Weathervanes, Shoals painting, wood carving, furniture and cabinet making and an Amherst mansion – are topics featured this year in the prestigious annual lecture series. Click on to read descriptions of each event, held at Strawbery Banke.
2008 LECTURE SEASON
Portsmouth, NH
Seacoast Decorative Arts Lectures at Strawbery Banke
The Piscataqua Decorative Arts Society (PDAS) is pleased to present the slate of speakers for the 2008 season. All lectures take place at the Tyco Center at Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, on Tuesday evenings at 5:30 p.m. Wine and cheese are served. Lectures are free for members of PDAS and $10 for the general public. The $30 annual individual membership (or $50 dual membership) includes admission to all lectures and one copy of the triennial publication.
February 5 CARVING AN AMERICA STYLE
The Piscataqua Decorative Arts Society kicks off it's eighth season with an illustrated talk by Dean Lahikainen, Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Peabody Essex Museum on Tuesday, February 5th. Mr. Lahikainen's talk Samuel McIntire: Carving an American Style, will explore McIntire's work as stunningly displayed in the exhibition of the same title on view at the Peabody Essex through February 24th. While McIntire's architectural designs transformed Salem's streetscapes and public spaces, it was his ornamental wood carvings on buildings, ships and furniture that gave the town an unrivaled elegance and charm. This talk will present new research gleaned from a two year study to authenticate his carved work and to understand its influence in shaping American design.
April 8 EARLY NORTH SHORE FURNITURE
On April 8, John Vander Sande, collector, scholar and compelling teacher will explore Early(1650-1725) North Shore Furniture Connoisseurship and Collecting. John and Marie Vander Sande have been collecting furniture and related objects appropriate to a first period Essex County, Massachusetts home for 30 years. John will share their experiences in collecting these objects and the connoisseurship that paralleled these acquisitions. Highlighted will be the work of the seventeenth-century joiner and chair maker, the woods commonly used, the objects to be found in the home and the Mannerist decorative motifs used to beautify the pieces. Mr. Vander Sande will discuss the role of condition, price, restoration (and detection of such restoration) in determining desirability. Some examples of furniture will be available for up-close exploration.
May 13 PAINTERS OF THE ISLES OF SHOALS
Jamie LaFleur, owner of the Banks Gallery, ushers in spring with his May 13th visual "dialogue" across generations, Island Light: Painters of the Isles of Shoals. A painter and textile pattern designer himself, Mr. LaFleur's fascination with and appreciation of the New England landscape, as seen through the eyes of both historic and contemporary artists, has led to such significant exhibitions and publications as Visions in Granite, New Hampshire Summer Colonies: Dublin and Cornish, The Boston School, Island Light Monhegan Island and Island Light Isles of Shoals.
June 10 CABINETMAKING IN YORK COUNTY
On June 10, Abby Burch, a second year Winterthur Fellow in the Winterthur Program in American Culture, will discuss her on-going research on Southern Maine cabinetmakers in her talk By His Account Rendered: The Business of Cabinetmaking in York County. Ms. Burch is the first recipient of the Piscataqua Decorative Arts Society Research Stipend, a monetary award to enable and promote in depth study of the arts in the historic Piscataqua Region. Ms. Burch will be presented with the $1000 gift at the time of her talk.
September 9 WEATHERVANE FOLK ART
American collector and dealer Julie Lindberg will set her eye on weathervanes in her September 9th talk and workshop, Folk Art on High. The talk will focus on manufacturers of quality vanes, primarily in Massachusetts. Examining form, surface, scarcity and provenance, she will explore why some vanes are commanding such high prices. Because of the prevalence of fakes and the difficulty in detecting them, both authentic and fraudulent weathervanes will be on display for study. Julie Lindberg has been studying the folk art market for over 25 years, while exhibiting at national antique shows. She and her husband, Carl, began collecting weathervanes in the mid-1900's.
