calendar

Sundays 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

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Harvest Festival. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY. Farmers market, crafts, live performances & more. $5/parking. Info: www.bethelwoodscenter.org.

September 8th–11th

Thursday–Sunday

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In the Works–In the Woods Festival. Forestburgh Playhouse, Forestburgh, NY. Learn how new plays & musicals are created. The festival nurtures playwrights, composers & lyricists. Festival Fan tickets: $150. Tickets to individual shows also available. Info: 845.794.1194, www.fbplayhouse.org.

September 10th

Saturday 5:30 p.m.

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French Nostalgia. Grey Towers, Milford, PA. Tatiana Eva-Marie & Avalon Jazz Band. $25. Hosted by Kindred Spirits Arts Programs. Info: 570.409.1269, www.kin dredspiritsarts.org.

September 10th–11th

Saturday–Sunday 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

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Renaissance Festival. Camp Sacajawea, Sparta, NJ. Music, food, shows, vendors. Tickets: $10–$20. Also September 17th–18th. Info: 862.268.0129, www.spartanj renfaire.com.

September 11th

Sunday 2–5 p.m.

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Wine & Cheese Festival. Waterwheel Farm, Fredon, NJ. $55. Hosted by Friends of Hospice. Info: 973.383.0115, www. karenannquinlanhospice.com.

September 12th

Monday 5:30–8:30 p.m.

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A Taste of Newton. Trinity St., Newton, NJ. Samples of local cuisine, music. $40–$50. Hosted by Greater Newton Chamber of Commerce. Info: 973.300.0433, greaternewtoncc.com.

September 13th

Tuesday 6–9 p.m.

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Taste of Warwick. Warwick Valley Winery and Distillery, Warwick, NY. $60. Food, spirits and music. Sponsored by the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce. Info: 845.986.2720, www.warwickcc.org.

September 16th–18th

Friday–Sunday

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Milford Readers and Writers Festival. Main Stage: Milford Theater, Milford, PA. Individual tickets: $35; Festival Passes $175. Free events around Milford. Info: milford readersandwriters.com. September 18th

Sunday Noon–4 p.m.

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Sussex County Day. Sussex County Fairgrounds, Augusta, NJ. Music, crafts, vendors, contests. Hosted by Sussex County Chamber of Commerce. Info: 973.579.1811, www.sussexcountychamber.org.

September 23rd–25th

Friday–Sunday

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Fall Flights: Birds & Brews. PEEC, Dingmans Ferry, PA. Guided hikes & bird watching. Beverages from local breweries on Saturday. $215. Info: 570.828.2319, peec.org.

September 24th

Saturday 11 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

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Walden Harvest Fest. Bradley Park, Walden, NY. Live music, vendors, food, drinks & more. Info: 845.778.2177, www. villageofwalden.org.

11 a.m.–8 p.m.

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Septemberfest. Milford, PA. Music, crafts & food, all over town. Hosted by Milford Presents. Info: www.milfordpa.us.

1 p.m.

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Betrayals: Surrender of Fort William Henry. Ft. Decker, Port Jervis, NY. Presentation by Frank Salvati. Hosted by Minisink Valley Historical Society. Info: minisink. org, Facebook: Minisink Valley Historical Society.

September 24th–25th

Saturday & Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

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Peters Valley Craft Fair. Sussex County Fairgrounds, Augusta, NJ. $10. Info: 973.948.5200, www.petersvalley.org.

11 a.m.–5 p.m.

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Hudson Valley Octoberfest on the Farm. Orange County Farmers Museum, Montgomery, NY. German music, food, beer & wine. $10. Also October 1st & 2nd. Info: 845.590.1915, baptickets.com.

October 1st

Saturday 5–8 p.m.

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Music in Nature Gala. PEEC, Dingmans Ferry, PA $85. Semi-formal. Benefits Dingmans Ferry Theatre. Info: dingmansferry theatre@gmail.com, Facebook: Dingmans Ferry Theatre.

6 p.m.

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Barn Dance. Peter’s Europa House, Shohola, PA. Dinner followed by dancing to live music. $75. Benefits GAIT Therapeutic Riding Center and GAIT-ACE Endowment Fund. Info: 717.991.3478, advi sorycouncil@gaittrcorg.

