of fabric. ​
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The workshop
What are your goals and hopes for the future?
My goal for the future is to retire! This seems impossible as the phone keeps ringing. Two or three seamstresses have closed in the last year for different reasons so there are not as many people sewing.  For the near future, I'm still working. I have a new shop space at our house and I hate to give it up.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your life in Sandwich?
In 1980 I married into Sandwich. Coming from Detroit, it was a big change, but a good one. Friends from 1980 are still here and still friends, and now their grandchildren play with mine. All three of our children live in town, which made our Covid bubble very nice. We travel more now, but it's always nice to come home. We live in the most beautiful place.

[email protected]
603-387-4767
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Meet Our Members ~ Anne Perkins of Anne Made

10/3/2021

1 Comment

 
What is your name and the name of your business?
Anne Metcalf Perkins, Anne Made
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Anne and John Perkins. Photo by Jude Davis
How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
I am one of the fortunate who was born in Sandwich. I have always known how special that is. My mother’s parents had a camp on Winnepesaukee and  they decided to settle in Sandwich at the end of World War II. Lester Lear was from Gallipolis, Ohio. Isadora Schmidt Lear was born in Philadelphia. 

My father’s family had a camp on  Squam Lake. At the age of 20, my father, Lance Metcalf, decided to settle in Sandwich, after leaving the Marine Corps at the end of the war. My parents met in Sandwich, probably at a Town Hall square-dance. After my mother, Nancy Lear, attended UNH for a year, they were married at Saint Andrews in Tamworth. 

Tell us about your work. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
I am a textile craftsman and have made and sold everything from bed quilts and wallhangings to Christmas ornaments and dolls. Currently I’m working with cashmere and making fingerless gloves.
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Portrait of Nigel, 1982
What got you started in this work?
My grandparents were both craftsmen. My grandmother, Isadora Lear, did crewel embroidery and was a weaver. My grandfather, Lester A. Lear, was a silversmith and did enameling on copper. My uncle, Peter C. Lear, was  a silversmith. I was surrounded by talented textile people as a child, and l was encouraged from a very young age to work with textiles.  

Grandad studied silversmithing in London, England with Robert Stone, a member of the London Silversmith’s Guild while helping to set up Stars and Stripes, the military news magazine. When he came to Sandwich  he studied with Karl Drerup and learned enameling. He sold both his work in silver and enameling at the Sandwich Home Industries.  
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Colonel Lester A. Lear, silversmith
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Isadora S. Lear, Embroidery, Rug Hooking, Weaving
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Peter C. Lear, silversmith
Grammy's parents lived in Mt Vernon, NY when she was growing up. Her father, Louis Schmidt worked as a medical illustrator,  and later as a photographer for illustrations for medical books  at the Rockefeller Institute located in Rockefeller center. He also did illuminated manuscripts  and produced skilled etchings.

Isadora Studied embroidery at the Royal School of needlework when they were living in London. She and Lester were both juried members of the NH League of Arts and crafts. When spending winters in Mexico both Isadora and Lester studied painting at the Art Institute of San Miguel d’Allende. Isadora taught herself how to do embroidery left handed so she could teach her left handed granddaughter the skills.


Neither of my parents were full-time craftsmen. My mother, Nancy Lear Metcalf, was a skilled tailor and an accomplished knitter.  My father, Winslow Harris Metcalf ( known as Lance) was a skilled welder, blacksmith, carpenter and mechanic. He designed many labor saving devices for many different trades in 1950s Sandwich.

Growing up at 12 Main Street gave me endless opportunities to hang out and learn (pester, question) the League craftsmen. (Twelve Main Street was first my grandparent's home when they moved to Sandwich in 1945. They sold the house to my parents, Nancy and Lance, and I lived there until I went to boarding school.) I was within walking distance of the League shop and my grandparent's and my Uncle Peter’s homes during my entire childhood. I took many classes at the League as a child. Classes I took: pottery, silversmithing, drawing and watercolor and whatever was offered. I took classes every year.
Picture
Anne at the Nantucket School of Needlery, 1972.
When/how did you start your business?
When I was about 10 years old I was a locally-juried maker of potholders and Christmas ornaments sold at the Sandwich Home Industries. I’ve never stopped making things. I attended an arts-oriented boarding school, Wykeham Rise in Washington, Connecticut, and the Nantucket School of Needlery on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. 

I went to junior college for a year and I went to nursing school at Hartford Hospital and worked as a nurse for three years. Living away from Sandwich from 1964 until 1971 made me so homesick I got a pass to Old Sturbridge Village to remind of home within driving distance. I ran a bookstore in Conway and worked for Jan Burnell cooking and baking food which was delivered to Sandwich town folk by her husband. Many people remember Jan who worked as a chef for Jane and Don at the Corner House.

For many years starting in 1981 I sold my work at the Corner House Inn when it was owned by Jane and Don Brown. Representatives from Better Homes and Gardens saw my work at the Corner House and invited me to design and produce kits for a variety of needlework techniques. I worked as a Better Homes designer for four years while remaining in Sandwich.
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Sunflower wallhanging, late 1980s.
What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work?
I love the creation of designs, the problem solving in pattern making and color choices. I am never bored. I found it challenging and rewarding to use a sewing machine. I pretty much invented what I was doing so nobody had seen it before.
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Fingerless gloves, Anne’s latest project, available at Willow Pond Antiques & Goods.
What is the hardest?
Working at home as a craftsman was a challenge at a time when it was not considered to be work by many.  The local banks didn’t recognize craft work as employment so it was almost impossible to get a bank loan. There were a lot of interruptions because I lived in the village and people expected hospitality whether it was a convenient time or not. I was a parent and was trying to keep four employees busy. It is different now.  I have more flexibility. My child is an adult. I have no employees. I have earned credibility.

How has this last Covid year affected your work? 
Other than not attending markets or fairs, not at all.  My work keeps well and I found retail outlets elsewhere.

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
To keep up my standards, abilities and eyesight as long as possible.
Picture
Cows, wallhanging, late 1980s.
What else can you tell us about yourself and your life in Sandwich?
There were many  craftsmen who settled here in the fifties, sixties and seventies, and I remember some wonderful collaborations. 

Bob Wright and Lance Metcalf created metal sculptures  from found objects. Peter Lear collaborated with a local potter to make lamps. The INN wallhanging was a collaboration between Elli Ford, artist, Don Brown, artist, Anne Perkins and Judi Dunlap quilters.

