November 4th was a big day on Ocracoke, just as it was across the U.S. About seventy percent of Ocracoke’s registered voters came out to cast their ballots at the Ocracoke Community Center. Ocracokers cast 305 votes for Barack Obama and 143 for John McCain, and Obama also won in the unofficial, but educational, mock election held at Ocracoke School.
The entire Ocracoke High School accompanied the three eighteen year-old seniors, Robert Chestnut, Michelle Frye and Emma Lovejoy, to the polls so they could vote for the first time ever!
And You Thought We Were Joking About The Poison Ivy!Something’s got to turn yellow and orange and red around here. The Virginia creeper puts on a nice show, too, but Toxidendron radicans is even prettier. It’s rather nice of the poison ivy to light itself up every fall so we know where we need to do some heavy pruning, if only it weren’t so lovely to look at.
Ocracoke Welcomes the Return of Bryan Bowers
On Wednesday, November 19th at 7:30 PM, Deepwater Theater is holding a special concert with Bryan Bowers, a master autoharpist, songer/songwriter and storyteller. Bryan has played on and offstage with Ocrafolk musicians, and some other folks you may have heard of such as Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Emmylou Harris and the Dillards. Earlier on Wednesday (4 PM), Bryan will hold a autoharp workshop at the theater for all interested in finding out more about this unique instrument. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Bryan will also be performing for some of the students of Ocracoke School. Find out more about Bryan at his website at
www.bryanbowers.com.
Prepare Yourselves for the Publishing Event of the Season…
Coming soon… Philip Howard’s first (but certainly not his last) book will be rolling off the presses sometime this month. This long-awaited compilation of Ocracoke folklore is titled Digging Up Uncle Evans: History, Ghost Tales and Stories from Ocracoke Island. Next week, we’ll have a full review of the book, and a short interview with Philip himself. In the meantime, you can read the first chapter on the Black Squall Books website at
www.blacksquallbooks.com.
The Ocrafolk School Was So Much Fun, We’re Going to Write About it Again!
The
Ocrafolk School was back for its second year and even better than before!
“The folk school was just as fresh this year and just as magic,” said returning student Margo Babb.
The Ocrafolk School offered five different classes this year during the week-long session. Pottery with Rhonda Bates and Wes Lassiter, Basketry with Judith Saunders, Island Cooking with Debbie Wells, Watercolor Painting with Mary Ellen Golden and the Ocrafolk Sampler (island ecology, history and maritime lore) with David Senseney, Philip Howard and Rob Temple.
Everyone thought that the class they took was the best, and all claimed bragging rights for having the most fun. As another returning student, Jo Ann Hummers, put it, “The sense of community is really a treasure!”
Painting
Mary Ellen’s class learned the basics of watercolor painting “with grace and ease” in their Ocrafolk School studio on the second floor porch of the Soundfront Inn. The view from the porch is nothing less than spectacular, and the space gave them plenty of inspiration and natural light.
Each of the seven students learned about mixing colors, removing color from the paintings in progress, and why the right kind of paper can make all the difference. (Mary Ellen swears by 140 lb. Arches brand paper.) The class was comprised of three total beginners and three more experienced painters, and all of them were proud of the paintings they completed.
During one afternoon’s painting session. Jane Srail was hard at work on her “view from the porch” painting, but paused to laugh, “My husband thinks I’m at home cleaning the house!”
BasketryThe students in Judith’s basketry class worked on projects big and small, and very diverse in technique and materials
Norma Sigal signed up for the basketry class two years in a row.
“It was so much fun last year,” she said. “And I wanted to come back and learn some more techniques from Judith – she’s such a great teacher.”
Susan Smart came to the class with a specific goal: to make a basket out of oak strips that she cut years ago. She had wanted to make a basket from scratch, and had split and then peeled strips from oak logs. With Judith’s help, she created a large, rustic basket made from all wood (no reeds or grasses) out of her oak strips and some Ocracoke cedar that studio assistant Amy Howard contributed.
“It was twenty years in the making,” Susan said, looking very pleased with her effort.