October 7 COLONEL MEANS MANSION
The season will conclude on October 7th will Bill Veillette's talk Preservation and Perseverance: the Rehabilitation of the Colonel Means Mansion. Veillette, Executive Director of the New Hampshire Historical Society, will share the six year rehabilitation projects and his continuing efforts to restore missing decorative features and research the home's occupants and associations. The high style Georgian home was built in Amherst, NH , in 1785 by Robert Means, a Scots-Irish merchant who eventually became the wealthiest man in Hillsborough County. In the parlor of the house, his granddaughter married Franklin Pierce in 1834.
The Piscataqua Decorative Arts Society was founded to share and save ongoing research on the Piscataqua area. Visit www.PDASociety.org.
FOR MORE INFO:
Elizabeth Farish
Maine and New Hampshire Regional Site Manager
Historic New England
Governor John Langdon House
143 Pleasant Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801
603-436-3205
Calendar
Aldrich's Bad Boy Live May 9 - 11, 2008 Note -- Sunday show is matinee -- Pontine Theatre celebrates the 100th Anniversary of Portsmouth's Thomas Bailey Aldrich Memorial with it's original stage adaptation of the author's 1869 novel, THE STORY OF A BAD BOY. Co-Directors, Greg Gathers and Mar...
Salmon Falls Mill Open Studios May 10, 2008 ROLLINSFORD -- On Saturday, May 10, 2008, the Artists of the Mills at Salmon Falls will open their studios from 11am to 5pm. Just in time for Mother’s Day, this annual Spring event draws guests from all over New England to the rejuvenated historic mil...
Macbeth in Rochester May 10, 2008 "Macbeth," Shakespeare's great play of temptation, ambition and seduction, is the Rochester Opera House's annual Shakespearean production for the 2007-2008 season.
The Scottish tragedy centers on Macbeth's bloody rise to power, in which gui...
Tea with John Paul Jones May 11, 2008 PORTSMOUTH – Enjoy a Mother’s Day tea with brave Captain Jones, 18th Century Style at the John Paul Jones House 43 Middle St Portsmouth from 2-4 pm on May 11, 2008.
Price: $15 ($12 members of Portsmouth Historical Society)
Plan your Mother’s Day ...
Mother’s Day Tea d’ Jazz May 11, 2008 EXETER -- Bring your mother, family, friends to hear Jazz trumpeter Tom Palance and his Jazz Quartet – piano, drums, bass and trumpet, in a variety of swing jazz favorites and familiar standards of yesteryear. Elegant tearoom seating, teas, coffees, dr...
Mistral - No Ordinary Women May 11, 2008 PORTSMOUTH -- Celebrate Mother’s Day at The Music Hall! This acclaimed Boston-based ensemble will be providing high spirits and serious music making as they focus on inspirational works by women composers. Treat your mother, wife, or sister to chamber m...
UNH Symphony May 11, 2008 The University of New Hampshire Department of Music presents the UNH Concert Choir under the direction of William Kempster and the UNH Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Larry Veal in concert on Sunday afternoon, May 11, 2008 beginning at 3:00 p....
Evening with Ozomatli May 11, 2008 PORTSMOUTH -- Los Angeles’ legendary, double Grammy-Award winning, favorite sons Ozomatli, the 10-man rock/rap collective from Los Angeles performing a globalized Hispanic funk, with roots in salsa, merengue, hip-hop, and Middle Eastern music. Through t...
Greenability Lecture & Soup May 12, 2008 EXETER -- Blue Moon Natural Foods, 8 Clifford Street, Exeter, celebrates its thirteenth year with “an intergenerational green initiative” that includes three different cooking series running through May. The anniversary schedule of events promoting h...
Sea Dogs: Celebrating 15 Years May 13, 2008 PORTLAND -- Charlie Eshbach, President/General Manager, Portland Sea Dogs, will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sea Dogs with the publication of a new history of the team, “The Portland Sea Dogs: Images of Baseball.” FREE
The Piscataqua Decorative Arts Society (PDAS) is pleased to present the slate of speakers for the 2008 season. All lectures take place at the Tyco Center at Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, on Tuesday evenings at 5:30 p.m. Wine and cheese are served. Lectures are free for members of PDAS and $10 for the general public. The $30 annual individual membership (or $50 dual membership) includes admission to all lectures and one copy of the triennial publication. 