​Many craftsmen collaborated  on a friendship quilt for Daphne Alcock Frentress who lived in Australia for a number of years, including, Louisa Miner, Nancy Metcalf, Anne Perkins, Ellie Dow, Helen Bryant, Bunny Michael, Louise Page, Robing Dustin, Bunty Walsh, Shirley Burns, Dot Harding.
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Corner House Inn wallhanging, 1988.
I want to thank Jane and Don Brown, Mark Duffield, Nick Floyd, Crosby and George Bonsall, Betsy Switzer, Denny Taylor, Ferne Tilton, Betsy Leiper, Bruce Montgomery, Catherine Hope, Nancy Papp at Mocha Rising and the League of Arts and Crafts for encouraging my craft business. I want to thank my employees, Judi Dunlap, Elli Ford, Betty Alcock, Priscilla Grant, and John Perkins.  My Daughter Ellen Perkins collaborated on a lot of designs with me and was an employee for a long time. 

My current work is available for purchase at Willow Pond Antiques & Goods, 22 Main Street, Center Sandwich.

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Annual Artisans on the Green Craft Fair ~2021

8/1/2021

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Artisans on the Green, 2019. Photo by Martha Nichols
Artisans on the Green, 2019. Photo by Martha Nichols
Martha Nichols writes: For one special day during August, over 25 New Hampshire craftspeople will gather together at the beautiful Sandwich, NH town green in front of the League of NH Craftsmen gallery for the annual craft demonstration and sale day, called Artisans on the Green. This year the event will be held on Thursday, August 12, when the Main Street of Center Sandwich will once again become a center of craft celebration and fun for the entire family.

This year’s Artisans on the Green, held during the annual town-wide Sandwich Old Home Week, promises to have something for everyone: craft demonstrations, access to artists, beautiful crafts for sale, animals to pet, and delicious food by the Sandwich Woman’s Club. The Center Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery organizes this remarkable day and is also the sponsor. The entire event is free: there is no admission charge and there is plentiful parking at marked locations in the historic and beautiful town of Center Sandwich. The event is held in rain or shine from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Marcy Green Canvas Bags, photo my Martha Nichols
Marcy Green Canvas Bags, photo my Martha Nichols
There are many favorite artists returning this year, such as Diane Johnson of Soft Touch Farm needle felting, Marion Federspiel digital paintings of landscapes, Zee Hayford sterling silver jewelry, Marcy Greene canvas bags, Dick Devens architectural watercolors, Jennifer Libby soaps and pottery, and Hog Hill Pottery. New this year are Sandwich potters Suzanne Weil and Rachel Bartlett, Anne Richards and Donna Carlucci fiber artists, Martha Spaulding mosaics, and Ralph Watson Fiber art.
Kathryn Field, artist demo with students, photo by Martha Nichols
Kathryn Field, artist demo with students, photo by Martha Nichols
Always popular demonstrations on the green and hands-on activities will be available for kids. In addition, many artisans will show you examples of pottery making, needle felting, digital painting, and watercolors in their individual tent locations throughout the day. Every craftsperson on the green is eager and ready to answer questions while encouraging visitors to learn about the skills, materials, and production steps necessary to “do it yourself.” Everyone is encouraged to wander on the green, learn, have fun, and find unique crafts to own or gift.
Alison Parsons, Hand-batiked prayer flags, photo by Martha Nichols
Alison Parsons, Hand-batiked prayer flags, photo by Martha Nichols
A founding member of the League of NH Craftsmen, Center Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery continues to support craftspeople from all regions of New Hampshire and to educate children and adults through its programs. The gallery of fine crafts is open daily from May through October. For a list of craft courses available during the 2021 season, see: https://centersandwich.nhcrafts.org/classesworkshops/
Anne LeBreque fiber arts and woodworking, photo by Martha Nichols
Anne LeBreque fiber arts and woodworking, photo by Martha Nichols
League of NH Craftsmen Center Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery
603-284-6831
centersandwich.nhcrafts.org
Gallery Hours
10-5 Monday - Saturday
12-5 Sunday
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“COLOR AWAKENS” at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery

7/15/2021

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Please join us for an exhibit that bursts in color and joy from the palette of Margery Thomas Mueller.  Large and small blooms painted in watercolor on Yupo paper will adorn the gallery walls beginning Saturday, July 24th with a reception to meet the artist from 5 to 7. Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery is located at 69 Maple Street in Center Sandwich.  Visit our website for more gallery information.
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Margery Thompson Mueller, Blooming II, watercolor on Yupo paper, 60 x 33.25 inches.
Margery Thomas Mueller lives and works in Alton, NH.  Her large multi media paintings were first exhibited at Patricia Ladd Carega gallery in 2015 and at the Red Dot Gallery at Mueller’s studio.  Drawn in India ink and gesso on Yupo paper, an unforgiving industrial plastic, these paintings talked of troubled souls moving through the thickets of life. The travails of others dominated Mueller’s work at the time. As we continued to soldier through Covid, Mueller added decoupage birds to her branches, a symbol of freedom and flight.   

In her latest series of work on view at the gallery, India ink and gesso have given way to intense color.  Fascinated by the effects of watercolor on Yupo, this new series of work shimmers with the happiness of a garden in spring.   In Mueller’s words: “Liminal space…the world in between – between a world I live in and a world I listen to, that has always been what has driven my imagery.”  

Like all of Mueller’s work, the flower paintings are strong and energetic.  Though color impacts the first view, a second glance reveals how delicate this work is.  We welcome you to spend some time with Color Awakens.  Does it awaken a reaction in you?
 
Patricia Ladd Carega gallery is open from 10 to 5 Tuesday through Saturday and from 12 to 5 on Sunday.  We are closed on Monday but if the barn door is open, come on in.  603 284 7728.
 
Patricia Carega
Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery
www.patricialaddcaregagallery.com
603 284-7728 
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Meet Our Members ~ Kathryn Field of Field Fine Art

7/5/2021

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Photo by Eric, 2001. Working on commission for University of Illinois - Chicago, School of Public Health
Photo by Eric, 2001. Working on commission for University of Illinois - Chicago,
School of Public Health
What is your name and the name of your business?
My name is Kathryn Field and my business is Field Fine Art.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?

