Festival Marketplace Participants

Vendors invited to participate in the Great Lakes Folk Festival's "Folk Arts Marketplace" sell authentic traditional arts or related items rarely available in any stores or other festivals. Vendors include past participants in state and regional folklife festivals, apprenticeship and award programs, and other activities of the Smithsonian, Michigan State University Museum, and upper Midwest regional state-funded folk arts programs.

Artists and Craftspeople Participating in 2004 (posted July 30,'04)

Julie Sullivan (Eaton Rapids, Michigan)

Braided Rugs

Braided rugs are an old American folk art. Made of readily available and often recycled materials, they are both practical and decorative. Because wool is durable and stain resistant and the color variations in the braids hide spills, braided rugs of wool are especially practical and desirable.
Hand-braided rugs are a family tradition for Julie Sullivan, who learned to braid from her grandmother. In 2000 and 2001 Julie was awarded a Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship award to teach her daughters. Using pure wool, needles, and a tool for sewing called a bodkin, they braid strips, lace the braids together, and connect the braid ends to each other, creating a seamless effect. They use the rugs in their own households and as gifts for others.

Shellie Spitzley  (Lansing, Michigan)

Chandlery (candle making)
Northern Delites Candles

Shellie says that her involvement in candle making "all started along the Scottish border in 1768 when young Mary Margaret Kerr decided to learn the guild trade of her father Michael Levi Kerr--that guild trade was chandlery." In her efforts to make the Scott candles unique to their clan she would whittle into her stick candles symbols from the Scottish folk legends that she told to children. Mary passed the chandlery trade on to her seven children one of whom, Darius, immigrated to North America. Darius continued the tradition of rendering tallow for his wife Sophia who used it to make soaps, bath cubes, and candles, all bearing either the family clan symbol or the images from Scottish legends. Sophia then passed on the skills to her daughter-in-law Calista. Sophia and Calista continued chandlery when they moved with their husbands to Clare County, Michigan, and the two women passed on the tradition to Calista's daughter-in-law, Frances "Josephine" Cook, who in turn passed it on to her daughter Jacqueline Scott Walters. Calista's husband also taught Jacqueline how to render tallow.

Although Jacqueline worked at a factory and became one of the first generation of women who did not earn an income from chandlery, she still continued to make candles as gifts to family members. She also taught candle making to her oldest granddaughter, Shellie Spitzley, who remembers making her first tallow-based candle when she was 8 years old as a Christmas gift for her mother. Today, Shellie Spitzley, under the name Northern Delites Candles, once again continues the long-standing tradition in her family of women making candles as a business.

As Shellie observes "Chandlery has pretty much continued to this day with few changes, other than differences in styles. Mold technology has improved and new additives such as dyes and scents are available. Most modern candles are made of Paraffin, although beeswax candles are undergoing a recent surge in popularity and bayberry candles, while rare, are still made." Because of allergies to paraffin and tallow Shellie has had to make modifications: she has switched to soy wax and, instead of making sticks, she pours the wax into glass jars. As her grandmother did, however, she still uses only natural oil extracts and cotton wicks.

Shellie's young daughter, Searra Rae Walters, is already assisting her mother so perhaps this tradition will continue into yet another generation.


Angela Welti (Harrison, Michigan)
Chinese Cord and Jade Jewelry

Jewelry made from tied cords and semi-precious stones is a traditional Chinese art that is more than 2,000 years old. Into silk cord designs, it incorporates good luck symbols , carved jade, amber, amethyst, tigers eye pearl, olive pit, or linden root beads. Large pieces are used as decoration in households or temples. Intricately designed cords with an attached piece of jade are considered a special gift and are handed down from generation to generation. They are also given as gifts when babies are born.
Hsiu Chin "Angela" Lin-Welti was born and raised in Taiwan. She began tying cords when she was eight years old. In 1993 she married her husband, Jeff Welti, an English teacher in Taiwan. They now live in Harrison, Michigan, where Angela continues to make jewelry. It takes her up to nine hours to complete one cord.

