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Maple Syrup Production Focus of New TAUNY Video

A new episode of TAUNY’s Traditions of the Season video series was released on April 14. Yancey’s Sugarbush: First Crop of the Year is a 30-minute documentary that features a family-owned sugaring operation in Croghan, NY, that has been in the Yancy family since 1844. Haskell and Jane Yancey, the fourth generation working in the sugarbush, made the most of a short 2021 season, with the help of their children and other seasonal helpers. The video, filmed and produced by TAUNY Communications Director Xiuke Wei, documents the entire process of sugaring, from tapping the trees, gathering sap with horses and tractors, to boiling and canning. Over the years, the Yanceys have resisted pressures to convert entirely to the use of plastic tubing and vacuum pumps for gathering sap, and continue to gather with buckets and horse-drawn tanks as well. Each sugaring season, the Yanceys receive visitors from all around the North Country and beyond. To them, sugaring is a family tradition, and a connection to the community that they have built over the years. To watch Yancey’s Sugarbush: First Crop of the Year go to https://youtu.be/R2OetBYCy5E Earlier episodes from the Traditions of the Seasons series are also available on TAUNY’s YouTube channel. Is there a tradition that you carry on, or love seeing happen around you at this time of year, that you'd like to tell us about or see represented in a future video? We'd love to hear about it! Drop us a line at xiuke@tauny.org.
PAST EXHIBITS… Using Blog Module
Folk Art from Glens Falls Collection 2

Folk Art from Glens Falls Collection 2

The next exhibition at The TAUNY Center will feature over 120 items from the folk art collection of the Folklife Center at the Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls, NY. Folk Arts All Around Us will open at The TAUNY Center on February 13. Curated by Folklife Center Director Todd DeGarmo, who has had primary vision and responsibility for building the collection during his long tenure at the Center, the exhibition is a colorful and varied display that demonstrates DeGarmo’s eclectic approach to collecting.

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New Quilt Project by the Fiberistas

New Quilt Project by the Fiberistas

a new collaborative quilt project by the Fiberistas, an innovative local group of quilters whose projects challenge them to experiment with new techniques and explore the potential of quilts as art.

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Anatomy of a Packbasket

Anatomy of a Packbasket

Anatomy of a Packbasket, TAUNY’s fall exhibit, looks at the history of the Adirondack packbasket and the  process of making one. TAUNY Photography Director Martha Cooper spent several days in the woods and workshop of basketmaker Bill Smith of Colton. The result is this photographic description of the step-by-step process of creating this regional icon–from cutting the perfect black ash log to weaving in the final splints. The exhibit includes a display of antique and contemporary packbaskets.

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“Look Down, You’ll See Our Tracks”: Raquette River Dam Stories

“Look Down, You’ll See Our Tracks”: Raquette River Dam Stories

Over 2014-2016, TAUNY partnered with the Village of Potsdam, The Raquette River Blueway Corridor Group, and WPBS-TV to document the stories of people involved in or significantly affected by the dams and powerhouses built to harness hydroelectric power on the “Workhorse” River. The material collected led to a 2017 exhibition at The TAUNY Center, and this related publication. This is a good introduction to an important aspect of North Country history and occupation folklore.

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Instrumental Stories

Instrumental Stories

Published as a companion to TAUNY’s 2018 exhibition of the same name, this booklet presents selections from TAUNY’s research project about musical instruments and instrument makers in New York’s North Country. The research included speaking to people about instruments that have been collected and cherished over generations, families in which making music together is an important aspect of connecting, and builders who take great care in procuring the local materials for the instruments they make.

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One Rough Life. Ted Ashlaw: Adirondack Lumber Camp and Barroom Singer

One Rough Life. Ted Ashlaw: Adirondack Lumber Camp and Barroom Singer

In the 1970s, folklorist and music scholar Robert Bethke spent summers getting to know the last of the traditional ballad singers in the Adirondacks, recording their performances for posterity. Bethke first wrote about these singers in his well-received “Adirondack Voices: Woods Men and Woods Lore,“ published in 1980. Thirty-eight years later, Bethke revisits the subject through an in-depth presentation of one of the best of the singers he recorded: Ted Ashlaw. Part I of the book includes a biography of Ashlaw, and Bethke’s recollections of the fieldwork experience. Part II is a collection of 32 annotated songs from Ashlaw’s repertoire, some of which have not been recorded by any other singer in the United States. The book comes with a 2-CD set of restored recordings from the 1970s.

