- [Announcer] Support provided by The Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the State of Connecticut Office of Film, Television & Digital Media, and Connecticut Humanities.

(gentle music) (door thumps) (car cranks) (car engine humming) - [Ray] For all my life, I've loved art.

From my time as a musician and artist, I believe the stories of artists themselves can inform, excite, and elevate.

- While riding a mountain bike, I came upon this blown-down maple tree with three tree holes on it.

I came back with my chainsaw and cut 'em off, put 'em in my shop, and about a year later, I came up with the idea to put a mirror in the back.

- Artists can inform us of history, of a moment in time, and reflect on modern society, and I find this fascinating.

That's why I'm on the search for Connecticut's most vibrant artists, and to shed light on their stories from designers and painters to muralists and poets.

Join me as I find the people that make up Connecticut's art scene on "Where ART Thou?"

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle bright music) Welcome to "Where ART Thou?"

I'm your host, Ray Hardman.

Today, I'm in the Quiet Corner of Connecticut.

If you ever wanna get a sense of what life was like in New England in the 17 and 1800s, Northeast Connecticut is the place where you will find it.

So today I'm looking for artists thriving in this area that kind of reflect the rustic part of this state.

I'm on my way to Willimantic and the studios of WILI Radio.

I'm meeting John Murphy, he's the longtime host of the WILI radio show "On the Homefront."

He's also our guide for this episode.

Let's see what John has for us today.

(gentle bright music) - Hi, folks, I'm John Murphy.

Welcome to "On the Homefront."

We're here every Wednesday afternoon from five to six on WILI AM 1400.

- [Ray] John, so good to see you again.

- Thank you very much for joining us here at WILI.

It's great to have you in the house.

- WILI is such an important part of the community here in Willimantic, isn't it?

- For many, many decades they've been a source of local news, local community support, they cover all the parades, and they have many local talk shows where people tell local stories and connect to local journalism, 'cause that's hard to get coverage these days, and so the station really makes a difference, I think.

- And it makes a difference in the community, people are listening this radio station, right?

- Yeah, there are younger audiences still looking for radio as a way to connect.

They're kind of getting overloaded with so many audio music sources.

But, you know, radio is local and there's a person there, and there's other people sharing stories, and I think everybody needs more of that.

- Yeah, I love that, I love that.

Tell me about "On the Homefront."

- "On the Homefront's" been here for about four years.

We've done about, I would say, 200 shows.

When you look carefully, as you know, stories are everywhere.

And we cover the arts, individual artists, we talk about arts guilds, arts councils.

We have a network of all the music venues, so they come on and preview their events and talk about the music scene, and what things are like for artists on the road.

- So you really have your pulse on what's happening around here, but the Quiet Corner's a large area.

- [John] It is.

- Tell me about the arts community.

- Well, I've been here for many years now, almost 40 years.

And out here the area is very remote, some people use the word isolation, and there are a lot of artists that work on their own in their house and they struggle to feel connected.

So what's happening, that I've seen in the last several years, is this area is in a recovery mode.

Economically, things are turning.

Downtown Willimantic is having work done, finally, that's been years in the works.

And the arts community is coming out of the caves of Covid, they're coming to events, they're going to arts, you know, meetings.

And I feel the community is getting tighter now, and they realize distance is not the issue, it's community.

- Well, John, I'm glad you're our guide for this episode today.

Tell us where we're going.

- Okay, Ray, we have two guests for today.

One is Peggy from Chaplin, she is a spinner, somebody who makes yarn and thread.

And it's a mechanism just like the spinning wheel- - Like an old spinning wheel.

- Exactly.

- Wow.

- And she does classes at the Windham Textile Museum.

She's a master spinner, and, you know, her work is in many shows in the area.

So that's Peggy.

Then we're gonna have a visit with John Starinovich, who works with wood.

He is in Willington, and he's done phenomenal woodworking as well.

So you're gonna get to see them both in their studios as they create their art.

- Oh, fantastic, well, I can't wait.

John, thank you so much for your help today.

- Oh, thanks for coming out.

- Yeah, and congratulations on all the good work here you're doing on WILI.

I really feel like we're kind of, you know, together here in the fact that we wanna get the word out about these amazing artists that are happening.

- Yeah, and I really appreciate your show 'cause you're doing that work as well.