Be What You Teach

Learning and Teaching at Peters Valley

M

aya Angelou, poet and writer, said, “When you learn, teach, when you get, give.”

The core mission of Peters Valley School of Craft is to enrich lives through the learning, appreciation, and practice of the art of fine crafts. In order to facilitate these values, this vibrant community brings together established and emerging artists from around the globe to provide studio-based educational workshops for life-long learners who have the opportunity to benefit from working with nationally and internationally recognized artists.

The takeaway after speaking with Abby Mechanic, Po Wen Liu, and Anna Koplik, three of Peters Valley’s talented and passionately driven artists, is that all three have embraced the concept of life-learning. First, one must learn the craft, study techniques and processes, and practice, practice, practice. If a mentor comes into your life, be guided on your journey. Acquire your own skills and continue to expose yourself to new experiences, adding your own creativity into the mix.

Even though all three who were interviewed are in different stages of their careers, they all embrace the concept of teaching what they have learned, for as it is said, when you teach you learn twice; when you teach you are still learning.

Abby Mechanic, Education Director

The path for Abby Mechanic, who came to Peters Valley in May 2022 to become the Education Director, has been a circular one, bringing her right back to where it all began.

Abby was raised in Sussex County, NJ, and started her training in woodworking here at Sparta High School. She cites Mr. Trzcinski, or Mr. T as he was affectionately known, as the mentor who took her under his wing. Since her mom owned a few antique stores, she knew good furniture was the byproduct of good woodworking. But the key for her, when deciding to pursue this path, was that she recognized the organizational elements of math and science involved in making furniture and felt that woodworking connected all of her interests.

Choosing to matriculate at the Maine College of Art & Design in Portland was a natural. There, she studied for four years, working with mentors Matt Hutton and Adam Manley, and graduated with a degree in woodworking and furniture design. Abby then worked for a few design/build companies, running their woodshop departments.

Next came an offer from Parsons School of Design to be a technician. She spent seven years at Parsons, working her way up to be Associate Director of the Making Center, where she, along with two other directors, led a very large team of 40 technicians, 150 student workers, and about 12 managers. Simultaneously, Abby has taught spoon-carving workshops nationally to over 400 students, either through organizations, schools, or companies, and has taught spoon carving at Peters Valley for the past two years. Her goal in teaching this course is to make woodworking accessible to all. As she says, “My students can start small, make a useful object, and get excited about it!”

Abby now lives in a historical house on campus. “I love this job, living with an artistic community in this beautiful environment right in the middle of the woods. The idea of passing knowledge from one person to the next is very important to me; as a woodworker, it’s my duty to teach others what I’ve learned. Cultivation of a craft and passing on that knowledge is paramount, so we don’t lose craft.

“As the Education Director,” Abby continued, “I am able to marry all of my passions. I manage the shops and work with the fellows and assistant staff to plan and execute the educational summer workshop programs. We are also planning to expand our fall and spring programming with new workshops in multiple departments and weekly ceramic classes.”

How do you find teachers? “Mostly through our network. Each studio is overseen by an artist fellow. It’s a very collaborative process—the artist fellows draw from their own network within their discipline, be it blacksmithing, ceramics, fiber and textiles, fine metals and jewelry making, glass, photography and printmaking, woodworking, or mixed media. We encourage different types of instructors from all backgrounds to come share their knowledge with our students.

“There is a crucial and vital empowerment that you get from the problem solving involved in making something with your own hands that is different from anything else. As the new Education Director, I want to get that to as many people as possible. Teaching craft is a positive generational collaboration that involves mentorship and benefits all, as it helps to focus on the beautiful and positive things in life. People need that now more than ever.”

Po Wen Liu, Ceramics Studio Head

Po Wen Liu arrived at Peters Valley in June 2022 as the new Ceramics Studio Head. Po Wen embraces the craft school’s philosophy of making the campus a vibrant yearround destination, and he’s bringing sequential teaching for students to learn and advance their studies. This fall, he is instituting a new class schedule for beginners and intermediate/advanced students, offering eight three-hour class sessions and access to the studio at other times. Firing for these classes will mainly be in gas reduction kilns.

