Linda Huey Ceramic Pottery Sculpture

Many of us long to experience our connection to the land in meaningful, healthy, and creative ways. From the Earth, an event to be held on Saturday, July 31st from11:00 am until 6:00 pm, will celebrate the bounties of the earth. Organized by four neighbors on the outskirts of Alfred, NY, From the Earth will offer a variety of attractions, including flower and vegetable gardens, tours of an organic dairy farm, creations from wood and clay, craft demonstrations, a guided bird walk, garden talks, children’s activities, and more.

Your tour can begin at the MacCrea family’s Locustbrae Farm at 1664 Waterwells Road. Debbie MacCrea’s extensive and bountiful gardens contain several hundred varieties of perennial and annual flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Many of these will be available for sale in a “dug-on-the-spot” fashion, ready to be taken home to your garden.

Rich in local history, Locustbrae Farm is also the home of a family woodworking shop which serves as gallery and woodworking studio for Alec MacCrea and his Celtic Woodcraft. Alec creates one-of-a-kind pieces of beautifully carved wood, tooled copper and brass, decorated ceramic vessels (in collaboration with local art potter Richard Lang), and limited edition prints. (See www.celtic-woodcraft.com.) Alec will be doing demonstrations of old style wood carving throughout the day, using both hand carving techniques and a mallet (without the use of machines). Come watch a skilled carver working within the vast world of Celtic design, and see knotwork come to life!

Sean Hyland, a fine furniture maker, will also be showing at the MacCrea location. Sean will be giving an all day demonstration of timber framing. As a building is raised, he will talk about the age old tools and techniques employed in this ancient building method. Discover the path that timber framing has made across history and the unique place it holds in the future of environmentally responsible construction.

A children’s activity involving making paper using flowers and herbs will be led by Mary Harris at 1:00 pm. Other fun attractions for children can be found at the MacCrea farm all day as well.

Linda Huey at 1530 Randolph Road has worked with clay since the “Back to the Earth” movement. After earning her graduate degree from Alfred University in 1993, she and her husband liked the natural beauty of the area so much that they became “rooted” and stayed. Inspired by natural leaf and flower motifs, Linda’s current pottery and sculpture will be presented in a sugar shed at the end of a path that winds through their flower and vegetable garden. (See www.lindahuey.com) Throwing on a potter’s wheel will be demonstrated during the day.

The Snyder family farm at 1444 Randolph Road is just down the hill from there. “Sunny Cove Farm” is a small dairy farm, certified by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York for organic milk and organic beef, with seasonal products including all organic maple syrup, apples, and walnuts. Exceptional quality raw milk produced by grass fed cows is sold directly to customers or shipped to Organic Valley. During the event, the Snyder family will be leading tours of the farm throughout the day; one hour each, $5 for adults, $3 for children, and under 5 free. (The number of participants may be limited.) This will be an exciting opportunity to learn about local sustainable organic dairy farming. (See www.sunnycovefarm.com) A dairy related children’s activity will be led by Dotty Snyder at 11:00 am.

To continue on the tour, visit the gardens of Mary Lu Wells at 4981 McAndrews Road. “Winter Hill Gardens” will be the site of two talks this year. At noon, gather to observe butterflies fluttering about in a tall grass prairie garden. See little blue stem coneflowers, yarrow, and gay feather seducing the fritillaries, monarchs, painted ladies, and humming bird moths. At 3:00 pm a group will retreat to the cool of the forest to study ferns- those 350,000,000 year old plants of everlasting intrigue. A dozen northeastern varieties have been added to four local species. Folks are welcome anytime during tour hours to see the many other gardens and some rare perennials will be for sale.

Don’t miss the 4:00 pm bird walk with Betsy Brooks at Foster Lake, 5471 Lake Road. [This location is only open during the bird walk.] Meet in the parking lot. You will see breeding birds still actively engaged in nesting and feeding their young, as well as post-breeding birds beginning to disperse before moving south. Certain birds will be unique to the Foster Lake area, a high-elevation, mature conifer, 'Adirondack-like' habitat. Betsy will also have handouts with information about plantings for birds, bird feeders, nest boxes, and more.

To go to MacCrea’s first, from Main Street in the center of Alfred, turn onto Church Street. (It changes to West University Street, and then to Waterwells Road). Follow 1.4 miles out of town. Look for MacCrea's large green house on the right. From there, to go to Huey and Sunny Cove Farm, turn left onto Lake Road, go 0.6 miles and take the first left onto Randolph Road. Huey is 0.3 miles on the left, then the farm soon after down the hill. To continue to Mary Lu Wells' house and garden, return to Lake Road, turn left and go 1 mile to County Route 12. Turn left onto County Route 12 and travel 0.1 miles to McAndrews Road, where you will turn right and go 0.5 miles. MAPS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT ALL LOCATIONS.

September 10 - 12, 2010, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (Noon - 6 pm each day)

BOSTON ARTS (AHTS) FESTIVAL

Christopher Columbus Park, on the waterfront near Faneuil Hall and the New England Aquarium

www.bostonahtsfestival.com

October 15 - 17, 2010, Friday (4 - 7 pm), Saturday and Sunday (11 am - 6 pm each day)

FORT POINT OPEN STUDIOS

249 A Street, # 57, Boston, MA

www.fortpointarts.org

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None scheduled at this time. If you would like Linda to teach a workshop, please send an e-mail to lindahuey@frontiernet.net or call 607-587-9877.

A typical workshop focuses on idea development in clay, using nature forms as a source of inspiration. It starts with a discussion and slide show illustrating how several ideas or approaches can consolidate into a meaningful pathway toward form and content. Linda demonstrates how she uses her collection of natural objects such as leaves, sticks, and preserved flowers as a source for imagery, using various methods applicable for making both pottery and sculpture. These techniques include use of slabs, texturing, altering pieces made from flat press molds, and how to use a wide variety of support forms. Participants can make their own individualized pieces, or alternatively, help make clay nature studies that Linda will then combine together during a demonstration when she constructs a sculpture inside a cardboard support form. The end of the workshop includes a discussion of the many possible ways of glazing sculpture with their associated meanings. In addition, the participants can explore points of view about nature expressed in the work they produced, and have a brainstorming session on how to work in the studio with less environmental impact.