Craft in Vermont Timeline
1938 Vermont Handicraft Guild forms. Aileen Osborn Webb convenes a meeting to establish the first national organization of American craft artists under the name Handcraft Cooperative League of America, precursor to the American Crafts Council
1941 The Vermont legislature passes Act No. 68, establishing the Vermont Arts and Crafts Service within the State Department of Education
1945 Shelburne Craft School established by the Rev. J. Lynwood Smith with financial support from Aileen Webb
1947 The Fletcher Farm School for the Arts and Crafts opens in Proctorsville
1948 David Gil founds Bennington Potters; over the ensuing decades, it grows into a major ceramic industrial enterprise and wins design awards from the Museum of Modern Art, the Chicago Merchandise Mart, and the Academie Internationale de la Ceramique de Cannes
1950 Vermont Hand Crafters is founded to further develop crafts in Vermont
1956 Vermont Craft Market event in Shelburne established
1957 The Gables in Stowe offers a two-month Summer School of Handicraft with courses in jewelry making, painting, ceramics and enamel work
1959 Allied Craftsmen of Vermont forms
1960 Allied Craftsmen of Vermont organizes high-quality craft show in Stowe
1964 Peter Wendland the third director of the Arts & Crafts Service, shifts the focus to professional craftspeople and polished marketing campaigns
First year of the Stratton Arts Festival held every fall until 2002
1964 Bennington Potters collaborates with major American painters and sculptors (including sculptor David Smith) on a project commissioned by the magazine Art in America to make limited editions of ceramic objects
1965 Persuaded by Wendland and others, the American Craft Council (ACC) holds its first-ever craft fair at Stowe; the group is “kicked out” and has to find another home for the following year
1966 ACC fair is moved to Mt. Snow for two years
1968 ACC fair moved to Bennington for four years before outgrowing space and going to Rhinebeck, New York; admittance buttons become collectors’ items
Vermont Hand Crafters holds a wholesale show for two years in Brandon with support from the Arts & Crafts Service
Sheepbreeders Association initiates natural yarn marketing program with support from Ag Marketing Development Division
1969 D’Ann Fago becomes last director of the Arts & Crafts Service—shifts limited resources back to craft education in the public schools
First Burklyn Christmas Market is held at Burklyn Manor1970
Aileen Osborn Webb, the “grand dame” of American craft receives the coveted Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts from the Vermont Council on the Arts
1971 Coca-Cola heir and self-described “black sheep” Alan Johnson along with Middlebury resident Dick Wissler founds the Frog Hollow Craft Center
Elizabeth Brouha officially founds Burklyn Arts Council
1972 L.J. Serkin Company opens in Bratt-leboro, one of the first fine craft stores in New England now Vermont Artisan Designs
The Arts & Crafts Service chooses Terry Faith Anderson Weihs to coordinate the Franklin County pilot project for revitalization through craft.