As a steward of the creative process, Po Wen believes that teaching ceramic engineering, or the study of ceramic materials, processes, and techniques, works in tandem with creative integration.

Po Wen knew before attending kindergarten in Taiwan that he wanted to be involved with clay. Playing with his cousin at his uncle’s roof tile factory, he became fascinated by its physically transformative properties. Studying ceramic engineering in college is where he began to learn to develop and mix his own glazes, which led to his fine celadon glaze. He also became learned in working with many types of clay and kilns. After three years of working for the prestigious Hsiao Fang Pottery in Taiwan, a company that often receives commissions from the National Palace Museum, he strongly felt that his calling was to be an artist.

The next step was to come to America and enroll in the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of American Craft, where he explored everything art, including art history and 2D and 3D design, on his way to his Bachelor of Fine Arts.

He attended Northern Illinois University for graduate school, studied sculptural ceramics, and earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in ceramics. There, he studied under Professor Yih Wen Kuo, with whom he shared a similar background, and Professor Ron Mazanowski, who was knowledgeable in mold-making and figurative sculptural work. It was at Northern Illinois, also, that he learned the importance of critique from both his professors and from his fellow classmates.

Post graduate school, a job opportunity took him to North Carolina where he taught ceramics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as well as at several art centers, including Art Alliance of Greensboro and Sawtooth School for the Visual Arts.

At Peters Valley, Po Wen’s goal is to introduce diverse styles of contemporary ceramics, including functional pottery and sculptural ceramics, through topic-specific summer workshops that will incorporate different firing techniques, such as various wood, salt, soda, raku, electric kiln firings; hand building and wheel throwing techniques; and mold making/slip casting methods.

In addition to firing and forming techniques, many different glaze techniques will be explored, such as standard glazing practices, but also overlapping, spraying, dipping, and sprinkling glaze powders on the pottery surface, each method giving a unique result. All this in a formal educational setting.

“Structural instruction is the basis for everything. After correct methodologies are learned, then the process becomes organic and open to the artists’ creativity,” Po Wen explains.

“I love to see students utilize what they’ve learned from classes in their work. I encourage everyone to try different styles until they find their own voice. It makes me very proud to see my students go on to exhibit in craft fairs, and many choose to have a career in ceramics.

“I feel very happy to be here in Peters Valley. The isolated geography offers an inspiring natural setting that allows me the opportunity to be very focused on my studio practice.”

Po Wen Liu

Anna Koplik, Blacksmith Fellow

Anna Koplik is the Blacksmith Fellow at Peters Valley. This means that she manages the blacksmith shop, ordering material, maintaining equipment, and making sure that behind the scenes all of the workshops run smoothly and safely.

Originally from Montgomery, NJ, Anna chose Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts in jewelry. But it was when she went to the metal shop there and tried forging that her life’s trajectory took a major turn. Realizing that she loved this craft even more than jewelry making, she came to Peters Valley and enrolled in her first introductory course. “I don’t know if I’d be a blacksmith if I hadn’t taken a course here,” Anna reflects.

In 2015, Anna took a job as an Assistant in the Blacksmith Shop at Peters Valley School of Craft. The following year, she became the Shop Technician at Touchstone Center For Crafts in Farmington, PA. For two summers, she ran the shop there while spending winters working as an apprentice for Atlas Forge, an architectural blacksmithing shop in Uniontown, PA. The owner, Ed Claypoole, took her under his wing and became her mentor, teaching her how to forge and weld large scale architectural pieces, which would eventually become commercial projects such as balconies and staircases.

“I learned different designs and aesthetics and how to measure and install work,” she says. “Essentially, I learned to implement a project from a drawing to samples to figuring how every detail of a piece can come together.”

Forging is the process of changing the dimension and cross section of a metal bar (usually steel) through force, such as hitting it with a hammer. This technique is used for making a point on the end of the bar or spreading out the metal to make a utensil, such as a spoon or a spatula.

