Traditional fiddle music, singing
and gigue dancing will be featured at the opening for
the only Connecticut showing of the exhibit Sur Bois:
Franco-American Woodcarvers of New England. The festivities,
hosted by the Institute for Community Research, in partnership
with L'Union des Franco-Américains du Connecticut,
will take place on Saturday, October 10 from 4:00-8:00
pm at the Institute's gallery at 2 Hartford Square West
(off Wyllys Street). The French fiddle group Michel Grenier
et ses Joyeux Copains will perform along with gigue dancer
Charlotte Bernard and singers of chansons a répondre
(call and response songs).
Sur Bois, a French phrase meaning "on wood,"
showcases the range and vitality of traditional Franco-American
woodcarving, a pursuit with a long history in New England.
Early French settlers here felled trees to clear the land,
becoming lumberjacks, carpenters, and joiners as they
transformed wood into houses, barns, churches, furniture,
and art. The exhibit's artworks in wood range from a larger-than-life
lumberjack to tiny birds, and from religious carvings
to toys. Exhibit sections follow themes reflecting Franco-American
culture, such as farm and work life, the Catholic faith,
contact with native Americans, recreations, and nature.
Sur Bois features over forty carvers including Connecticut
Franco-Americans Richard Boisclair of Barkhamstead, Alan
Reynolds of Burlington, and George Daigle of South Windsor
who has been carving for almost 70 years. The Franco-American
community in Connecticut numbers about 371,000, descendants
of immigrants from French-speaking areas of Quebec, Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, and northern Vermont and
New Hampshire.
"L'Union and Franco-Americans throughout Connecticut
are proud to bring Sur Bois to Hartford," said Evelyn
Sirois, program director of L'Union. "It is the first
major exhibit to highlight our heritage in the state,
and we plan to present many more artistic and educational
projects featuring our culture."
The exhibit has been developed by the Centre Franco-Américain
in Manchester, New Hampshire and a consortium of community
organizations throughout New England. Funders include
the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lila Wallace-Readers
Digest Community Folklife Program, the Florence Gould
Foundation, and other private and public contributors.
In Connecticut the exhibit is sponsored by the Connecticut
Commission on the Arts.
The exhibit will continue in the Institute's gallery until
December 31, 12:00 - 4:00 pm weekdays. Admission is free.
The Institute's Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program
focuses on documentation, preservation and presentation
of the state's traditional artists and their communities.
The mission of L'Union des Franco-Américains du
Connecticut is to encourage knowledge and understanding
of the importance of ethnic and traditional arts among
citizens of Connecticut with a French heritage, and their
contributions to the state's character and history.
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"L'Union and Franco-Americans throughout
Connecticut are proud to bring Sur Bois to Hartford."
Evelyn Sirois, Program Director of L'Union
des Franco-Américains du Connecticut
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