Ia Her (Lansing, Michigan)
Teng Yang (Warren, Michigan)
Hmong Embroidery

Like their relatives in their homeland of Laos and in communities scattered throughout the world, Hmong-Americans begin to learn how to make paj ntaub (flower cloth) at a very young age. A variety of patterns, motifs, and needlework techniques, including appliqué, reverse appliqué, and embroidery, are used in creating the colorful textiles. Mastery of the techniques and expansion of the repertoire of designs and motifs usually takes years, and expert craftsmanship is valued within the community.
While certain types of paj ntaub are still made for traditional uses such as baby carriers, baby hats, funeral collars, and wedding apparel, most paj ntaub made in the United States today are sold to non-Hmong. Bedspreads, purses, eyeglass cases, pillow covers, wall hangings, and articles of decorated clothing are among the items now produced.

Elderly Instruments (Lansing, Michigan)
Musical Instruments

Elderly Instruments first opened for business in 1972 in a basement location on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing and moved in 1983 to their current location at 1100 N. Washington in Lansing. Elderly features vintage and new instruments, such as button accordions, fiddles, dulcimers, harmonicas, and bodhrans, and specializes in fretted instruments, such as guitars and banjos. With their extensive inventory of instructional books and hard-to-find CD's and cassettes, sold both at their Lansing store and through widely distributed mail-order catalogs, Elderly Instruments has established itself as an important local business with a national reputation.

Anshu Varma (Okemos, Michigan)
Meh'ndi (Henna painting) artist

Anshu Varma has been described as a consummate artist who uses the body as her canvas. She was born in 1962 in north India and grew up in Calcutta and New Delhi. She has a degree in economics and works for the State of Michigan. As a child she was fascinated by the tradition of meh'ndi. She was greatly inspired by her mother's artistic creations and began to learn the tradition at home. Today she is a master of her technique.
The tradition of meh'ndi, a paste of henna used to embellish the palms, soles, and fingernails, plays an important role in maintaining cultural identity in Indian as well as other communities. Meh'ndi is appropriate at all festive events. It is the first thing a woman puts on herself to get ready for a special occasion. Being dressed in meh'ndi sets the celebratory mood of the community. The tradition is associated especially with wedding ceremonies where in certain communities putting mehndi on the bride's palms and feet represents "dressing" the bride. Anshu is sought by many in the Indian community to do meh'ndi for them, and many a bride has been adorned by her skillful hands.
She also has demonstrated her artistry at past folklife festivals and other public events. Anshu is gratified by the enjoyment both young and old experience of having their hands adorned and she is dedicated to share the knowledge about this ancient art. She was a recipient of the Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 2002 and 2003, and she participates at the 2003 Great Lakes Folk Festival with her current apprentice, Moushumi Mokherjee.

Felicitas Moreno (Lansing, Michigan)
Piñatas and Lupitas

Felicitas "Fela" Moreno was born in Plymouth, Indiana and moved to Lansing in 1973 to study at Lansing Community College where she graduated with an associate's degree. It was while Fela was at LCC that several Mexican friends taught her how to make piñatas for the college's "Holiday in Mexico," an event whose production was eventually assumed by Cristo Rey Church in Lansing.

Originally Fela made piñatas using a ceramic base and bamboo rods to hold the papier-mâché form; now she constructs them entirely out of papier-mâché that she and other piñata-makers have found is safer for children when the piñata is broken open. Of her designs, Fela says she "makes all of the traditional piñata forms like the star and donkey, but she also makes anything a customer wants….As long as they have a picture, we can make it. We've made all the Sesame Street and Disney characters, Sponge Bob, Clifford, and even Nemo."

Fela's small dolls done in the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe-hence the name Lupitas are symbols of the working Hispanic women and often the dolls are depicted doing domestic tasks. Fela remembers the sawdust filled, handmade cloth dolls were toys that were always being part of her family and that, in Mexico they were sold everywhere. Like kitchen gods - the smaller versions are believed to bring good luck and are often attached to the braids of garlic and peppers that hang in kitchens.