Blacksmithing is the specific craft using that forging process, typically on hot metal, by heating it up to over 2,000 degrees in a coal-contained forge and then hammering to change it while it’s hot. “We mostly determine heat by color. Glowing yellow or glowing orange, for example, is good to forge, while dull red works for bending,” Anna says.

Anna went on to become an Architectural Blacksmith Journeyman, which by traditional definition is a blacksmith that travels to commercial shops and trade and craft schools to help produce metalwork.

To state the obvious, blacksmithing has been a historically male dominated craft. When Anna started out, she didn’t meet many other women blacksmiths. She adds, “The blacksmithing trade is very old. It almost disappeared with the Industrial Revolution. But there was a major resurgence in the 1970s. Generations before me saved our craft. In the past 10 years, because of the internet, TV shows, and You Tube series, more people have been exposed to blacksmithing. But still, not many women became involved. When I began, it took me two years to meet a professional woman blacksmith, but since then I have met a whole community of diverse blacksmiths, which I am thankful for.” Continued on page 16

Anna is referring to a relatively new group, the Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths, in which she runs a mentorship program meant to support people historically underrepresented in the field. She believes that the best way to expand a craft is to bring to it different perspectives and ideas.

During the pandemic lockdown, at Peters Valley, the old blacksmith shop was unattended and went into disrepair. Anna came here in the spring of 2021 and made a lot of shop improvements, such as fixing broken motors, building new steel racks and new tool organizer racks, and rearranging the shop to make it easier for students to use the equipment.

Anna notes, “There have been a long line of blacksmiths that have passed through this shop, people I’ve met and look up to. I know it’s important to take care of this shop for everyone in the blacksmithing community.

“I’ve learned a lot about teaching from my students. For instance, some of my students have had learning and physical disabilities, and I have had to adapt my explanations or processes for them. I’ve learned to explain things better, which makes me a better blacksmith; even things such as how to position your body while forging is important to teach. I love it when my students come back and improve their skills and then go home to start their own forges.

“The current shop assistant, Sean Fitzsimmons, for example, took classes for seven or eight years and has been working for almost a year in a blacksmith shop. It’s been amazing to watch him grow from a hobbyist to teaching his own class. For me, working with as many different people as possible is the best way to grow.”

At Peters Valley, artists of all ages and skill levels find opportunities for mentorship and mentoring. There’s an opportunity to engage in conversations about the creative process, spend time exploring materials, and experiment with new tools, techniques, and ideas. Here, at the Valley, students and teachers alike participate and benefit from the immersive environment.

As Anna Koplik says, “At Peters Valley, you can be what you teach.”

Of Note at Peters Valley

Jennifer Apgar has been working at Peters Valley for 30 years. She started her career as the Registrar, went on to be the Education Director, and in her new role as Deputy Director, is assisting Kristin Muller, the Executive Director. “In managing the organization’s budget and day-to-day operations, I also will be working closely with our Facilities Director Alison BondBaron and the National Park Service,” Jennifer tells us. “The partnership Peters Valley shares with the National Park requires a good deal of communication and detailed reporting for campus-wide improvements and the general upkeep of our numerous buildings, most of which are historic. “I’m very excited about the forward motion that the organization is embarking on; we have a great support staff to implement our ideas and visions.”

Milford Readers and Writers Festival Girls Like Us

As a child of the sixties, I came of age during the beginnings of an American music scene newly populated by women artists who both wrote and performed their original music. It was gratifying to be able to relate to some of the lyrics that came out of the radio, such as Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” (You probably think this song is about you.) or Joni Mitchell’s “My Old Man” (The bed’s too big, the frying pan’s too wide).

Many of these songs have had staying power and perfectly describe the relationship and life concerns women had then, and still have today.

So it was wonderful to learn that a panel at this year’s Milford Readers & Writers Festival is going to focus on writing about rock “n’ roll, and that one of the featured panelists will be Sheila Weller, author of the New York Times Bestseller, Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation.

I recently spoke to Ms. Weller to find out a bit about her background and how she came to write this comprehensive book.

“I’m from LA, Beverly Hills, and went to Berkeley, majoring in sociology and then decided to go to graduate school in New York City,” she begins.

