Another Guest Blog From Employee, Kate Lewis
MSLO employee, Kate Lewis, has contributed to this blog before. You may recall her visit to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market or her trip to Rwanda. Well, Kate returned from another interesting trip and shares these photos.
Recently, I traveled to Charleston, South Carolina to visit friends and attend the Spoleto Festival. Founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Gian Carlo Menotti, the Spoleto Festival is internationally recognized as America’s premier performing arts festival. Spanning seventeen days, it is an amazing opportunity to enjoy new and established artists performing opera, dance, theater, classical music, and jazz. While in Charleston, I was also introduced to an amazing school called the American College of the Building Arts (ACBA). Here’s a little tour.
1 Charleston is a city full of beautiful homes with historical information posted for passers-by to read. This is the Casimir Patrick House built c. 1827 by a tanner, Casimir Cornelius Patrick and is noted for its woodwork of the Regency Period.
2 The residents of Charleston foster exceptional craftsmanship and encourage the preservation of landmark homes and buildings.
3 In 1989, Hurricane Hugo caused much structural damage and property owners had to locate master crafters in Europe to repair their historic homes. Concerned preservationists approached the idea of creating an institution to address the national lack of master craftsmen.
4 After many years, the curriculum was developed and in 2009, the college moved to its present location, the old Charleston jail. This debtor’s jail was built in 1802 and was active until the 1930’s.
5 As you walk through the facility, you see reminders of what the building was built and used for. This is an original holding cell.
6 Many of the original, solid doors were preserved throughout. This school is dedicated to educating the next generation of building artisans and to preserving the building arts.
7 The students are trained in one of six areas - architectural stonework, carpentry, forged architectural ironwork, preservation masonry, plaster working, and timber framing. The first class graduated in 2009.
8 We were greeted at the entrance of the college by Kerri Forrest - Director of Institutional Advancement - who kindly gave us a tour of the college.
9 In this hallway, you encounter examples of forged architectural ironwork.
10 These two staircases were built by skilled artisans at the college. Walking through the facility is like walking through a living laboratory.
11 Student Hugh Holburn and Professor Richard Guthrie used these tools to demonstrate blacksmithing techniques at the 2012 Masters of the Building Arts Festival, a fascinating open house at the school.
12 This is the plastering room. Plastering is the trade that has changed the least over the years. The skills required for this trade are time-tested.
13 Plasterers help create a finished look for any room. Students Ben Smiley and Emily Gillett mixed plaster before pouring it into a mold for a fireplace surround.
14 Here are some of the plaster designs the students are taught - ceiling borders and medallions. A skilled plaster worker can transform a space from ordinary to extraordinary.
15 Part of the satisfaction in attending ACBA is the ability to directly impact your college’s campus by working on the building. Here is an example of new plaster being applied to the old jail walls.
16 On display in a newly completed hallway are all the materials used for the project.
17 Student James Hess working on a project for his drawing and drafting course. Each student is required to take three semesters. ACBA finds it important to unite one's ideas with the ability to express it with one's hands. Constructively, the idea is a clearer project to the end customer.
18 The college had just renovated and moved the college library.
19 The college had received a generous donation of 4,000 books and a set of Antiques magazines from the 1930’s.
20 Walking through the facility, it was interesting to see that many old doors from the jail had been preserved.
21 There were many student projects on display, like this stained glass design.
22 The Forged Architectural Ironwork Program trains students to work with various types of metal. Here is a metal design project.
23 This college is a great addition to Charleston and to the preservation of American treasures. It was interesting to see a historical landmark of Charleston used to support the preservation of skilled artisans in the building arts.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
I live in SC and I never knew that jail building was in Charleston, and I didn't know about the school. Of course, I live in upper SC and haven't been to Charleston in many years, but it is a beautiful city.
Thanks, Kate, for the tour and the information.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | July 16th, 2012 at 12:16 am
Kate is great
Posted by: ann | July 16th, 2012 at 12:49 am
As a teacher, I am just in awe of the American College of The Building Arts. We need to offer more opportunities like this throughout this country. It is such a
tribute to those true artisans that have such a gift working with their hands! Also,
It is such an important part of our heritage and our culture!