1973 Craftproducers is formed by Charley Dooley, John McCloud, Bob Burnell and Riki Moss to fill the void left when ACC moves their show from Bennington to Rhinebeck
Thomas Bloom, UVM Extension Researcher and Professor, produces comprehensive study on impact of crafts in the state, estimating 10 million in income from in-state sales
1974 The Interagency Crafts Council (IACC) is formed through the efforts of Ellen McCulloch-Lovell at the Vermont Council on the Arts (VCA)
Shelburne Handspinners Project begins, a Microbusiness Development Model Project that is an initiative of IACC.14 unemployed/underemployed women learn handspinning using Vermont grown wool. Success of this initiative spawned other local projects such as Kent Weavers
Vermont Council on the Arts Touring Aid Program supports residencies by craft artists in schools and community organizations; in l984, VCA eliminates craft artists from touring aid registry
David Gil of Bennington Potters is awarded Vermont Small Business “Person of the Year”
1975 Craft Professionals of Vermont (CPV) is created. CPV worked to develop marketing opportunities for craftspeople; CPV existed until 1982
First Craft Professionals of Vermont show debuts in Quechee. The show was held for another three years
Interagency Craft Council organizes the Northeast Regional Craft Fair in Stowe. The itinerant event lasted another 2 years
Frog Hollow Craft Center in Middlebury is designated as the first Vermont State Craft Center by executive order of Governor Thomas Salmon
1976 Windsor House Craft Center is designated as the second Vermont State Craft Center
Norman Kennedy, a traditional weaver from Scotland, founds Marshfield School of Weaving
The Vermont Council on the Arts (VCA) creates the Public Arts Program, a job creation and skill development initiative. The program ends in l982, when federal funding is eliminated
The VCA allocates funds for Craft Development Demonstration Initiatives; a $10,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts supports “Craftsmen in Schools”
1977 The Vermont Arts & Crafts Service ends, a victim of budget cuts in the Department of Education
UVM Extension Service & Agriculture Experiment Station conducts a survey to help craft producers place more merchandise in Vermont retail outlets
The Survey is presented to the Interagency Crafts Council
First Vermont Quilt Festival is held in Northfield
Twenty artisans get together in Plainfield and create the Artisans’ Hand
1978 The Artisans’ Hand Craft Cooperative opens on Langdon St. in Montpelier
First Craft Professionals of Vermont Juried Exhibition at the T.W. Wood Art Gallery in Montpelier
Thomas K. Bloom (UVM Extension Service) authors the publication, Business Management Skill for the Producer
First Southern Vermont Art and Craft Festival presented by Craftproducers and held annually since
First Putney Artisans Festival takes place, spurred by Margot Torrey; the self-guided tour of artists studios was unique at the time and served as a model for craft tours by other organizations in the future; it is now called the Putney Craft Tour
1979 Thomas K. Bloom and Merle Schloff (UVM Extension Service) author the publication, Educational Opportunities: A Guide for the Crafts Community
1982 Craft Professionals of Vermont dissolves
First Stowe Foliage Arts Festival presented by Craftproducers and held annually ever since
Green Mountain Spinnery, a national business that processes and sells wool produced in the United States, opens in Putney
Bruce Baker does his first booth design workshop; the jewelry maker and store teaches hundreds of workshops on booth construction, marketing, sales, customer service and craft trends
1983 First Weston Craft Show of juried Vermont artisans is held in the Weston Playhouse; the annual show continues today and has been called “One of Vermont’s Top Ten Fall Events”
Vermont Lacers Guild becomes an official chapter of the International Old Lacers
1984 Vermont Council on the Arts (VCA) eliminates craft artists from touring aid registry
1985 Vermont Hand Crafters bestows Lifetime Memberships to Luella Schroeder, Katherine Dopp, Nina Eckley and Bessie Daily for their dedication to Vermont Crafts
1986 First Vermont State Craft Fair is held at Killington, organized by Vermont Department of Economic Development
Roberta MacDonald from the Vermont Department of Economic Development coordinates a showcase of Vermont furniture makers and craft for the home in a collective booth at the High Point Furniture Market and promotes Vermont furniture and craft at High Point for three years
Billings Farm & Museum holds first Windsor County Quilt Exhibition, an annual event ever since
1987 Vermonters at Their Craft is published, featuring the stories of 30 Vermont craftspeople, either native Vermonters or “sixties transplants in search of a craft dream”
1990 Vermont Crafts Council is formed for the promotion of Vermont crafts inside and outside the state
The Vermont Crafts Council and the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen create an advanced level workshop program in New England; the first North Country Studio Conference is held three years later