Sandwich became my home full time in 1999 when my late husband Philip Simmons and I moved here from Chicago. His family had a home here since 1961 and I first visited Sandwich in 1984. We were both teaching at Lake Forest College in Illinois and Rich Benton, Phil’s childhood friend, built our home on land next door to Phil’s parent’s home on Taylor Road in 1992. We called ourselves contemporary nomads and moved back and forth from Chicago as our academic calendar allowed, until 1999 when we moved here permanently with our two children, Aaron and Amelia.

I taught as an adjunct faculty member at Plymouth State University for a number of years and spent 11 years teaching art at Holderness School. Leo Dwyer, my creative partner, husband and best friend moved from Sunapee a few years after we started dating. We married after a long courtship and many of you know him as one of our selectmen for 5 years. We are both active members of our community and think living in Sandwich is the best place in the world to call home.
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Kathryn working on a 4 ft. tall angel made in wax, 1998. Photo by Phil Simmons.
The sculpture was commissioned for the Memorial Garden at North Shore Unitarian Church in Deerfield, Illinois.
What got you started in this profession? 
I have been immersed in artmaking since childhood and started teaching at the University level after graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I have always been interested in teaching all levels of art. In graduate school I got my start teaching children’s art classes. Throughout my career as a professor I continued to produce my own sculpture works and eventually moved into painting. 

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 

I started my business Field Fine Art in 2015. It is a professional teaching studio and practicing art space. The business functions on three levels. First, as a teaching studio. I want to provide a space for people to explore their creativity and learn new skills. Second, as a showroom/gallery space where I meet with clients to show them the range of my sculpture or painting works—models of completed commissions and works in process. 

And third, it is where I do my work. When not teaching or meeting with clients, I am a full-time practicing artist, painting and creating sculpture. My work is represented by Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery in Sandwich.
Students at work in the studio. Photo by Leo Dwyer
Students at work in the studio. Photo by Leo Dwyer
Kathryn teaching a printmaking class. Photo by Tara Hamer
Kathryn teaching a printmaking class. Photo by Tara Hamer
What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
Teaching people and guiding them to see the possibility of integrating creativity with their lives is the most thrilling and satisfying aspect of the job. Having students return year after year and sharing in their enjoyment of working in the studio space and sharing ideas with others is most gratifying. Students range in age from 4 to 93 and every age brings a new and different perspective to the art process. 
Kathryn painting a commission on location. Photo by Leo Dwyer
Kathryn painting a commission on location. Photo by Leo Dwyer
Working on commissions is equally fulfilling. Commissions are a collaboration of minds. A client brings a vision or idea of what they want. Seeing the joy they get when I can visually bring life to their concepts, feelings and thoughts making a tangible piece of art for them to enjoy. I work on sculpture commissions for both private homes and public spaces. I have over a dozen public sculptures located in the Midwest and East Coast at universities, churches, public buildings, and parks. 
Loon commission in progress. Photo by Leo Dwyer
Loon commission in progress. Photo by Leo Dwyer
This loon sculpture was designed for a private client for their summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee. The client wanted a sculpture of a loon. We talked for several hours in my studio where I showed him other sculptures of birds that I had created, we discussed material options, scale and cost estimates. During the meeting I drew some ideas out and discussed the idea of using the wind to make the sculpture turn. The next step was to make a life size scale model of the loon. I took the model to the client's lakeside property and made a video with my phone which I sent to the client who lives in Washington state. 

The final drawings were done with paper and pencil, then photographed and worked on in Adobe illustrator, turning the drawings into a vector format which then go to the fabricator. Once the pieces are laser cut I work in the shop with the fabricator on shaping and bending the pieces until it is finished. This part of the process is also a collaboration of several people, that's what makes it so gratifying. 
Leo and Kathryn after installing the loon sculpture. Photo by Tony Wagner
Leo and Kathryn after installing the loon sculpture. Photo by Tony Wagner
My paintings, and small bronze and stainless sculptures, are in over a hundred private collections in the USA, Australia, and China. My most recent commission will be installed in Betsy’s Park in Holderness, NH. Another bonus of working on commissions is that I get to collaborate and work with my husband Leo Dwyer who is a trained architect and is an invaluable part of my creative process. 

The three paintings below were created for an exhibition titled Sandwiched in Seasons, exhibited last summer at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery in Sandwich. The inspiration for each of these paintings were from daily walks I take in our town and an exploration of the seasons. I always have my camera on my walks and there is an endless source of imagery in our own backyards.The scale of my paintings range from small intimate landscapes to large 3ft. x 6ft.  canvases. 
"Town Center" Photo by Kathryn Field
"Brilliant" Photo by Kathryn Field
"Companionship" Photo by Kathryn Field
I work in watercolors and primarily oils. I also paint with oils and gold leaf on my laser cut stainless steel works. I really enjoy combining materials and seeing how the different textures play off each other to evoke a unique surface. During the quiet of Covid I had time to experiment and began working on a series of large weathervanes combining landscapes and animal images. These new sculptural creations serve both form and function, a whole new twist for my business to explore.
In the studio, 2017. Photo by Leo Dwyer
In the studio, 2017. Photo by Leo Dwyer
What is the hardest aspect of your work? 
As an artist the hardest aspect of running a small business is marketing and selling the work. That is a necessary and important aspect of the job but one I do not relish. Making art takes one set of skills and I am passionate about that aspect of the business, but marketing takes a skill that challenges me. That is why I am most grateful to the SBG and Janina Lamb for creating this opportunity for members like me to introduce ourselves to a larger community. 

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year? 
All classes in the studio were cancelled during Covid. I did some online teaching using zoom but primarily taught private classes to one student at a time wearing masks in a large open classroom space. I had been teaching art to the inmates at the Belknap County Department of Corrections and that had to be put on hold during Covid. The sculpture production was impacted by the cost of materials increasing and not always being available. But happily, my group classes will resume this July in the studio and at the Sandwich Home Industries where I also teach. 
Students painting outdoors in the flower garden. Photo by Kathryn Field
Students painting outdoors in the flower garden. Photo by Kathryn Field
What are your goals and hopes for the future? 
Now that Covid is behind us, I look forward to holding classes in the studio year-round. I am offering three new classes this summer—Material Madness, Making Cards, and Open Studio Practice—in addition to the range of painting and drawing classes that I have offered in the past. My flower and vegetable gardens will be in full bloom providing great inspiration for painting and drawing outside.