Across the state, people need to connect better all the time, and you're making a big difference too.

So thank you.

- Yeah.

We're gonna head out and go see these guests you mentioned.

- All right.

(paper crackling) (pencil scratching) - John, first, thanks for having us here.

- Well, I appreciate you guys coming over to check out my stuff.

- Let's back to the very beginning.

How did your journey with wood begin?

And was it somebody in your family?

How did you get started being interested in creating with wood?

- Well, I think as a young boy, I was interested in wood, always out in the woods.

And when I got to high school, I had a industrial arts course and I really fell in love with it.

And made a few things, and I got an honorable mention on one thing I made.

And looking back, I realized that I had the ability to polish a piece of wood and make it so you could see what's there.

- [Ray] Mhmm.

(gentle music) The thing that amazes me about John's art is how unusual it is.

His philosophy is that while tree holes provide a habitat for wildlife, they also can be a great medium for creativity.

Because of this, he only uses tree holes from downed trees.

He says that his work is part him and part Mother Nature, blended together to create a completely unique functional art form.

(gentle music) - While riding a mountain bike, I came upon this blown-down maple tree with three tree holes on it.

And I came back with my chainsaw and cut 'em off, put 'em in my shop, and about a year later, I came up with the idea to put a mirror in the back.

So that's how it all started.

(gentle music) The first time I got fascinated with mirror was I was lucky enough, when I was in the Army, I went to Paris, and I went to Versailles, and they have the Hall of Mirrors, and it's amazing.

I mean, way back then, they lined up all these mirrors, and you look in that mirror and you can see mirrors forever.

(gentle music) - Is there an aesthetic for you having the mirror there?

I mean, is there a hope for the viewer?

Because I know when I peeked in, there was something, I don't know, there was a feeling I definitely had just looking at myself in the mirror within this crazy wood sculpture.

- Well, it does create a lot of things.

First of all, you're mirrored in a frame of a tree hole with your faces in there.

And then, there's another world created by the mirror, the mirror doubles the depth.

It's all these little worlds in there.

- Yeah, yeah.

John, what do we have here?

- Well, this is what I call shake and bake.

- Okay.

- It's really what is a controlled decay process that I kind of came upon by accident.

I had a couple tree holes years ago in a bag in my shop, and I forgot all about 'em.

And I opened them up, they were covered with mushrooms and fungus.

And what I noticed is it allowed me to take the bark off, which was great, because it is fused to the tree.

And that first layer of wood is the cambium layer that has all the details, and you don't wanna lose that.

You can't sand the bark off, or you can, but you lose all the detail.

- Right, right.

- [John] So I keep them in a bag in a warm place, and keep 'em moist.

- [Ray] How long has this been in the bag?

- This has been in for quite a few months.

I bet you eight months.

But it's been in my shop, which is only like 65 degrees in the winter time.

So the process is slow.

So this piece is nearly done.

The bark is off, most of it.

And, also, I'm hoping that this green fungus on here is penetrating into the wood, and if it is, it's fungus called Chlorociboria, with another big Latin word after it.

- Right, right.

- We'll go into this wood, and it's a piece of oak, so that'll make it quite interesting.

- [Ray] Now was this just a rough cut you did with your chainsaw?

- [John] Yes, this is just a rough cut with a chainsaw.

As you can see, it's quite irregular.

- Yeah.

- And so after I get the bark off of this, I'll just let this season for a good six to eight months.

And, at that point, that's when I come in and flatten this out.

- Now let me ask you something.

At this point, do you have any creative thoughts about this piece of wood?

- Not really.

You know, sometimes you look at it like, this is what I was talking about with a termination, so I'm gonna do something here instead of just having a butt cut.

- Right.

- But this piece in itself, I know it's gonna be spectacular.

I mean, what happens now, I'll just clean this up.

And then, you're working on it.

Your mind's constantly thinking, "What are you gonna do?"

- Right, right.

- And I have left a couple plain, and people complained about me leaving them plain without putting a little nuance in there.

So there'll be something.

But some of 'em, the minute I see 'em, I know that it's gonna be this or it's gonna be that.

- Now this one might take a little bit more thought?

- Yeah, it might.

- Yeah.

(gentle music) (chisel scratching) - This is the first one that I did any carving on.

And so I did most of this, this was before I had my power tools, most of this was done with knives, and chisels, and sanding.

