The second woodworking event that I went to this past weekend was the Twentieth Annual Nova Scotia Folk Art Festival held in the town of Lunenburg where there were fifty folk artists displaying over 1500 pieces of folk art!

The festival poster touted this as “the best four hours of fun on the South Shore” and they were not lying! Likewise, their website states, “The atmosphere is electric, there is colourful folk art everywhere, accented by the bright sounds of fiddle music, the auctioneers banter, door prize draws and the enthusiasm of browsers and buyers.” I couldn’t write it any better if I tried! It was a festival in the true sense of the word.

Also from their website, “Sponsored by the Lunenburg Heritage Society with the support of the Nova Scotia Folk Art Society, this juried event has a fine and well-earned reputation as a premier festival showcasing and selling the work of the best Nova Scotia folk artists.”

As you can imagine, with over 1500 pieces on display I was treated to a wide range of the wild, the wacky, the wonderful, and the whimsical! Here are just a few photos that I took:

Continue reading '20th Annual Nova Scotia Folk Art Festival'

I had a chance this past weekend to visit a couple of local woodworking related events. This first one combined my love of working with wood with my interest in Mi’kmaq and Native art. It was a day related to basket making appropriately called ‘Basketry Day’. The day was organized by The Nova Scotia Basketry Guild in celebration of their 20th anniversary.

The event opened with a Mi’kmaq drum ceremony and continued throughout the day with lectures and basket making demonstrations. In addition to the focus on Mi’kmaq basketry there were also talks and demonstrations on the Nantucket and Shaker style baskets.

I was most interested in the Mi’kmaq style of basket making and was not disappointed.

An excellent demonstration was done by retired Chief Greg McEwan of the Bear River First Nations. He lives in the village of Bear River, an artisan community located a few miles upstream from the Annapolis Basin in Western Nova Scotia, where he also operates a basket shop called Beartown Baskets. The photo above shows a great example of his work.

Continue reading 'A Great Day For Making Baskets'