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Teachers know best

Worcester Center for Crafts faculty show

by Leon Nigrosh

THE ADULT SCHOOL FACULTY EXHIBITION at the Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore Road, through October 4.

Worcester has been a crafts center for a long time. In 1856, the Worcester Employment Society set up a place for immigrant girls to sew and make their own clothing after work. As time passed, the society expanded its mission and began to encourage people to study handwork in other materials such as clay, metal, and wood. Renamed the Craft Center, it settled into the Salisbury Mansion and flourished there for many years. In 1958, the center moved into its new home, the now-familiar cast concrete-slab building on Sagamore Road.

I originally arrived in Worcester to head up the Craft Center's ceramic department. During my decade-long tenure, the center held several exhibitions of work by the resident faculty -- all six of us. Since that time, the Worcester Center for Crafts has continued to expand its course offerings and increase its faculty. This year the exhibition features the craftwork by almost all of the 40 teachers now involved in center activities.

The majority of these teachers hold advanced degrees in their particular medium. Many of the adjunct teachers are full-time craft professionals who enjoy the opportunity to impart their knowledge to others. And, interestingly enough, several of the faculty are former WCC students. Neal Rosenblum, a professional goldsmith with his own studio/gallery on Park Avenue, jump-started his career when he took a metals class as a teenager. He now teaches a course in the very classroom where he first learned the trade. Rosalie Olds, one of my erstwhile Wednesday Ladies, continues to create whimsical clay sculptures while teaching several classes around town, including one at the WCC. Her tall, clay sculpture Sagging Support and Fallen Arches is a good example of both her technical skill and her humorous, yet approachable, attitude toward sculpture.

At the WCC today, the title "department head" is a truism, not just an honorific as in the past. The clay shop has six teachers, metals also has six instructors, and the fiber/textile studio is home base for five. WCC executive director Maryon Attwood feels strongly that the large number of instructors offers a greater choice of styles and philosophy to the current enrollment of more than 2000 students. For example, Beth Ireland, adjunct teacher in the WCC wood shop, is one of a tiny number of professional women woodworkers in New England. She is showing some turned mahogany bowls topped with brightly colored plastic beads, also turned. Ireland teaches "Woodworking for Women" in a supportive environment in which women learn basic furniture-making skills, along with the understanding "that the table saw is not Darth Vader."

Based on the interest generated by the successful glass-bead show in March, the WCC added classes in lampworking and beadmaking. To entice new students, North Orange artist Gail Crosman-Moore is showing several of her intricately fashioned glass-bead necklaces and a large, somewhat lethal-looking stickpin. Also new to the glass department is Jeanne Kowal. Carrying on her family tradition, Kowal works in stained glass, creating large, colorful windows, two of which are included in this exhibit.

While the debate still rages over whether photography is art or craft, you can admire two black-and-white photos by teacher Ed Esleeck, a former student of Peter Faulkner's, whose photos are also on display. Faulkner is a former student of the WCC's original photo teacher, Ron Rosenstock. This unbroken chain of teachers and students, rather than being incestuous, follows along in the age-old craft practice of master and apprentice. Each succeeding generation continues the tradition and injects new values as well.

The fiber department has the greatest diversity of instruction. Aside from weaving, it offers courses in textile dying, silk painting, felting, bookmaking, and basketry. This show has examples from each of the teachers, including Carlotta Miller's large-screen printed quilt Alone in Bed and Celeste Wyrosdic's felted wool Buffalo Girl Coat.

With so many different objects from such a large number of individuals, this show can easily become mind-boggling. But taken as a whole, the exhibit stands as evidence that the crafts are vibrant in central Massachusetts and that the place to learn more about them -- and possibly perfect your own skills -- is the Worcester Center for Crafts.

The Worcester Center for Crafts gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 753-8183.