I welcome commissions large and small, for gardens, homes, and parks. I am really excited to see the newest sculpture commission placed in Betsy’s Park in Holderness. Betsy’s Park will be a great gathering place for people to enjoy the beauty of our area, throughout the seasons.
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In the studio working on scale model of newest sculpture for Betsy’s Park.
Photo by Leo Dwyer
What else can you tell us about yourself and your business/organization? 
I enjoy working with others to enrich our community especially in the area of the visual arts and education. I serve on the board of the Yeomans’ Fund for the Arts and The Sandwich Home Industries. Both organizations strive to bring creative educational opportunities to our community. I am a hiker, avid gardener, and enjoy being outdoors as much as possible. 

Visit my professional website at www.kathrynfield.com and my teaching website at www.fieldfineart.weebly.com.
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New Show at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery

6/3/2021

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I CHING or BOOK OF CHANGES
Symbolic Landscapes

Picture
Elizabeth Nelson, 22 “Grace” (Bi), oil on panel, 20 x 20 inches.
Artist, Elizabeth Nelson, has often been inspired and guided by the ancient Chinese divination text, I Ching or Yi Jing, one of the oldest of the Chinese Classics. It is studied as a book of wisdom throughout the world and provides guidance to religion, literature, art, psychology, science, diplomacy and business.  I Ching uses hexagrams to reach solutions. Nelson has painted 64 Symbolic Landscapes representing the I Ching texts that make up each hexagram. Twenty-seven of these are on exhibit at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery. 

Nelson will give a talk at the gallery on I Ching, the paintings and her book on June 12 at 4 p.m. A reception to meet Elizabeth Nelson will follow the talk.
Picture
Elizabeth Nelson, 38 “Diversity” (Kui), oil on panel, 20 x 20 inches.
I Ching is a big subject with a history of more than 3000 years of interpretation.  The texts and hexagrams have been used by many to find solutions to questions or problems. I Ching uses coins to determine these solutions.  A practitioner will toss three coins six times to create a new hexagram related to his or her question.  The response is determined by looking up the meanings of the hexagram in the I Ching text.  
 
Elizabeth Nelson has long been interested in Chinese painting. An early childhood memory reveals a fascination with scrolls her father brought back from Shanghai, India and Europe after his service in WWII.  Chinese and Asian art have remained a ‘foundation of her aesthetic.’
 
It was during a “fallow” period in her painting career that Nelson asked I Ching for “advice and inspiration.”  The answer was hexagram #2 Natural Response (K’un).  At first Nelson was puzzled by the response but the next morning as the moon was setting over her snow-filled pasture, the answer was clear.  She “would paint 64 hexagrams and choose the sequence at random by throwing the coins.” The entire symbolic landscape series took 6 years to complete. The oil paintings on cradled birch panels are 20 x 20 inches. 
 
I Ching is a fascinating subject especially for those interested in systems of divination and astrology.  There is much more to be studied and learned but for now join us for an enlightening talk.

Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery is located at 69 Maple Street in Center Sandwich.
The Gallery is open for the summer.  Gallery hours will be Tuesday – Saturday from 10 to 5.  Sunday 12 to 5 and Monday by appt.  www.patricialaddcaregagallery.com or 603 284 7728.
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Meet Our Members ~ Derek and Linda Marshall

5/27/2021

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Please enjoy this edition of Meet Our Members in which we learn about Derek and Linda Marshall, wonderful artists and craftspeople, who have lived and worked in Sandwich for decades. We are extremely fortunate to have so many fascinating and talented people in our midst.
Picture
Derek Marshall throws a pot. 1983, Photo by Chet Brickett
What is your name and the name of your business?
Derek Marshall. Currently we operate as Derek Marshall Lighting, but before that, we operated as "The Sandwich Kiln " starting in 1971. Basically, it is the same business except we work more with glass than clay...but all comes under the rubric of ceramics.

What got you started in this profession?
 After graduating from college in 1965 Linda and I were married. We were then whisked off to Japan where I was to join my ship, the Destroyer Henry W. Tucker, DD875 to serve as her first lieutenant. This was the real start of the American involvement in Vietnam and the Tucker was utilized almost continually for shore bombardment with our 5" guns. 

Tucker also worked in carrier operations, running interference against possible enemy submarines and also as a decoy in the Gulf of Tonkin to lure the North Vietnamese to attack us to justify President Johnson’s Tonkin Resolution, the sole justification for our increasing presence in this war. That attack never happened.
Picture
Derek training with the Marines, 1963. Photo by Michael Moore
Linda, free to pursue more interesting things in Japan while I waged war, became fluent in Japanese. We both developed an intense interest in Japanese art, particularly the ceramic traditions of Japan, a world apart from the overbearing war.

We found, after some searching, a Japanese potter of national repute who said he would take us on in exchange for English lessons.  It was a wonderful opportunity with a great artist. We were able to carry on this relationship for several years, between deployments to Vietnam. We lived in a small Japanese house in the fishing village of Hayama, across the peninsula from the Yokosuka Naval base on Tokyo Bay.  There the mountains ran into the sea and red Camellias bloomed in the hills in the winter.
Picture
Derek stacking a kiln in Japan, 1970. Photo by Matajiro Kawamura
Life was good. I learned traditional Japanese ceramics, fired in a wood burning kiln about 40 feet long along with the incomparable Japanese aesthetics.
Eventually we were shipped back to the states to finish off my four-year commitment to the armed forces for paying my ROTC scholarship to Columbia University.

In Norfolk, Virginia, we found a great teacher of ceramic art at the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Science where by good chance we were able to continue our studies of Japanese ceramics by a wonderfully knowledgeable teacher.
After discharge from the Navy in 1969 and a summer sojourn touring around Europe, we returned to Japan to continue our study of Japanese art. I attended the Kyoto City University of Fine Arts (Kyoto Geijitsu Daigaku) for a year of graduate study in Japanese ceramics. 

Linda took up brush painting in the style of black ink on handmade paper (sumi-e) and studied under the internationally renowned artist Tomikichiro Tokuriki.
Picture
Linda painting in the studio, 2013. Photo by Derek Marshall
After a year of total immersions in the life and arts of Japan, the three of us, (Amy was born during the rainy season in Japan in 1970) returned to America looking to start our professional careers in the creative arts.

Two years later, our son Crofton entered the world and now lives next door to us with his two sons, Alex, 16 and Gus, 13. Crofton is a builder and his wife, Andrea, is a registered nurse.

