Tag: Sara Elizabeth

HOLIDAY SHOP LOCAL SUPER SCOOP: FOLLY COVE DESIGNS FOR SALE AT ALEXANDRA’S BREAD!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Alexandra's Bread Louise kenyon ©Kim Smith 2015Don’t miss this rare opportunity to purchase exquisite handmade vintage linens. Pictured above is a Louise Kenyon table mat from 1943, in absolute mint condition. Alexandra has a fabulous array of table runners, place mats, and holiday cards by Folly Cove trained artists Sara Elizabeth and Isabel Natti, printed on cotton on the original acorn press. The prices are incredibly reasonable, starting at only five dollars for the cards and twenty dollars for the linens. I am positive any one of these whimsical designs would make a treasured gift (or you may just have to purchase one for yourself as I am so tempted to do!). Alexandra has many more designs than what you see pictured here so stop in and have a look see!

Alexandra's Bread -2 ©Kim Smith 2015

Alexandra's Bread Isabel Natti Lobster ©Kim Smith 2015

Alexandra’s Bread is located at 265 Main Street, Gloucester. They are open Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30am to 5pm.

To learn more about Virginia Lee Burton and the Folly Cove Designers, visit the Cape Ann Museum’s beautiful collection of art and artifacts from the group’s heyday, on display in the Folly Cove room.

SEE MORE PHOTOS HERE Continue reading “HOLIDAY SHOP LOCAL SUPER SCOOP: FOLLY COVE DESIGNS FOR SALE AT ALEXANDRA’S BREAD!” →

Isabel Natti Herring Plant Print

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Isabel Natti’s Herring Factory Print is incredible on many different levels.  One is that it is visually gorgeous, but what the casual observer may not understand is how much detail and how accurate the entire scene is to how we actually did things back in the day.  Isabel worked for Wally Maggot, a guy who rented a pier that no longer exists on our property. They did the same type of whiting, squid and herring packing that my Grandfather Captain Joe, and Father and Uncle’s company did.

Isabel Natti Herring Plant Print, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

If you look at the photo up in the top right corner she tells the entire story starting with the two pair trawlers catching the herring.
Next in the middle, the boats are offloading at the dock where the herring get weighed and go up a conveyor into the pen room.  From the pen room they would travel down on conveyors down the packing lines where they would get packed into 45 pound cases.  Then they would get covered, weighed and then placed on big freezer racks.  Next along you can see the person making up the boxes on the same box stapling machine that we used where you would press down with your foot on the pedal and it would swing the arm to staple the corners of the cardboard boxes.  Lastly they get loaded on the truck to head off to the freezer.
I can’t believe she captured the entire scene in one frame. It is all there- the story of many many people’s day on Gloucester Harbor.  I can see it all and it will live on through her work even though the piers have long fallen into the ocean.
Part II of our interview will be posted at 9:00AM
You can check out the Sara Elizabeth Shop By Clicking This text for more pictures of the designs and the rich history of The Acorn Press and Folly Cove Designers

Lobster Placemats Made With The Acorn Press

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

These lobster placemats can be purchased at The Sara Elizabeth Shop where Isabel Natti hand presses them with the Acorn Press.  Part II of our interview with Isabel Natti will be up at 9:00AM

Lobster Placemats Made With The Acorn Press, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

Sara Elizabeth Shop at Whistlestop Mall Rockport

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

All of these prints were made using the Acorn Press.   For more of the history of The Acorn Press, and The Folly Cove Designers click this highlighted text.   Interview with Isabel Natti due at 9:00AM

SAra Elizabeth Shop at Whistlestop Mall Rockport, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

Acorn Press At Sara Elizabeth Shop

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Here is the Acorn Press still used today at the Sara Elizabeth Shop at The Whistlestop Mall in Rockport.  Part one of my interview with Isabel Natti who maintains this tradition will run today at 9:00AM.

Acorn Press At Sara Elizabeth Shop, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

The Folly Cove Designers

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

From the Sara Elizabeth website-

“History of the Folly Cove Designers

The Folly Cove Designers grew out of a design course taught by Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios. She lived in Folly Cove, the most northerly part of Lanesville, Gloucester, Massachusetts. She was able to express the local consensus that the world was a beautiful place, and the elements of beauty surround us in nature.

Her block printing thesis grew out of the home industries/arts and crafts movements of the past. The artist/designer of products for home use is separated from the product by machine age technology (and now globalization). Fine art for home use is within our own power. To this end her design course taught an ability to see the design in nature, a set of good design rules (dark and light, sizing, repetition, reflection, etc.), and the craftsmanship of carving the linoleum, and then printing fabric for home use.

On completion of the course the graduate was permitted to submit a design to the jury(selected Designers rotated this responsibility starting in 1943) of the Folly Cove Designers. If it was accepted as displaying the design qualities as taught in the course, then they could carve the design in linoleum and print it for sale as a Folly Cove Design.

The design course started in 1938. In 1940 they had their first public exhibition-in the Demetrios studio. The following year they decided to go public, they called themselves the Folly Cove Designers. Every year they had an opening to present the new designs, and everyone enjoyed the coffee and nisu (Finnish coffee bread). They established a relationship to wholesale their work to the America House of New York which had been established in 1940 by the American Craftsman Cooperative Council. In 1944 they hired Dorothy Norton as an executive secretary to run the business end of the successful young enterprise. In 1945, Lord and Taylor bought non-exclusive rights to five designs which pushed the reputation of the group, and began some national publicity and diverse commissions for their work.”

For the rest of this click this text

Alexandra’s Bread has some of the wall hangings for sale from Sara Elizabeth-

Sarah Elizabeth Prints At Alexandra’s Bread

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Sara Elizabeth prints available at Alexandra’s Bread.  Check Out The Acorn Press that the Folly Cove Designers use to press these by clicking the highlighted text.

Sarah Elizabeth Prints, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

Sara Elizabeth Print At Alexandra’s Bread, originally uploaded by captjoe06.