This issue of Field Notes deals with arts in the Calumet region, the Work and Life: Voices from Perry County project. It also features discussions on artists Milan Opacich and LadySax.Indiana University Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana Arts Commissio

Traditional Arts Indiana

English

IUScholarWorks (Indiana University)

1 Field NotesF i e l d  N o t e sNews from Traditional Arts IndianaVolume 3, No. 1 March 2001Lyceum 2000Our Other Lives: Work and Creativityin the Calumet RegionTAI and the Indiana Historical Society hosted “adifferent kind of history conference” in the fall of2000, one modeled after the lyceums common inthe Midwest in the late 1800s and early 1900s.Like its predecessors, this lyceum brought resi-dents of Indiana’s Calumet Region together for“mental, moral, and physical expansion combinedwith wholesome entertainment” (1912).Participants and audience members leftthe lyceum, held September 30–October 1, men-tally stimulated by lively roundtable exchanges,morally uplifted by the deep individual commit-ment to community or artistic practice, whole-somely entertained by the history of Gary as toldin word and song and physically invigorated by aSunday tour of churches, historic neighborhoods,and an international harbor. After the tour, twolong-time Calumet Region residents announcedthey were canceling future trips in order to ex-plore closer to home.The Lyceum’s theme brought together chefs,musicians, artists,collectors, re-enactors, actors,community activists,and spare-timehistorians to reflecton regional, commu-nal and personalmeaning pursued through work and their creative“other lives.” Local residents and others across thestate gathered to learn about the Calumet Regionand celebrate its rich and diverse heritage. Themusic roundtable introduced an African Americanjazz musician and a Serbian/Croatian tamburitzamusician, both from Gary, both musicians during anera of segregation. A friendship has grown fromtheir common interests in preserving their musicalheritage, and they continue to correspond bysharing information and photographs from OldGary’s music scene.We are in the planning process for the nextLyceum to be held in southwest Indiana spring of2002. Plan to attend this engaging event; come ex-plore Indiana’s vast regional diversity.Greek cooking master class proudly displays finished baklava.(l-r, front row: Elin Christianson, Becky Crabb, Mary Halkias,Irene Batalis; back row: Cynthia Ogorek and Peter Youngman)— Photo by Erin Roth The Lake Erie docking atthe international harborat the Port of Indiana,one of the stops alongthe Lyceum bus tour. — Photo by Inta Carpenter“[Teaching the master class] was the besttime of my life I have ever had working withpeople.  I swear! They were a great group ofpeople!” — Mary Halkias, Merrillville resi-dent and master Greek cook.2 Field NotesFrom the spoken word to the hand-made object, individuals expressthemselves in ways firmly grounded anddeeply connected to commnity.Traditional Arts Indiana, a partnershipof the Indiana Arts Commission and theIndiana University Folklore Institute,works locally with individuals andorganizations to promote and facilitate culturaldocumentation and public programming. TheNational Endowment for the Arts, the IndianaArts Commission, Indiana University, andprivate donations support the work of TAI. Formore information, contact Erin Roth, ProgramManager, (812)855-0418,<tradarts@indiana.edu>.On the Road . . .Voices of Perry County Project Winds DownOver fifty Perry County residents and TAI staffgathered in November to listen, share, reminisce andreflect. Those present shared stories about their firstjobs, and presenters shared slides and excerpts frominterviews. The Tell City Historical Society hostedthe evening as part of their monthly meeting.Work and Life: Voices of Perry County, a commu-nity oral history project to document the county’s worktraditions, successfully trained community volunteers,students, and teachers in the skills of oral historyresearch and recorded nearly 40 interviews.Two teachers from Perry County schoolsenthusiastically summarized their successful oralhistory projects — history lessons straight from thosewho lived