A LEAGUE OF OUR OWN: NEW HAMPSHIRE AND THE AMERICAN CRAFT MOVEMENT Ken Browne Productions
Chronicles 75 Years of New Hampshire Crafts History
New York filmmaker finds inspiration in New Hampshire craft history...
- LEAGUE DOCUMENTARY NAMED OFFICIAL SELECTION FOR 2007 NH FILM FESTIVAL!
A League of Our Own is one of 60 films out of 500 submissions selected for screening at the 7th annual NH film festival in Portsmouth, NH on October 11 - 14, 2007.
www.nhfilmfestival.com
- A League of Our Own featured on SeaCoastOnline.com!
- Documentary on crafts history to premier on New Hampshire Public Television July 18, 2007 at 9PM
www.nhptv.org/pressroom/releases.htm
- Screenings daily at the League of NH Craftsmen's Annual Craftsmens Fair, Mt. Sunapee Resort in Newbury, NH, August 4 - 12, 2007
www.nhcrafts.org
One-hour documentary film celebrates America's pioneering craft organization's 75th anniversary - the League of NH Craftsmen
- Featuring celebrated craftsmen including, potters Otto and Vivika Heino, potters Ed and Mary Scheier, American studio furniture master Walker Weed, enamellist Karl Drerup, and current state juried League members demonstrating in clay, wood, glass, metal, and more
- Narrated by folk-music legend Tom Rush
- Music by top New England artists including Randy Armstrong, David Surette, Rodney Miller, Steve Schuch and others
- DVD available in special educator's edition
Durham, NH, and New York, NY, July 1 , 2007 - New York filmmaker Ken Browne was invited for a summer weekend to New Hampshire 20 summers ago in 1987. Never having visited the Granite state, Browne expected to join thousands of summer visitors who head to New Hampshire to enjoy the mountains, lakes, and old covered bridges. Instead he found himself most intrigued by the crafts tradition he found there, a tradition that has been vital to the state since the founding in 1932 of the League of NH Craftsmen.
He was especially impressed by the pottery of the noted ceramic couple Ed and Mary Scheier. "Something about their work touched me on a very deep level" said Browne who met the Scheiers in 1992. He went on to produce Four Hands One Heart: Ed and Mary Scheier, a nationally released public television film about the Scheiers in 2001. Longtime members of the League of NH Craftsmen, where they worked from 1939 to 1969, the Scheiers later encouraged Browne to document the story of the League, whose 75th anniversary in 2007 looked like the perfect occasion.
The League welcomed the chance to tell their storied history as one of America's oldest, and most prestigious crafts organizations. The League's annual summer Craftsmen's Fair is the oldest continuously running crafs fair in the US, drawing over 35, 000 visitors each year to displays and demonstrations by over 200 state juried craftsmen.
Working closely with the League, Browne traveled frequently to NH, over a period of two years, filming interviews, showing craftsmen at work in studios around the state, filming at the summer Fairs, digitizing hundreds of archival images, and, helping the League raise the funding needed to complete the documentary. The film premiered on May 10, 2007 at the Gala 75th anniversary of the League in Concord, NH, with Governor John Lynch opening the festivities. Longtime League trustee Edith Grodin, responded to the film premier, commenting, "the portrayal of individuals and their passion was masterful - you caught the indomitable spirit of all craftsmen!"
Additional information, review DVD of the film, A LEAGUE OF OUR OWN:
NEW HAMPSHIRE AND THE AMERICAN CRAFT MOVEMENT and media stills, can be found: by calling Ken Browne Productions (212) 240-9044, or (917) 856-2244, or emailing ken@kbprods.com.
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 Craftmens Fair 1949 - one of several hundred archival images in A League of Our Own
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 Ken Browne films League potter Kit Cornell
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 35,000 visitors will have the chance to see the documentary at the 2007 Craftsmens Fair
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 Karl Drerup enamel work featured in A League of Our Own Read more: Discovering Drerup from the Concord Monitor Online
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