Daughter Amy lives in New York City with her husband, Chad. They are both dancers (Amy Marshall Dance Company) and have three children, Pasha, 13, Devlin 13 and Gillian, 10. Amy & Chad are both trainers as well, catering to a private clientele.
Picture
Linda and Derek in Sandwich, 1975. Photo by Marcella Winslow
How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
As it often happens, winding up in Sandwich was a random process. While we were in Japan, Linda's parents had left Connecticut for NH to open a gift shop,The Towle Hill House, in Meredith. 

When we returned from Japan in late winter of 1971, it was our intention to find a likely spot for setting up a pottery studio in Maine. A friend suggested that we look at Sandwich. A little investigation revealed that Sandwich was a delightful rural community with a long tradition of crafts and in fact was the birthplace of The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. The Sandwich Home Industries was one of several League shops selling New Hampshire art and crafts in the state.  

As it turned out, the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen is a unique organization, the envy of other crafts people around the country.  For several years I served as VP of the organization, headquartered in Concord.
Picture
Derek and Linda in front of the shop, 1983. Photo by Chet Brickett
How did your business get started?
We started out as potters which meant building a studio, a couple of kilns and all the associated gear necessary to what amounted to a small factory.  We made tableware, bowls of all sizes, plates, cups, and such like. It was a lot of work, going through about 8 tons of clay a year which I mixed in a repurposed mortar mixer.

One day we were approached by Norman Perry, a premier maker of table lamps for the architectural and interior design trade.  He asked if we would be interested in making some ceramic bases for his company to turn into table lamps. 
Picture
A pair of Draong Rings lamps, 1978. Photo by Norman Perry Company
This we did for several years and became his bestselling line. We won the Roscoe award from the New York City Resources Council for one of our lamp’s designs. In 2019 we won Best of New Hampshire lighting from New Hampshire Magazine.

From this we found a lighting market which not only included table lamps, but also wall sconces. Eventually we incorporated elements of art glass into the sconces and then it was but a short jump to making wall sconces out of glass alone. 

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work?
We always enjoy selling our art to interesting people and places.  We have sold our lighting in many places, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, China, etc. 

In 1976 we were commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts to design and produce a dinner service for a special luncheon for the senate wives hosted by the President’s wife. A single serving of this is now in Sandwich Historical Society.

We do not necessarily know about the interesting people as so much of that kind of thing is handled by third party professional designers...but we have made and sold various of our lights to Richard Branson for his private islands in the Caribbean. I am also delighted when I see our lights in movies and television shows, most of which I have forgotten, but include Friends, Seinfeld, Fraser.  

In 1978 we returned to Japan for three shows of our ceramic art with our two children in Kyoto, Kurashiki and Takamatsu.
Picture
Large tenmoku charger painting by Linda, 1986. Photo by Derek Marshall
What is the hardest?
Minor problems occur dealing with customers who have a hard time making decisions. Our job is to help them see clearly what they want.A challenging part of our work is conceiving a new design, reducing it to a two-dimensional draft, then taking that to a three-dimensional pattern from which a series of negative and positive molds must be produced to finish the design. 

Usually there is a period of trial and error where all the previous steps may need to be tweaked, or worst case, abandoned to start all over again. Going from an idea to a finished product can take up to a year or longer.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year? 

Cautious people are slower to spend money and the people who produce the glass we love sometimes run out of product. These are typical problems that were exacerbated by the pandemic.

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
We are always coming up with new designs, finding interesting new glass and other related parts for our designs, usually metal, metal castings and even nuts and bolts with appealing finish and texture made from brass, bronze or stainless steel. 

Reaching our market is always a challenge when you live on a dirt road in the middle of New Hampshire.  We advertise in design journals such as New Hampshire Home and Interior Design and send out press releases to inform the world that we exist for their pleasure.
Picture
Lilia pendants in a Squam Lake home, 2017. Photo by John Hession
What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
We stock about 4-5 dozen styles, textures and colors of the best art glass made in the world. The glasses have all the intrinsic charm of gem stones all being made from the same elements.  We have access to thousands of different colors, mixes and textures and can fulfill customers’ requirements for custom work.

All this information and more is on our website.  Please come and browse: derekmarshall.com
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Meet Our Members ~ Patsy Carega of Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery

5/11/2021

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The Gallery, photo by Reed Gowey
The Gallery, photo by Reed Gowey
What is your name and the name of your business?
Patricia Carega (Patsy), Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery
Picture
Bob Mueller (husband of gallery artist Margery Thomas Mueller) and Patsy
at a Gallery Opening. Gallery photo.
How did you get to Sandwich?
Sandwich found me. My brother lived in Moultonborough in a wonderful house with a view of the Sandwich Range and the best cold-water pond ever. I fell in love with the White Mountains. I was at a juncture in my life and in search of a new adventure for the next phase. My four children were in college or beyond, and I wanted to get back into the gallery business that I had left behind in a move from Washington, DC to Miami.  

A barn in New Hampshire would allow me a life in the mountains and the challenge of selling contemporary art in New England. I left Miami and moved north to Center Sandwich.  I have never been disappointed that the barn on Maple Street screamed, “Buy me” during the summer of 1999.
Sunshine Farm in 1999
Sunshine Farm in 1999
What got you started in the business? 
A long relationship with art, and art history followed me from childhood throughout my life.  I spent a year in Florence studying art history at the University while also trying my hand (not very successfully) at sculpture.   After my marriage to Paolo Carega , Roman, we moved from New York to Rome.  Paris followed.  My interest in art increased with long walks around these cities, their amazing museums and the exhibitions of contemporary artists against a background of living art history.  