1991 Executive Director Pamela Siers orchestrates an expansion of the Frog Hollow State Craft Center; on Church Street in Burlington, and a third location in Manchester Village
The Burlington Craft Fair moves from Memorial Auditorium to the Sheraton
1992 The Artisans’ Hand gallery on State Street burns — insurance did not cover the damage, but the members carried on; the gallery moved to Main Street above the flood plain
Marshfield School of Weaving closes, but is reborn as Eaton Hill Textiles and the School for Traditional Handweaving; recently it has again become the Marshfield School of Weaving
Frog Hollow State Craft Center opens a third location in Manchester Village across from the Equinox Hotel
Vermont Folklife Center inaugurates the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
First Hildene Fall Arts Festival in Manchester is presented by Craftproducers
1993 Year of the American Craft is celebrated nationwide
First Open Studio Weekend sponsored by the Vermont Crafts Council
Michael Monroe of the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, organizes a White House Collection of craft as part of the Year of American Craft with the support of President and Mrs. Bill Clinton; Vermont craftspeople whose work is selected for the collection are quilter Judy Dales and wood turner Alan Stirt
First North Country Studio Conference is held at the Shaker Village in Enfield, New Hampshire, the conference is moved to Bennington College in 1995, where it’s been held biennially ever since
The Woodchuck Turners of Northern Vermont is formed for the advancement of woodturning
Vermont Crafts 1993 is exhibited at the Fleming Museum in Burlington in conjunction with Year of the American Craft
Vermont Crafts Council takes over maintaining exhibit space at the “Big E”
Vermont Clay Studio is founded by Jeanne & Paul. The studio offers numerous ceramics workshops and exhibitions, but closes in 2003
1995 Vermont Crafts Council produces a display of Vermont crafts at the first new Welcome Center on I-91 in Bradford
President Bill Clinton stops at Frog Hollow Craft Center in Burlington
North Country Studio Conference is moved to Bennington College for its biennial master-level workshops
1996 Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) moves its national headquarters to Vermont
Vermont Clay Studio moves from Montpelier to Waterbury Center on Rte.100
1997 Vermont Furniture Makers Guild is organized
Seven local artisans found Northeast Kingdom Artisans Guild as a cooperative craft shop in St. Johnsbury
Fred and Judi Danforth, of Danforth Pewter, are named as US Small Business Administration’s Vermont Small Business Persons of the Year
Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund creates Cornerstone Fund to assist Vermont wood manufacturing businesses create markets for sustainable Vermont products and services
Agriculture Development Division organizes fiber producers (Vermont FiberWorks)
1998 Vermont FiberWorks receives USDA grant to expand fiber processing in Vermont
1999 Randolph warehouse becomes the White River Craft Center
Brandon craftspeople and artists form the Brandon Artists’ Guild under leadership of folk artist Warren Kimble
2002 Vermont Wood Products Marketing Council forms under the auspices of the Department of Economic Development
2003 First Vermont Fine Furniture and Woodworking Festival, an annual showcase thereafter in Woodstock
The Brandon Artists’ Guild blossoms with the advent of The Really Really Pig Show, repeated in subsequent years with other themes such as birdhouses, rocking chairs, and artist palettes
Vermont Clay Studio closes
2005 Southern Vermont Arts & Living magazine, an innovative fine arts, crafts and lifestyle print quarterly is founded to promote the arts in the southern Vermont and larger New England region
2006 Vermont Crafts Council begins work on State of Craft, a major cultural heritage initiative undertaken in anticipation of VCC’s 20th anniversary in 2010
2007 Vermont Crafts Council grant from the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design to underwrite oral history interviews by the Vermont Folklife Center
Vermont Woodworking School is founded in a historic barn in Fairfax by Carina Driscoll, Blake Ewoldsen and Bob Fletcher
2008 Frog Hollow Craft Center closes in Manchester
2009 The original Frog Hollow Craft Center closes in Middlebury, a casualty of the economic downturn, leaving just one Frog Hollow location in Burlington
Two new Vermont State Craft Centers are designated, the first since the mid-70s, with the State imprimatur given to the Artisans’ Hand cooperative gallery in Montpelier and the Gallery at the V.A.U.L.T. in Springfield
2010 State of Craft is unveiled, with 25 showcase events across the state and a major exhibition at the Bennington Museum; the project’s goal is to document, preserve and interpret the history of the studio craft movement in Vermont from 1960-2010
Vermont Crafts Council celebrates its 20th anniversary