One of the students enrolled in Judith’s class was unable to attend due to health problems. Sue Lauderman and her niece, Terri Large, took the jewelry class together last year, and came back for more, signing up for different classes this time in basketry and pottery. When Sue took ill, the basketry class got together to make her a group basket; each member of the class worked on the basket and added her own touch. It was presented to Terri on the last day of the folk school, filled with goodies and mementos of Ocrafolk School for her to take to her Aunt Sue.
Cooking
Soundfront Inn was the place to be around 2pm every day, when the cooking class served up a late lunch spread that was nothing less than amazing. One cooking class meal included roast chicken, cranberry stuffing, crab cakes, baked winter squash, scallops with Berber spices, a tossed salad, Joyce O’Neal’s light rolls, and more. Dessert was chocolate bourbon torte and caramel flan.
As the class enjoyed its repast, they called out dished they would be sure to make again at home. The bok choy, sweet potatoes, Old Drum, clam chowder and Ocracoke fig cake (with and without cream cheese icing) were among the favorites.
The cooking class also spent an afternoon visiting the Fish House and learning all about Ocracoke’s wonderful local seafood. And they provided the grand finale breakfast of the week, a tasty feast of huevos rancheros, hash browns, and sourdough pancakes. The cooking class was quite smitten with their food, and many claimed to have the expanded waistlines to prove they’d feasted well.
Pottery
In Wes and Rhonda’s pottery class, the students (all beginners) learn the three ways to make something out of clay: handbuilding (pinch pots and coli pots), slab work, and throwing on the wheel. The class learned how to mix glazes, and load and unload a kiln. During a mid-week field trip to Wes and Rhonda’s
Red Drum Pottery Studio in Frisco, the class was thrilled to glaze and fire raku pots.
The also made face jugs, each of which had its distinct (weird) personality. Face jugs are a North Carolina tradition dating back to the 1800’s and possibly earlier in the Catawba Valley. It’s believed that slaves made face jugs to ward off the devil, but another theory is that the faces were intended to scare children away from the jug’s contents – most likely moonshine. Some of the antique face jugs are worth tens of thousands of dollars these days! Wonder what our Ocrafolk School jugs will be worth in 100+ years…
The pottery class was so enamored of their instructors they made up a cheer about them to present at Friday morning’s show-and-tell.
“Wes! Wes! He’s our man! If he can’t do it, Rhonda can!”
The Ocrafolk Sampler
The Ocrafolk Sampler class had the good fortune of having not one, not two, but three (!) instructors to teach them about Ocracoke ecology, history and seafaring traditions. Retired biology teacher David Senseney led the group in expeditions to go kayaking, clamming, seine-netting and hiking across the island from sea to sound.
After David plum wore them out, Philip took over and led discussions about Ocracoke’s history and culture. The class met in Philip’s historic home, and learned about the Ocracoke Lifesaving Service (and watched a video of the lifesaving re-enactment at Chicamacomico) and looked at old maps of the island. Philip shared a traditional Ocracoke fig cake (that he baked himself) and led a walk down Howard Street to see the old family cemeteries. Philip is a fine raconteur, and enjoys telling a tale, especially if it’s about one of his notorious Howard ancestors!
Capt. Rob Temple took the class back in time to the days of wooden ships and iron men. He shared stories of the sea, sang sea shanties, and taught the class some marlinspike seamanship (traditional rope work). He prepared an almost-edible meal of hardtack, and helped them learn the ropes aboard Windfall.
And it wasn’t all about the classes!
The total experience of the Ocrafolk School included sailing on the schooner Windfall, a guided tour of the OPS Museum, breakfasts at the Flying Melon Restaurant, dinners at the Flying Melon and Capt. Ben’s Restaurant, carryout from Thai Moon, and a shrimp boil supper at Soundfront Inn, attending a special Ocrafolk Opry performance, and enjoying a farewell breakfast prepared by the cooking class. Whew! All that in one week! Where do I find more information? At
www.ocrafolkschool.org of course!