it. Antoinette Kranning’s fifth graders atPerry Central Elementary explored the county’ssmall, independently owned general stores. Someonly exist as memories. Students did their ownresearch, invited storekeepers into the classroom,and created replicas of the stores using a variety ofmaterials from Popsicle sticks to appliance card-board boxes. In response to the community’s enthu-siasm about the project, Kranning said, “It reallymakes the kids feel important. It just goes to showthat the value of research is great.”Joan Goble and Penny Hardman, teachers at Can-nelton Elementary, coordinated a year-long oral historyproject called Echoes of Cannelton. After studentsreceived training from TAI staff and teachers, theyrecorded interviews on tape in the classroom witholder residents. Visit their website at: <http://ftp1.att.virtualclassroom.org/vc_33/>.Tapes, transcripts, and photographs from theVoices of Perry County project are being archived at theIndiana Historical Society, the Tell City Historical Society(TCHS), and the Perry County Museum (PCM). Fund-ing for this project was provided for by Indiana Humani-ties Council, TAI, PCM, and TCHS. Project DirectorChuck Poehlein and others plan to continue interview-ing, using equipment purchased with grant funds.From the Field . . .[Excerpted from Inta Carpenter’s fieldnotes, recorded after the initialLyceum planning meeting and informal tour of the Calumet Region.]November 17, 1999The most obvious impression is that this was a dayof incredibly rich aesthetics — Milan [Opacich’s]shop, St. George’s Serbian Orthodox Church, JohnCain’s [Director of Northern Indiana Arts Associa-tion] house, the Bakery restaurant (whose entreescame in swirls of color and motion). And yet, wewere supposed to be in an “economically chal-lenged” area of the state, where we were told wewould more than likely fear for our lives than enjoyit. And indeed we have seen empty storefronts. But itis in some sense a folklorist’s dream and vindication:in fact, creativity is the common denominator ofbeing human. But so is the possibility of corruption,The TAI TeamDorothy Ilgen, (IAC), TAI AdvisorGayle Holtman, (IAC), TAI LiaisonInta Carpenter, TAI Project DirectorErin Roth, TAI Project ManagerIlze Akerbergs, TAI Technology CoordinatorVelma Carmichael, TAI Office SupportFieldworkers 2001: Inta Carpenter, Maria DelPilár Muriel, Kathy Roberts, Erin RothClifford Gunn, woodworker and 33-year veteran of the Tell CityChair Company, holds an exact replica of a popular companychair he made while working in the Sample Room. The Tell CityChair Company, an established manufacturer of fine furniture forfive generations, closed its doors in 1996. — Photo by Erin Roth3 Field Notes“”Cpassivity, disregard rather than the kind of rebellionand agency that creativity entails. Milan repeatedlyused the words “my hero” to describe significantpeople in his life. Others throughout the day also toldus of personal heroes, other Regionites. We certainlyhave met people who are committed to this area, whofeel and connect with its energy and the obvious be-nefits of living here. And we are lucky to have guidesalong the way, for there is much here to discover.April 20, 2000As I read back on these notes, I realize much Ileft undescribed: John took us to Crown Point tovisit the arts center satellite there, to his main placefor NIAA in Munster, to the Hammond “sub-station,” as he calls it, housed in an old buildingdonated by NIPSCO, drove us through Hammond,where we saw the huge mural of the ministerialcouple on the side of a Baptist church. Milan took usto St. Sava Orthodox church — grand and majestic.Ron Cohen [IU-N Professor] drove us around thenext day — a sweeping tour that left the impressionof continuity from one town to another. They allmerged for me, but to Ron were distinct. He showedus remarkable architectural experiments, in bothdesign and construction. I remember leaving the areafeeling let down to be returning to the familiarity ofBloomington, to be leaving the urban complex withits overlapping and interlocking scenes.Creating, Changing, RenewingPortraits of Indiana’s Traditional ArtistsLadySax — Ernie ShelbyErnie Shelby’s first passion is music. Shelby wassurrounded