Cliff Oliver & Battenkill Inspired

Cliff Oliver is one of the best people in Greenwich. His provocative slave narrative photographs, which utilize the Battenkill river, will stir your soul. & if you ever have the chance to catch one of his re-enactments of Solomon Northup of Twelve Years a Slave fame, take it.

Cliff (Harlem Hellfighter) & I (Suffragist Cyclist) at the 2018 Whipple City Days parade

Cliff Oliver as Solomon Northup

I hope you enjoy the video. Currently, all of the Battenkill Inspired videos can be seen at kiosks at Crandall Public Library, & Greenwich Free Library. Or you can view the videos on the Folklife Center's YouTube channel. There are currently 28 shorts, including films on Bob Warren, Susan B. Anthony, Eddy Plow Works, & the Gill Room.

Twelve Years is a Long Time to Hope, 2014 redwork embroidery by Tisha Dolton 

"Battenkill Inspired: The Flow of Creativity, Ingenuity, and the River" celebrates art and culture throughout the Battenkill watershed. Videos are released weekly as part of the celebration of the Folklife Center's 25th anniversary and Crandall Library's 125th year. . Filmed, Directed, and Edited by Kevin Rogan, Sara LaPell, Hannah DeGarmo & Todd DeGarmo Opening & closing music composed by Benjamin Phelps Closing image: "River Reflections" by George Van Hook www.georgevanhookartist.com Produced by Todd DeGarmo 2017 based on the exhibit, Battenkill Inspired Folklife Gallery January to June 2015 Funding for this project came from a 2017 Corridor of Commerce Grant from the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership Additional support was provided by: New York State Council on the Arts - Folk Arts Program Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust Helen & Michael Casper Fellowship for Internship Support

Map of Greenwich: Using History for Art

Some of you may know that I am a hand embroiderer & I design my own patterns. About 6 years ago I embroidered 2 blocks for the APHNYS quilt project. One is partially my own design, the other is the Village of Greenwich Bicentennial logo created by a local student. (When I find her name I will update this post.) I recently saw my quilt blocks at the APHNYS conference in Saratoga Spring, NY in March. The blocks are just basted together, waiting for more municipalities to submit their blocks.

Town and village of Greenwich, NY blocks in APHNYS quilt

I love redwork embroidery, so I snapped some pictures of the other redwork blocks in the quilt. There were other embroidered squares too, some hand done, & some machine, but I didn't take pictures of all the squares.

Town of Moreau, NY redwork block for APHNYS quilt

North Salem, NY redwork block for APHNYS quilt

Town of Deer park, NY redwork block for APHNYS quilt

As you can see above, many of them are maps of the towns, mine included. I decided, after I completed 2 more of my Susan B. Anthony & Chester A. Arthur map, that I would do a cartoon like map of Greenwich. So, using the history, & natural resources of the town, I got to work designing my block. This is what I came up with.

Town of Greenwich, NY by Tisha Dolton, Historian

Oddly enough, history is what got me embroidering in the 1st place.

I began embroidering in 1998 when I started a summer job at the Saratoga Battlefield in upstate NY. All of the other interpretive Rangers had skills when we were stationed at stop 2 on the tour road (the Nielson House), except me. I read for a few weeks, but I had a difficult time putting my book away when visitors arrived. Plus, my introverted nature would allow me to use the book as a crutch. I needed something else. As a kid I did long stitch needlepoint, & remembered enjoying it. Therefore, I decided crewel work & embroidery would be perfect.

What do you use your historical research for?

Happy Birthday Susan B.

Well, today's blog topic was a no-brainer. It's Susan B. Anthony's 193rd birthday! But, what should I write about. I've written about her here so many times, yet I have barely scratched the surface.Then I realized that I have never talked about the redwork embroidery piece I created a few years ago.

The Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS), the official professional association for municipal historians in NY of which I have been a member these last 9+ years, put out a call for quilt blocks related to the towns, cities, counties, et al that make up our great state. I am not a quilter, but, as some of you may know, I am an avid hand embroiderer. So, I decided to create an embroidered quilt block to submit for inclusion in this quilt.

I decided on Susan B. Anthony & Chester Alan Arthur as subjects for this project. I like embroidering portraits. I have a great book called Presidential Redwork: A Stitch in Time by Michael Buckingham that provided the pattern for Arthur. I had to make one for Anthony. I used the image below because of its simplicity & similarity in style to the Arthur pattern.

Susan B. Anthony circa 1868

Next I decided to use an outline of the Town of Greenwich. Once I had all of the pieces, I drew it out on paper, then used a light box to trace the pattern on a piece of unbleached, cotton muslin. Using DMC embroidery floss #347 (a rich red I love), I hand embroidered it using only an outline stitch & cross stitch instead of french knots (which I am terrible at)*.

top and bottom of 12 inch quilt block

I submitted one for the village of Greenwich as well, since there is no village historian at the moment. Unfortunately, I have never heard anything more about this quilt project.


*If you are interested in my other embroidery projects, click here.

UPDATE (June 8, 2013):
I found an image of the quilt top from 2010. My blocks are in it! In the bottom left you can see the redwork block above & the block I embroidered using the village bicentennial logo. I have an e-mail in to see if APHNYS has finished the quilt. Carol Flint, Town of Huron historian is pictured with the quilt.

APHNYS quilt showing Greenwich blocks in bottom left.