The gallery bug really bit hard when we left Paris.  I missed the art scene I had known abroad and decided to create my own.  I began a gallery career in 1983 in Washington DC. Ten incredible years there taught me a lot about the business.  The economy shut us down in 1993.  I joined my husband in Miami with the idea of opening a gallery there.  No gallery, many soccer games and fundraisers later, I packed up and moved to Center Sandwich. 
PicturePatsy seeking inspiration in Venice, 2018. Photo by Marco Carega
Patsy seeking inspiration in Venice, 2018. Photo by Marco Carega
Tell us about your business.
I sell contemporary art, figurative or abstract in all media.  Facing four college educations I couldn’t afford to buy the work that I would have liked to own. Therefore the direction of my gallery has always been to show the best work I could find for the best prices I could offer. I look for excellence and innovation in ideas and technique.  But I also search for something deeper that I cannot quite explain.  This could be an underlying peace, a strong social comment or simply a whimsy that delights the soul. Art should never grow old. A piece of art should be even better ten years after the day you bought it. I show a very eclectic collection of work, as there is no one style or technique that governs my choices.
The other fascinating part of the art business is education. Artist’s talks, workshops and demonstrations have always been a part of the schedule. Over the years topics have included the Book as Art, Inspirational Kites, sketchbook journaling, and heart maps as well as many conversations with painters, sculptors and photographers.  I should also mention the year I was quite taken with creative shoe decoration. This workshop yielded some unique creations.
PictureKites in the Gallery. Gallery Photo.
Kites in the Gallery. Gallery Photo.
I am happy to say that over thirty some years in business, I have been able to give a start or a boost to artists beginning their careers.  The art business is not an easy one and it is a real thrill to know when one of my artists has made it to a museum collection, an international exhibit, or a corporate venue.  
An artist’s talk. Gallery Photo.
An artist’s talk. Gallery Photo.
What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job?
Studio visits, finding new work, and best is giving a client the happiness of taking a great piece home.  I love meeting people who come to the gallery and the conversations that ensue.  People and art are an exhilarating combination.  I love installing exhibits and I love creating new shows in the barn’s vast space. 

What is the hardest? 

The economy and political scene can be difficult. People’s thoughts and emotions are elsewhere.  Days when no one comes into the gallery are the hardest.   The periods of no sales when you begin to think its time to close the door are the very worst. 
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Patsy and her favorite clients. Gallery Photo
What has happened to your business during this last Covid Year?
The pandemic was a challenge.  Instead of opening in May as usual we waited until July 1st and then the question was how to show art safely and more than that how to make people want to come to the gallery. Creative barnstorming resulted in Drive Buy shows.  

Pam Urda made a wonderful Drive Buy car sign for the driveway and we strung a clothesline between the trees in front of the house where we hung her floor mats.  The trees were covered by mostly chickens in all forms of their silly adventures. It was a rewarding experience to have people come by the gallery and thank us for being open and more than that thank us for making them smile. 
PictureSummer 2020 drive-by art exhibit.
Summer 2020 drive-by art exhibit. Photo by Janina Lamb
Patsy and her gallery cohorts, CCWhite, and Lisa Heard. Gallery Photo.
Patsy and her gallery cohorts, CCWhite, and Lisa Heard. Gallery Photo.
What are your goals and hopes for the future?
 I am looking forward to bringing a wonderful summer of creativity to Sandwich.  I hope we can put Covid behind us and move forward with a renewed energy directed towards an interest in the arts in Center Sandwich. As always we will bring a collection of amazing talent with a smidge of whimsy to the gallery this summer. 
End of summer, 2020.
End of summer, 2020. Photo by Janina Lamb
What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
Like other businesses in Sandwich, we work internationally.  I find it thrilling that a small business in a small town can have far flung clients across this country and abroad.  The far reach of the Sandwich tentacles will forever amaze me. One never has to pass through Sandwich to get to another town, yet we are an invigorating island of creativity and nature. 
The Gallery’s CCO (Chief Canine Officer) hard at work.
The Gallery’s CCO (Chief Canine Officer) hard at work. Photo by Patsy Carega
[email protected]
603 284 7728
www.patricialaddcaregagallery.com 
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Meet Our Members ~ Jessie Chapman from Advice To The Players

4/21/2021

 
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2021 Midsummer Fairies featuring (from L-R) Hanna Street, Julia de Avilez Rocha, Maryssa Wanlass, Ethan Fifield, J.J. Werner, and Hazel Dassori-Kaye.
Photo by Rowan Heard
What is your name and the name of your organization?
Jessie Chapman (Executive Director), Advice To The Players
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Jessie and daughter, Lenore. Photo by Kelli Towsley
How did you get to Sandwich, NH? 
ATTP's founder, Caroline Nesbitt, was a guest Director at Plymouth State University while I was a student there. Caroline invited me to perform in As You Like It in the summer of 2007 and I fell in love with the town and the company. I returned many times as a teaching artist, stage manager, and performer and finally moved to Sandwich in the fall of 2019.

What got you started in this job?
I earned my degree in Performing Arts Management from Brooklyn College in hopes that I would be able to return to Sandwich someday and help the company that had meant so much to me thrive. I have always loved teaching, and working with ATTP has allowed me to share my love of teaching and theatre with this truly unique community. 

Tell us about your organization.
Advice To The Players creates live theatre productions, Shakespeare based educational programs, and a myriad of other literary and performing arts opportunities for local teens, amateurs, and professional artists. We produce Shakespeare outdoors in the summer, working with area schools, performance venues and retirement communities—and even host an annual holiday production of Twelfth Night. We offer camps, workshops, and personalized mentorship opportunities for teens and early career theatre artists. 
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2019 Shakesperience! Camp production of As You Like It. Photo by Janina Lamb
How did your organization get started?
Caroline Nesbitt founded Advice To The Players in 1999 after training with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. ATTP originally produced performances with Community School students and professional actors at The Barnstormers Theater in Tamworth.   

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job? 
The best part of my job is seeing teens and young adults who have worked with ATTP grow up and discover how they'd like to engage with the world. There are many adults who now perform with the company or work as Teaching Artists who were students of mine in ATTP's camps or at Plymouth—and there are many others who do not continue in theatre but are making remarkable contributions to our world.  
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2019 pre-covid rehearsal for The Taming of the Shrew. Photo by Diana Evans.
What is the hardest?
The most difficult aspect of my job is the hard decisions I need to make when income for a program falls short, or unexpected expenses arise. There is a level of personal sacrifice involved with running a small nonprofit that can be challenging—thankfully the boundless joy involved outweighs this almost every time. 

