The Artists' Studio

It's not just a collection of things, 

but a narrative.

Each piece commenting on another in a little dance.

 Everything has it's own story.

   

Ken Scott pouch

One of my pouches photographed at the 

Contemporary Longrifle Association

 meeting in Lexington, Ky.
Note small star stamping around flap edge.
Strap is woven linen and wool.
In the collection of Bill Ruggie.

Braintanned Pouch with Ouillwork

Braintanned pouch. 

Another joint effort.

 I made the pouch, 

friend, Shawn Webster, did the quillwork.

More Ken Scott Workshop Student Wins at Dixons!!!

For the second year in a row, 

These three have walked off with robins from Dixon's.

Chuck won again with bag, Jim won undecorated horn and horn and bag

and Karen won with bag. 

CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Three of my pouch making students won ribbons at Dixons.

Chuck Brownewell won with a belt pouch.

Karen pease won a ribbon a pouch she made.

Jim Pease won with a nice bag and horn.

these three took my
""Recreating the Kentucky rifle Hunting Pouch" workshop
 at Conner Prairie.

Hunting Pouch Workshop

Great time at the recent Conner Prairie Arms Maker Workshop. 

These are the Participants along with their finished pouches
in the 

"Recereating the Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch"class.

Art decamp also taught Several Horn workshops.

This photos show the finished work 

from the horn class & the Hunting Pouch class.

I also taught workshop on How to make a Hunting Pouch out of a boot

as well as

Pennsylvania German Design Elements/Fraktur

Art Imitating Life---Frontier Life

There is a wonderful article about Friday night's art show

that Ron Vail and I are having in Indianapolis. 

Check it out on BLUE SKY WINDOW.
(Me on the left, Ron on the right.)

 http://www.skybluewindow.org/indianapolis/art-immitating-life-frontier-life/Content?oid=2245838.

Art Show !

TWO ARTISANS NAMED BY EARLY AMERICAN LIFE MAGAZINE AS SOME OF THE TOP TRADITIONAL ARTISTS IN AMERICAN COMBINE EFFORTS FOR FIRST FRIDAY SHOW.

Since 2011, both Ron Vail  & Ken Scott have been selected by Early American Life magazine as two of the top traditional craftspeople and artisans in the United States, a total of six times.

Ron has received this honor for the powder horns and other horn items he makes., while Ken has been chosen for both his leatherwork and his paintings.

Ron’s horn work represent those items made and used  by soldiers, long hunters, mountain men, Native Americans and early settlers of this country. Typically the items are made to appear old and well used. They are purchased by historical reenactors, museums for display in dioramas, and by interior decorators and individuals wishing to display them in homes or offices.

Ken’s work is owned by curators and museums, collectors and historical reenactors worldwide. His work has been featured as movie props, used in TV documentaries and videos and seen numerous times in magazines and on their covers. He made the hunting pouch for Davy Crockett (Billie Bob Thornton) in the movie “The Alamo,” as well as provided other props for that movie.

The work of both of these talented artisans is well known and is recognized for uniqueness, top of the line quality workmanship, fidelity to period design and attention to detail. Their goal as artists is to create every item with an aged look and feel to it.

Folk Art Pouch With floral Cutouts

No KIng But Jesus Pouch

Conner Prairie Arms Making Workshop

Just completed teaching the 
Leather Working/Recreating the Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch workshop 
at Conner Prairie. Great students. Lots of learning, fun, 
& the joy of making new friends. 
Here are the participants with their completed pouches.

I also taught a workshop on 
Southern Backcountry design/Fraktur from Virginia and the Carolinas

Pouch with Ground Hog Hair Flap

This complete set features pouch, horn and knife. 

The leather pouch has a flap that is made of a groundhog hide. 

Both the knife and the horn are originals. 

The horn has been repaired with a leather covering.

SOLD!

Quilled Pouch

This pouch has quillwork on the flap. 

Made from brain tanned leather. 

Red horsehair decorative cones have been added.

Small Hunting Pouch & Horn Set

This small cloth pouch is made from striped ticking fabric. 

The complete set features an original horn with repairs. 

The pouch has a leather flap and a handwoven strap.
SOLD!

The small patch knife that looks like it has peeled a "lot of taters."

 All in all a nice set.

'

Images photographed at the 2012 CLA Show by Jan Riser.

Frankie SIlvers Pouch for Bobby Denton

Bobby talked to me at the CLA meeting in Lexington about making him a pouch that would depicted the hanging of Frankie Silvers, a young woman who was hanged for the murder of her husband Charlie in Morganton, North Carolina, on July 12, 1833. Bobby, being from Morganton has grown up with the legend about the murder and Frankie Silvers, the first woman hanged in the state. 

After several phone conversations and letters, this is the pouch that I made for Bobby.

 The Frankie Silvers story has been told in countless newspaper and magazine articles, plays and documentaries and even in a ballad or two. It continues to hold the imagination of many today as it has for almost two hundred years.

Here’s how the story goes....Frankie, suspecting Charlie of infidelity with another man’s wife, killed Charlie in a fit of jealous rage three days before Christmas 1831. She decided to exact her revenge as he lay sleeping on the floor of their cabin. Frankie got an axe and then struck Charlie's in the head. The first strike, however, did not immediately kill him and he thrashed around the house mortally wounded. Frankie hid under their bed, eventually coming out when she heard his body fall to the floor. She took another swing with the axe severing Charlie’s head. With the help of some of her family, Frankie attempted to conceal the evidence of the murder by chopping the body into pieces and burning them in the cabin's fireplace. The story was that Charlie had gone hunting and had not returned.

A search of the frozen river and surrounding countryside did not locate Charlie. A thorough investigation of the home and fireplace area by a neighbor revealed bits and pieces of charred bone and an uncommon amount of grease. A further search dried blood under the wooden floor.

Frankie was charged with the murder, arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to die by hanging. After a failed appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court, she broke out of jail with the help of her family. After a few days on the run, she was caught and returned to prison. Her execution was set for July 12, 1833.

When the day arrived, she was led to the scaffold. The sheriff asked if she had anything she wanted to say. Before she could answer, her father yelled, "Die with it in ye, Frankie!" The noose was then placed around her neck, and FRankie Silvers became the first woman to be hanged in North Carolina. This pouch depicts the hanging.