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Anatomy of a Packbasket

Anatomy of a Packbasket2

Anatomy of a Packbasket, TAUNY’s fall exhibit, looks at the history of the Adirondack packbasket and the  process of making one. TAUNY Photography Director Martha Cooper spent several days in the woods and workshop of basketmaker Bill Smith of Colton. The result is this photographic description of the step-by-step process of creating this regional icon–from cutting the perfect black ash log to weaving in the final splints. The exhibit includes a display of antique and contemporary packbaskets.

read more
“Traditions of the Season” Virtual Tour

“Traditions of the Season” Virtual Tour

For years, visitors attending TAUNY events have enjoyed cookies made by Barbara Beekman, Canton. For our third Traditions of the Season video, we asked this amazing home baker and compulsive recipe collector to share her family’s favorite cookie recipes. If you love old-fashioned windmill cookies,

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Sacred Tools

Sacred Tools

Have you ever been hiking along an Adirondack trail and wondered who built the stone steps into a stretch of steep trail, or who cleared the blowdown from the path since your last visit?  The answer is Adirondack Mountain trail crews.

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North Country Noggins

North Country Noggins

North Country knitters have been busy creating hats for TAUNY’s January exhibit. Opening at the TAUNY Gallery on Saturday, January 9, the mini exhibit…

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Quilt Exhibit 2016

Quilt Exhibit 2016

This major exhibition explores the living traditions of quilting in the North Country. The exhibit occupies two galleries at The TAUNY Center and features more than 60 quilts and comforters, sewing tools and fabric samples, photographs and interviews, all with interpretive text.

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Folk Art from Glens Falls Collection 2

Folk Art from Glens Falls Collection 2

The next exhibition at The TAUNY Center will feature over 120 items from the folk art collection of the Folklife Center at the Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls, NY. Folk Arts All Around Us will open at The TAUNY Center on February 13. Curated by Folklife Center Director Todd DeGarmo, who has had primary vision and responsibility for building the collection during his long tenure at the Center, the exhibition is a colorful and varied display that demonstrates DeGarmo’s eclectic approach to collecting.

read more
“Every Single Day: Life on North Country Dairy Farms” Exhibit Highlights Display

“Every Single Day: Life on North Country Dairy Farms” Exhibit Highlights Display

For the 2014 exhibition, research and documentation for the exhibit were carried out by TAUNY staff. Program director Hannah Harvester and fellow folklorists Jill Breit (TAUNY executive director) and Varick Chittenden (special projects director) interviewed 40 farmers, family members, employees, and others in St. Lawrence, Lewis, Franklin, and Jefferson counties. Farms ranged in size from herds of 35 to 1,200 milking cows

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New Quilt Project by the Fiberistas

New Quilt Project by the Fiberistas

a new collaborative quilt project by the Fiberistas, an innovative local group of quilters whose projects challenge them to experiment with new techniques and explore the potential of quilts as art.

read more
From Jamaica to Peru(NY)

From Jamaica to Peru(NY)

In this photography-based exhibition, guest curator Ben Stechschulte explored the inextricable fortunes of TAUNY North Country Heritage Award recipient Forrence Orchards, in the northern Adirondacks, and the generations of Jamaican men who travel thousands of miles to work there each year.

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TAUNY “St. Lawrence County Barn Quilts”

TAUNY “St. Lawrence County Barn Quilts”

Group tours and other exhibit-related programs remain on hold and/or will be offered soon online or with safe social distancing. Stay tuned for updates, and meanwhile follow us on Facebook and Instagram (@thetaunycenter) for an ongoing series of videos bringing exhibition highlights to you online!

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Celebrate the Season with TAUNY

Celebrate the Season with TAUNY

With the holiday season upon us, TAUNY is planning to make it easy for you to support local artists and find perfect gifts that are hand-made with care. TAUNY’s Annual Holiday Showcase opens Saturday, November 7 and will run through December 24. 

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Gingerbread Contest 2020

Gingerbread Contest 2020

This year’s theme: “2020”
2020 is… you tell us! In gingerbread! TAUNY invites you to get creative and interpret the theme of “2020” how you wish, using gingerbread to create a scene, a place, an item, or anything else that comes to mind.
Get your enrollment form here. Entries can be dropped off from November 27 to December 1st. Click here for more information and details on how to participate.

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“St. Lawrence County Barn Quilt” Exhibit Small Group Tours

“St. Lawrence County Barn Quilt” Exhibit Small Group Tours

Gather a few friends or the rest of your pod and come join us for a personalized (and socially distanced) walk-through of the “St. Lawrence County Barn Quilts” Exhibit with co-curator and TAUNY Director of Research and Programs Camilla Ammirati, sharing behind-the-scenes stories, favorite details, and more. Individual and Small Group Curator-Led Exhibit Tours are now available Monday-Friday, 10am-2pm (other times may be possible by appointment).

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