What has happened to your organization in this last Covid year?
We saw tremendous support from the community, which allowed us to survive, despite losing over 80% or our anticipated earned revenue. We created theatre in new and innovative ways and were able to safely provide a full season. While we were able to provide lots of opportunities to local artists, many of the professional artists and emerging artists we hire rely on lodging in the community in order to come here, which was not possible last year because of Covid, so there were many artists who could not work with us due to these circumstances.
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Shakesperience! Camp Zoom performance of As You Like It in 2020.
Screenshot by Janina Lamb
How do you see the future of this organization?
I see a future for ATTP where we have a much stronger and more involved connection to the area schools along with further developing many of our budding partnerships with other local institutions.   
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Winter's Tale (2020) featuring (from L-R) Frederick Bickford, Lucy Randall-Tapply, Callie MacIntyre, Maddie Gadbois, Andrew Bemis, Ethan Fifield, Jessie Chapman, and Cheryl Fifield. Photo by Zach Glennon
What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
Since we could not safely have an audience for our March production this year or tour in person to area schools--we created a unique filmed performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the beautiful Partridge Hill Farm Barn in Sandwich (a thousand thanks to the Hird family for generously offering their beautiful venue). This production will be available to all virtually from April 23-May 2 only. We hope you will enjoy this one of a kind offering featuring local talent and quite a bit of magic. Email [email protected] for the link!
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2021 Midsummer Court featuring (from L-R) Em Judkins, Chris Boldt, Marion Posner, Alicia Edgar, Rowan Heard, Julia de Avilez Rocha, and Caitlin Cremins.
Photo by Connor White
Jessie Chapman
Executive Director
Advice To The Players
advicetotheplayers.org
603-284-7115

ATTP Virtually Presents - Shakespeare’s ​A Midsummer Night’s Dream!​

3/19/2021

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Advice To The Players, Sandwich’s own Shakespeare company, is proud to kick off their 2021 season with a virtual performance of ​A Midsummer Night’s Dream​, available online from April 23rd- May 2nd. For this production, ATTP staged this production to be filmed and presented virtually for the safety of both their actors and audience.

The link to watch the performance will be available starting on April 23rd, Shakespeare’s Birthday and audience members can be sent the link by emailing ​[email protected]​. In celebration of Shakespeare’s Birthday, and the release of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ATTP is hosting their Bard’s Birthday Campaign- if they can raise $5,000 before the end of May, the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative Foundation will award them with a $5,000 matching grant. These funds will allow ATTP to produce our 2021 Summer Season and continue to bring the literary and performing arts to our community.
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Ethan Fifield and Hazel Dassori-Kaye rehearsing for ​A Midsummer Night’s Dream​. Rehearsals have been masked, but the filmed performance will feature artists faces!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream​ features everything from fairy mischief, a play within a play, and dramatic fights in the name of love! This production will not be one to miss, with wonderful returning favorites including Chris Boldt as Theseus, Ethan Fifield as Nick Bottom, and Lucy Randall-Tapply as Puck. Last season’s director of ​Winter’s Tale​ and ​As You Like It​, Maryssa Wanlass graces the stage as Titania, with her husband, Mark Vashro, completing this dynamic fairy duo. The lover quartet includes 4 returning artists who among them have a long and rich history with the company- Caitlin Cremins, Alicia Edgar, Rowan Heard, and Julia de Aveliz Rocha. And as always we have a wonderful group of teens and community members completing this remarkable cast, such as Tom Hyde and Marion Posner.

For more information, please visit www.advicetotheplayers.org/
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BRANCHING OUT: An online exhibit at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery

3/18/2021

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Our third online exhibition celebrates the coming of spring. Branching Out speaks not only to new growth but also to new ideas, new horizons and new reaches. Gallery artists have come up with an array of work in various media to illustrate the theme. To view the exhibit visit
www.patricialaddcaregagallery.com/viewing-room.html.
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Kathryn Field, Birch Grove, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches.
Kathryn Field of Sandwich has painted an exquisite landscape. Melting patches of snow, birch trees eager to sprout leaves and a river still covered with ice make up a delicate and engaging composition.  We can smell the wetness and feel the end of winter.  The landscape beckons to us and invites us to linger in it’s misty light.  This very appealing painting is Kathryn Field at her best.  
 
Anna Jeretic is a painter, sculptor and printmaker who lives outside of Paris, France. Family connections in Sandwich led her to the Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery where we have exhibited her paintings and prints for many years.  Branches and Trees 1 is an example of Jeretic’s delicate hand.  Prints at the gallery include botanical renderings done against vivid color and wonderful animals based on her travels to Africa.
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Anna Jeretic, Branches and Trees 1, ink on watercolor paper, 6.75 x 4.75 inches
Though Margaret Barnaby lives and works in Hawaii, she has roots in Sandwich.  Her small edition, woodblock prints are greatly admired not only for their technical excellence but also for their vivid color and exotic subject matter.   They are large pieces each made from at least four hand carved wooden plates.   Barnaby uses both Japanese and western approaches and techniques.  Her work begins with the natural world around her.
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Margaret Barnaby, Pole Dance, woodblock print, 46 x 32 inches, edition of 4.
Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery will open as usual in mid May.  We are looking forward to an exciting and innovative season. Rebecca Shultz will show her paintings inspired by her internship at Hubbard Brook.  Liz Nelson’s Symbolic Landscapes are  based on her new book I Ching or Book of Changes. Both artists will speak about their intriguing processes.  We welcome back our gallery artists as always as we continue to bring new ideas and innovations to the community.
For more information about the gallery visit our website at patricialaddcaregagallery.com.  
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Meet Our Members: a new feature from the Sandwich Business Group

3/9/2021

 
In this year of Covid, SBG is not undertaking many of our previous initiatives, such as a marketing brochure. Instead, we want to promote our members and the Sandwich business community in new ways.  Meet Our Members will be a recurring feature in which we learn more about the Sandwich folk engaged in local businesses and nonprofit organizations. These will be stories about our friends and neighbors, as well as their businesses.
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Martha Nichols, outside Sandwich Home Industries, photo by B. Ulm
What is your name and the name of your business/organization?
Martha Nichols, Gallery Manager of The Sandwich Home Industries; aka League of NH Craftsmen Center Sandwich Gallery

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
I have lived in Sandwich for 37 years! Before moving here in the early 1980s, I came to Sandwich as a child because my grandparents loved visiting the lakes and mountains of NH when they were young adults. They brought their family and rented a cottage on the lake and my parents continued that tradition every summer of my childhood. When my aunt and uncle bought an old farm in Sandwich in the 50s, I became a regular visitor to Sandwich. 

What got you started in this job?
The manager job sort of fell into my lap when a friend told me about it. I had taken early retirement from teaching high school and was looking for a new adventure.