She has taught her two daughters, Patricia and Raquel Moreno and many others, including family friend Soraya Gonzales, to make both the dolls and piñatas. Today Fela regularly gets together with her daughters and friends to make these traditional items that they sell out of their home and at the Handy's Food Market and Lopez Bakery in Lansing.


Krystyna Rosas (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Polish Wycinanki

Krystyna Rosas' parents were born and raised in Poland, but Krystyna was born in England and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 5. Her father was a potter, woodcarver, painter, and sculptor. Their home was decorated with many beautiful Polish objects: pottery, amber, weavings, carvings, and, of course, wycinanki (paper cuttings). Krystyna's father taught her how to duplicate and design wycinanki when she was a child; at an early age she recognized that these pieces were a special part of the way she thought of herself and her heritage. 
Wycinanki originally decorated walls, ceilings, beams, and furniture in rural homes. The brilliant colors, traditional themes, and beautiful designs of the paper cuttings symbolize Polish folk art, and today, different regions of Poland produce distinct styles of wycinanki. 

Lula Williams (Detroit, Michigan)
Quilts

As a young child, Lula Williams occasionally helped her mother quilt by putting colors together and piecing. However, she only returned to quilting in the late 1970s when her young teenaged son encouraged her to take a course in it at his high school; she remembered her mother's techniques almost immediately and has been quilting ever since.
Lula has made more than 120 quilts and won numerous awards. Her work reflects many traditions . She is a needle worker keenly interested in the latest techniques and patterns; she is an African-American committed to conveying information about her heritage; she is a woman of faith who communicates her beliefs through her quilts; she is an individual proud to be an American. One series of her quilts using African cloth pays homage to Martin Luther King, Jr. Another series is of red, white, and blue fabric with designs of stars and stripes. A special quilt, her original "I Am" design, depicts the times Jesus utters "I am" in the Bible as well as the declarations of "I am" by African-American preachers in their sermons. She is perhaps best known for her baby quilts, of which she has made scores as gifts for family and friends. 
Lula's excellent craftsmanship has won her invitations to participate in shows within the African-American community and beyond. In addition she has taught quilting for a number of years at the Evans Recreation Center on Detroit's northeast side, at the Michigan State Fair Senior Center, and at Detroit's Westside Tindal Recreation Center and readily assists those who seek her help. She has been recognized with awards of Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants to teach her skills to other aspiring quilters in her community. In 1997 she was honored with a Michigan Heritage Award. 

Eugenia Worobkevich (Warren, Michigan)
Ukrainian Embroidery and Gerdans

Traditional embroidery plays an important part in public events, celebrations, and special occasions of Ukrainian-American communities. For festive events, women may wear embroidered blouses and men wear embroidered ties. Embroidery appears on pillows, table linens, cloths placed near household religious icons, and in Easter baskets. 
Eugenia M. Worobkevich is a master artist of Ukrainian embroidery. She became a citizen of the United States in 1955 after emigrating from Lviv, Ukraine. In 1973 her favorite aunt sparked Eugenia's desire to learn traditional embroidery. In 1985, she met Oksana Tkachuck, a master designer in Ukrainian nyzynka technique, and became her apprentice. In 1988 Eugenia also learned to make gerdan collars, because they share similar elements of color, texture, and form with traditional embroider. In 1996, Eugenia was granted a Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship award to teach traditional embroidery to other Ukrainian women. 

Roman Seniuk (Detroit, Michigan)
Ukrainian Pysanka

Roman Seniuk's earliest memory of pysanka is seeingintricately decorated eggs in church on Easter Sunday; he considered them the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Under his mother's tutelage, he learned how to make pysanka using various kinds of eggs, bee's wax, a kistka stylus, a candle, and dyes. 
The word pysanka stems from the word pysaty, "to write," because the designs are drawn upon the eggs in a prescribed and meaningful manner.  Pysanky symbols include geometric motifs, the sun, the cross, the triangle, endless lines, the tree of life, the church, and fish (symbolizing Christianity). The colors of the dyes are also symbolic. The tradition of pysanky precedes Christianity and reflects ancient myths in which the egg symbolizes life, the sun, and the universe. The eggs have been used as talismans to protect against evil, and they serve a variety of social and religious occasions.