She goes on to tell me she somehow got “bitten by the freedom of the crazy time of the late ’60s” so she dropped out of school, waitressed for money, and eventually explored Morocco and Ibiza. “It sounds more glamorous than it actually was,” she admits.

Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash

Weller wrote for various journals and newspapers including Eye Magazine, as well as “other hippie/counter-culture publications,” using connections her mom had as a writer for movie magazines and McCall’s.

She “vibed it up” (her words) living the New York City life “on the outskirts,” she says, but nevertheless touching shoulders with the likes of Linda Eastman and Betsy Johnson.

Weller moved into writing interviews, which she found “easy” and began covering serious journalistic stories that were sometimes featured in Ms. Magazine. One such article concerned the true story of a man who murdered his wife and then was given custody of the kids. There have been numerous books, too. She wrote about Nicole and O.J. Simpson and early female news anchors and wrote other books and articles that generally reflected the women’s movement as it blossomed.

“Their stories were our stories, and we wanted to move past the images of women kissing their refrigerators in ads and focus on activism, feminism, and civil rights,” she said. In fact, this book’s dedication says it all: “To the women of the 1960s generation. (Were we not the best?)”

Weller started working on Girls Like Us in 2003, and it was published in 2008. It’s 527 pages long (not counting the footnotes, source materials, and index) and is an indepth account of the lives of King, Mitchell, and Simon, touching on their beginnings, influences, and persistence in their quest to make music. Continued on next page

I think the decision to write three biographies in one book is brilliant, as the reader travels through their concurrent, yet mostly different, lives. Parenting, family money, living situations, locations, educational opportunities, friends—all of these things impacted their lives, yes, but somehow it seems like the strongest thing they all shared, was an intense drive to make their music that was already in their DNA.

Weller interviewed Carly Simon but wasn’t able to get her other two subjects for actual interviews. She tells me Chuck Mitchell, Joni’s first husband, was “hard to track down,” but once she found him, “he was eager to talk.” As a result, there are many tidbits we learn from the interviews with the ex, as well as with friends who knew Joni along the way. It’s brave stuff: She performs visibly pregnant. She lives in a rooming house and has the baby alone. And much more.

Weller goes on to tell me that Carole King did not want to cooperate in any way. King is “very private.” and is a bit of a “tough girl” or maybe tries to be. But Weller put on her “sleuthing hat” and found two ex-husbands—both named Rick and both living in Idaho. She finds out that one is (or let’s hope by now was???) a drug addict who refers to himself as a “rancher” and the other is a survivalist. Apparently and understandably, King wanted to keep them a secret. Weller is not afraid to lay out unpleasant facts along with the good ones, and it is impressive how she leaves no stone unturned in her research!

Carly Simon’s cooperation clearly shows us someone who doesn’t seem overly full of herself. She says she was a tomboy—her older sisters were the pretty ones. As the youngest, she became sensitive. “I expect to have my feelings hurt,” she admits. Growing up rich, she comes across as rather normal. She lays out some of her early issues with her looks, a stuttering problem, and other woes and is refreshingly open. Yet a childhood friend remembers when they were growing up, “We all wanted to be her.”

Weller’s writing is heavy on details. Page after page gives the reader a sense of “being there,” so you learn about backstories, lovers, how songs came about, mistakes that were made...in short, it puts the music we know so well in context.

At the end of our interview, I asked Weller what popular musicians she liked today, and she mentions Billie Eilish, Brandi Carlile, Lauren Hill, and Lady Gaga. Maybe they’ll be her next project?

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About the Panel

The panel, “Writing about Rock “n’ Roll,” will take place on the Main Stage of the Milford Theater on Saturday, September 17th, at 2:15 p.m. Joining Ms. Weller will be Moderator Bob Guccione, who is known for publishing Spin Magazine in the ’80s, and after that, Gear Magazine from 1998 to 2003, as well as panelist James Greer, who has been involved with music as both a critic and musician. Greer is also a screenwriter and novelist.

Julia Schmitt Healy (juliahealy.com) is an artist, professor, and writer, living and working in Port Jervis, NY. Her art is represented by Western Exhibitions in Chicago, Illinois (westernexhibitions.com).