by the animated sounds of her mother’sPentecostal church choir and the blues she and herbrother would hearwhen her father sneakedthem out of the house toa local gathering place.Now an accomplishedalto saxophonist, ownerof her own recordingcompany, poet, song-writer, and singer, Shelbysupports her musicthrough her day-work asfiscal officer for ProjectLearn, a Chicago non-profit that administersfifteen daycare and HeadStart centers. Throughher company EDSAS, shealso provides bookkeep-ing and tax preparationfor a variety of churches, daycare centers, andindividuals.Shelby performs regularly with the Gary-basedblues band Fabulous Kings and solos for weddings,churches, clubs. Currently she is producing a record-ing of female voices from the Calumet Regionthrough her recording company Dimples Co, namedfor her distinctive dimples when she plays.[Shelby participated in the Lyceum 2000. The following is excerptedfrom one of the roundtables.]Inta Carpenter: Who were your role models?Shelby: I figured only Liberace played the pianobecause I think I saw Liberace on Ed Sullivan.Granddad came by and he could play the piano. Ifigured we were descendents of Liberace. (For somereason, I felt all farmers were brothers and sisters.Whatever your occupation was, I felt you were kin-folk, because it looked like all the railroad guys werebrothers, so all musicians, to me, all piano players werekin-folk in some kind of way.) When granddad cameHome of Paul Myers, third generation resident of Marktown, atown designed as a community for workers of Mark Manufac-turing Co. in 1917, by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw. Thenarrow European-style streets and stucco houses contrast withits neighboring industrial sites, Amoco Oil and LTV Steel.Marktown is located in East Chicago and was one of the stopsalong the Lyceum bus tour. — Photo by Inta CarpenterErnie Shelby and her sax,here singing solo at theRichardson weddingreception at MarquettePark in Gary, July 2000.— Photo by Erin RothMerrillville, Indiana4 Field NotesTraditional Arts IndianaA Partnership of Indiana Universityand the Indiana Arts Commission504 N. Fess AvenueBloomington, Indiana 47408Non-Profit Org.US Postage PaidPermit No. 2Bloomington, Ind.out and he started playing, it was like, “We belong onEd Sullivan.”And then after a while I found that Momplayed. She’s my main role model because she’s afemale. Every now and then when all the men-folkwere out, she would tickle the keys. She got on thatpiano and I said, “My mother is Liberace’s sister!”And I would go to school and tell people, “We’re kinto Liberace!”Finally I realized. I saw Fats Domino on T.V.and I said, “He’s really Liberace’s brother.” Finally Ifigured out by the time I was maybe five or six, justbecause you all do the same thing, you’re not broth-ers and sisters. And because I didn’t see black/white,I didn’t see old/young, I didn’t see north/south, Ididn’t see anything. And I think that really createdthe love for music. You might say I wanted to be inLiberace’s family — was the main reason I gotstarted. But it was in our home at all times and youcouldn’t really avoid it.The Bulletin Board• June 9–July 1, 2001   Intensive three-weekfield school Documenting Local Culture focus-ing on the experience of disability in the Bloom-ington community. For more information, call orvisit <www.indiana.edu/~tradarts/fieldschool.html>.The field school is sponsored by TAI, IndianaUniversity Folklore Institute, Indiana Instituteon Disability and Community, and the Ameri-can Folklife Center.• TEACHERS! <www.tapnet.org> For Summer2001 list of training opportunities, follow the linkto the “Teacher Training In Folk Arts, Folklife,and Oral History — Summer 2001.”• August 16, 2001  TAI Day at the Indiana StateFair at the Main Street Stage. Also visit the sheepbarn to see a short video featuring Indiana’s 4-Hkids and their sheep, a collaboration between TAIand IU video students.

Field Notes: News from Traditional Arts Indiana

https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/2022/13122/1/newsletter3_1.pdf

Field Notes: News from Traditional Arts Indiana

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

IUScholarWorks (Indiana University)