I was quite pleased with the way this one came out.

It's a very interesting piece of wood, and it was great to work with.

And the end results were pretty darn good.

(gentle music) - Did I hear you mention that you are the artist, but you're almost an artist with Mother Nature, you two are collaborating almost in a sense?

- Right, well, I've given 'em a second life, I guess.

So, I mean, that's what I do, and I'm revealing to the world what's actually there.

- Is that part of it for you?

- Oh yeah, yeah.

- I show you what Mother Nature created, I reveal to you, and I do my little nuances.

So, I mean, a lot of, you know, flat boards are beautiful, but you're not seeing the beginning of the entity of the tree, which I find is fascinating.

- You know, if you think about society as a whole, the world is moving more toward technology, not pulling away from technology, you have things like AI, that type of thing.

Your art seems to be kind of the opposite of that, the antidote for that.

Do you feel that?

- Well, the thing I like about it is, another thing is it's gonna be hard to reproduce.

Each one of these is unique.

I have some here that are from trees that are close to 200 years old.

And AI's gonna have a tough time, not that AI couldn't reproduce some of this stuff, but I was just thinking the other day, I was gonna call one auntie, like A-U-N-T-I-E, Auntie AI.

So I think people get refreshed looking at it.

They come out of here feeling happier.

(gentle upbeat music) - So in the mid 1800s, Connecticut's Quiet Corner became a hub for textile manufacturing.

Willimantic's American Thread Company led the way.

At one point, they employed over 1,000 people.

I'm on my way to the Windham Textile and History Museum, also known as the Mill Museum.

I wanna learn more about this humongous factory, and maybe we will even uncover a few secrets along the way.

(gentle upbeat music) Let's talk about the history of textiles.

First, there were lots of places in Connecticut that had textile factories.

What made Willimantic so special?

- It was water power.

So the Industrial Revolution in America began in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and then moved its way north and west from there.

So came to Connecticut from Rhode Island, and the people that were trying to create the mills were looking for waterfalls.

Not on big rivers, like the Connecticut River, which they didn't have the technology to dam, but also they needed the smaller rivers that have the big drops.

So the Willimantic River drops 90 feet in less than a mile, that's a considerable drop.

And it's the gravity that created the power, and it was the water power that moved the machinery of the early Industrial Revolution.

(gentle music) Its real claim to fame was having the Willimantic Linen Company, which became American Thread.

American Thread was one of the largest textile factories in the world.

It was an international conglomerate.

But even as the Willimantic Linen Company, they had some firsts.

And so the first-first was that they stockpiled cotton in advance of the Civil War, which most factories didn't do.

They used that money to build a new factory.

They called it Mill #2, with new, modern, sophisticated spinning machines that made thread, and that's what they made was cotton thread, thread that was so uniform, it would fit into that newfangled device, the home sewing machine.

(gentle music) - The art of creating and working with thread is so deep rooted in eastern Connecticut.

For handweaver Peggy Church, her journey with art began more than 40 years ago after she discovered a spinning wheel in her attic.

Spinning led to weaving, and weaving has led to years of passion through art.

(gentle music) (loom clacking) Let's talk first about the very beginning.

How did you end up in Connecticut?

How did you start spinning and later weaving?

- I came to Connecticut in 1958 to attend pharmacy school at UConn.

And it just happened that, in Chemistry 101, my lab partner eventually became my husband.

- (laughs) Okay.

- I don't remember it, but he does.

I was this girl from New Jersey with a New Jersey accent, which fascinated him.

And he was a commuter, he lived on a dairy farm in Chaplin that his family bought in 1834.

They put storm windows on and they asked us to insulate the attic floors.

And in the attic, under the eaves, was a basket.

There was various equipment, like wool cards, there was old wool, and various things that you would use for textiles, both weaving and spinning.

(gentle music) Well, (chuckles) that was the real beginning.

So at the end of the weekend, my mother-in-law said, "Well, I have two great wheels, dear.

Would you like to take one home?"

(Ray laughing) Of course, I said, "Yes," and that was really the beginning of my interest.

I had always done, oh, knitting, and sewing clothes, and such.

So I had a minor interest in textiles, but it was more to get the product than to make the product.

- But what was it that made you wanna do that?

- We lived in a 1790 house.

- Yeah.