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Sandwich Home Industries, photo by M. Nichols
Tell us about the Sandwich Home Industries.
The Sandwich Home Industries is a non-profit organization supporting local artists and the local economy by providing a welcoming gallery and educational programs for area residents and visitors to Center Sandwich.  The gallery sells a wide selection of fine hand-crafted items, and offers classes in arts and crafts. Our gallery stocks traditional and contemporary fine crafts made by juried members of the League of NH Craftsmen. Our Education Program is the cornerstone of our mission – we create a varied curriculum for both adults and children. 

How did the Sandwich Home Industries get started?
The Sandwich Home Industries (SHI) has a rich history of supporting the craft economy of Sandwich. The Industries began in 1926 when Mrs. J. Randolph Coolidge and a committee of local Sandwich women organized an exhibition of locally made rugs and brought an expert from Boston to give a talk on the practical aspects of making and marketing rugs. From this experience the committee decided to form a cooperative venture. The Sandwich Home Industries opened in the summer of 1926 selling locally made handicrafts to support the local economy. ​
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Circa 1933. Ladies, and a couple of gents, look at handmade crafts. Photo courtesy of Sandwich Historical Society.
It was such a success that, a few years later, Mrs. Coolidge went to the Governor of NH to request a state-wide arts and crafts organization. In 1931, NH Governor John Winant supported their idea, establishing and funding the NH Commission of Arts and Crafts. As a result, the League of NH Craftsmen was formed in 1932 with Mary Coolidge as their President.

​The League of NH Craftsmen has become one of the oldest and most recognized craft organizations in the country with seven galleries located throughout the state. For over 88 years, the nonprofit League has promoted fine craft, supported craftspeople, and educated and enriched New Hampshire’s communities.
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Sandwich crafters, circa 1990. Counterclockwise, from left: S. Rowan, D. Marshall, L. Marshall, K. Pohl, B. Adriance, M. Gotshall, R. Rozelle, S. Lirakis, D. Little, R. Ayotte, R. Wetterer, unknown basketmaker, S. Zucarelli.
Photo courtesy of Sandwich Historical Society
What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job? 
The manager job allows me to use skills I acquired in my career as a teacher. I find it most satisfying to collaborate with creative people, so setting up the gallery each season is quite fun. I am interested in Feng Shui and enjoy arranging the gallery so that it not only looks beautiful, but has the positive feel and flow of energy throughout. It is most satisfying to observe customers’ reactions when they visit the gallery. I also enjoy learning more about the many aspects of marketing and social media, which has been new to me!

What is the hardest?
The hardest part is schlepping inventory from League Headquarters! Many artists deliver their work to us (we take most work on consignment), but we will also pick up merchandise in Concord.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year?
The beginning of the pandemic was nervewracking. We (the Board of Directors and myself) had no idea if it would be safe to open or if people would want to come out to shop. Ordinarily, we open mid-May, but we were in lockdown, so we waited to see what the State would decide. When we were able, we decided to open on a limited basis last year, which meant 3 days/week.  We laid off staff and reduced my hours. We applied for the government grants and were able to stay afloat, thankfully. 

I was surprised at the number of people who came by to shop last summer. They were happy and thankful that we were open. Of course, we practiced safety measures recommended by the State, and the season progressed smoothly. This season, we are planning on opening mid-May with our usual 7-day schedule. We are also planning our 2021 education program.
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Barbara and Katharine, properly masked and ready for closing inventory.
Photo by M. Nichols
How do you see the future for this business?
The brick and mortar retail business is challenging these days since one can buy almost anything on the internet. SHI has even started selling some inventory through the League Galleries Webstore. However, I believe that seeing fine craft in person at our historic gallery and being able to touch it and pick it up as well as imagine it in your own space is critical. 

Our town, in the summer particularly, is a tourist destination. People enjoy stopping by and finding that special NH-made gift or item for their home. It is best to experience art with the senses and one can’t get that while online shopping. 
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Art class and Youth Art Show on the Green, summer 2020, photo by M. Nichols
What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
We have amazing talent and dedication on our Board of SHI Directors and are working on strategic planning for the future. We maintain the historic character of the building while making necessary repairs and updating displays. Collaboration with local businesses is also important to us. Last summer we held an Artists on the Porch series where we invited local crafters to sell their work. We are always looking for new ways to engage our community and would love to hear more ideas from Sandwich folks.
​
I am looking forward to Spring and starting our annual opening process. This year marks our 95th season and we are working to keep SHI going strong through its 100th Anniversary and beyond. 
​
Martha Nichols, Gallery Manager
League of NH Craftsmen Center Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery
PO Box 164, 32 Main Street
Center Sandwich, NH 03227
603-284-6831
Open mid-May to mid-October
Shop our gallery online!!

Sandwich Christmas in the Village, Dec 5, 6

10/29/2020

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Xmas in the Village
SHI, Christmas in the Village 2019. Photo by Susan Lirakis
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.
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SHI, Christmas in the Village 2019. Photo by Shirley Glines
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 [email protected].
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A Poetry Reading from the book, Deep Beauty

9/2/2020

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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
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Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery Grande Finale

8/28/2020

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Pam Urda's humorous sculptures outside the Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery
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.
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Ashley Bullard, Squam Puzzled, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches
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.”
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Liz Wilson, Lakes Life, acrylic on paper, 30 x 22 inches
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. 
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Valerie Vermeulen, Evening Light, collage 29 x 23 inches
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. 
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Old Home Week will be different this year...

7/1/2020

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Sandwich will be quieter than usual this summer.
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.
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Old Home Week's Artisans on the Green, in years past.
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, [email protected]
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A new exhibit at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery

6/25/2020

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Kathryn Field, Town Center, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches

Sandwiched in Seasons
An exhibit of paintings by Kathryn Field


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.  
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Kathryn Field, Supermoon, oil on canvas, 10 x 8 inches
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.
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Kathryn Field, Companionship, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches
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Isolation Art Challenge in Sandwich

5/7/2020

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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...
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This website, Discover Sandwich, has been in continuous operation since 2013. It functions as a community resource, in addition to a site that highlights and promotes SBG members, and gives an overview of the town to interested parties. Even if you do not have a business in Sandwich, you are welcome to join as an associate member. The Sandwich Business Group welcomes your presence and contributions. ​​​

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Sandwich Business Group • PO Box 116, Sandwich, NH • 03227
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