- And I thought it would be really nice to make the textiles for that house, you know, curtains, and pillows, and things like that.

- Where did you take it from there?

Did you start studying with people?

- There was a book in the children's room at the library.

It was called "Learning to Weave."

It was by Molly Duncan.

I was bringing my kids to the library to entertain them.

And there was this book, and it was simple, and it explained, "Oh, that's how you do it."

(gentle bright music) I saw a woman at a barn frame loom and she was weaving a check blanket.

And it was like, I was stunned, I had to do that.

(gentle bright music) - So tell me what you're doing right now.

- Okay, well, I have raised all of the threads that are threaded on shafts one and three are now up.

And I'll pass the shuttle through the, this is called the shed, and I'll beat that thread in place.

And then, I'll change, now I have all the threads on two and four up.

And I'll pass the shuttle again.

(loom clacks) - Oh, I see what you're doing with your foot pedals down there.

You're switching it up.

Yeah.

- The odds versus the evens.

- Right.

How long will it take you to complete this?

- The shuttle throwing part takes between two and three hours.

- Is that your favorite part of this?

- No, I like when I thread the loom.

You know, people ask, "You have to put a thread through each one of those things?"

Those are called heddles.

- Mhmm.

- And I say, "No, and elf comes and does it while I take a nap."

(Ray laughs) - How convenient, yeah.

- So you dress the loom, and you hope you didn't make any errors.

And then, you start to weave.

And the best part is when you see there's no errors in this process and you start to weave.

I'm watching to make sure there's no skipped threads.

Sometimes you put the shuttle in and you pick up a thread underneath, you have to be careful, you have to be accurate.

And I think of a lot of nothing, I look out the window, you know?

- Did you say it's kind of like a zen experience for you?

- Yes, it truly is, yeah.

- Tell me more about that.

- Well, it's the combined motions.

Your feet, your arms, you're so occupied by what's happening here.

And it's repetitive, and so it just brings you to a quiet place, even though the loom is making noise.

- Right, but you get into a rhythm.

- Your brain becomes quiet.

- Yeah, yeah, I can see that.

- Yeah.

Just low tech.

(wheel buzzing) - What was it about the process that captivated you?

- It's so primal.

You take this fluffy fiber, and you spin it into yarn, and then you make it into something that you use, that you can wear or a blanket.

It's just so satisfying.

So you've spent many hours in this process, and then you have something that's useful, and every time you use it, it gives you a kick.

It makes you smile, "I did this."

- Just looking around, there's so much color, even things that you're working on.

Tell me how you choose color.

How important is color to you, and how do you make those decisions?

- Design in weaving is about a third of the time, and weaving is a third of the time, and finishing is a third of the time.

And it's not done until it's wet finished, because it changes a lot when it gets wet.

So the color choices in the weave structure are the first things that you think about.

And the weaving structure makes pointillistic color.

It's like the cartoons, where the little dots make the color.

Little dots of different color give you the illusion of another color.

And it's the same thing in weaving, because all of the threads are intersecting.

So if you intersect two different colors, you get a blend of the colors in your eye, so you need to plan on that when you're planning weaving.

And some weavers are color-texture weavers, and some people like structure, and it's just a personality choice.

- And you are a?

- I'm not sure.

I think I like both.

It depends, sometimes I like just stupid, plain weave and pretty colors, and sometimes I want really complex structures, which I can do on my big loom.

(gentle music) (gentle music) (loom clacking) In weaving patterns, certain threads are up or down and they make this weave structure, and we have these little names for them.

There was a scientist, a professor at MIT, and his name was Claude Shannon.

In his obituary in "Time Magazine," they called him the "Father of IT."

He discovered how to send data on phone lines.

His wife was a master weaver, and I think there was cross-pollination there.

- Peggy Church, such a fascinating day, learning so much about your craft.

I'm so happy that we had a chance to do this.

Thank you so much.

- It's been a lot of fun.

(gentle music) (gentle bright music) - Well, just a fantastic day here in the Quiet Corner.

I learned so much today.

Thanks for watching "Where ART Thou?"

(gentle bright music) (gentle bright music continues) ♪ It don't get better than this ♪ ♪ It don't get better than this ♪ ♪ It don't get better than this ♪ - [Announcer] Support provided by The Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the State of Connecticut Office of Film, Television & Digital Media, and Connecticut Humanities.