Thank you for the very interesting photos, Martha.
As always enjoy the beauty of this day,
Kathy
Posted by: Kathy Peterson | July 16th, 2012 at 5:41 am
What a great blog. Thank you for giving people the opportunity to share their adventures. Love this one, and loved the one a few weeks ago...learning to cook in Italy.
Posted by: Gretchen | July 16th, 2012 at 6:39 am
I am always anxious for Monday so I can read your next great blog!!!
Posted by: Rose C. Moriarty | July 16th, 2012 at 7:15 am
Thanks for sharing your trip to Charleston Kate!
Posted by: Cindy F | July 16th, 2012 at 8:25 am
Hi Kate, Thanks for another great blog that you have shared with us again! It was fun to review the other two blogs that you showed us before, also! Your photos are once again fantastic and I'm sure you had a great time visiting Charleston, South Carolina! That old Charleston jail built in 1802 certainly was turned into a wonderful college for those special students! How fun it would have been to be a student there! Where will you be going next? Can't wait to see another great blog from you! You are another lucky person who works for our wonderful Martha at MSLO! Hope you have a great day and please say hi to Martha for me! Off to see The Daily Wag where F&S are showing us "Edible Flowers at the Farm"! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | July 16th, 2012 at 9:32 am
Hi Kate,
Thank you so much for sharing your trip. What a wonderful opportunity for these students.
Posted by: Sharon | July 16th, 2012 at 10:37 am
Hi Kate,
You travel to some really great places! I’ve never been to Charleston but have certainly heard and read about its beauty. Who doesn’t love a quaint place like that! Hurricanes are never a good thing but I think we have to agree that Hugo was a shaker and mover in more ways than one. Those people passionate about their work always find a way and in this instance, to turn an ancient preserved jailhouse into a college was genius. And now the students are making even more renovations throughout proving that practice while you learn is a great teaching tool. Those staircases are beautiful and so are the plaster designs. When I saw the blacksmith tools though, I wondered if they had been confiscated from the prisoners - just joking! Someone would have had to make some really big pies to sneak those in! Thanks for informing us of this wonderful college and I hope enrollment increases. I would have loved attending a school like that when I was young! Trish
Posted by: Trish | July 16th, 2012 at 11:06 am
Martha, usually I do not read your guest's blogs, preferring instead to read about the events you choose to share with us. However, this blog caught my attention, and I am so glad it did. Thank you, Ms. Lewis, for sharing your visit to the school. Kudos to Charleston for having the wherewithal to see this endeavor to fruition. Having skilled American craftsmen to maintain the building arts is, quite frankly, good for the soul. My sincere hope is that we continue to focus on maintaining our relationship with the past through restoration. The American College of the Building Arts is doing just that.
Posted by: Michele Garcia` | July 16th, 2012 at 11:45 am
Love the historic charm of Charleston....that plastering looks fun..and is AMAZING! Looks like this was a fun AND informational trip!
Posted by: Nantucket Daffodil | July 16th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
Thank you, Kate, for this wonderful information. I had heard bits and pieces about ACBA, but yours is the first in-depth article I've read. One of my very best friends since girlhood lives in a historical antebellum home that went through a horrifying fire sparked by her Christmas tree. Because there were no plasterers who could restore what was lost in the fire, her dining room, which took the brunt of the damage, is now finished in sheetrock. It's good to know there are students eager to learn these timeless building skills!
Posted by: Kim | July 17th, 2012 at 12:37 am
Hi! Great work. Last weekend I read quite interesting opinion about the White Building/Lea River Park by R. Moore. Full article was published in "Art and Design" section on The Guardian website. You can find text here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jul/15/white-building-lea-river-park. In my opinion text is quite interesting for everyone interested in architecture, gardens, etc.
Posted by: Tarasy Kompozytowe | July 17th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Wow, that jail's architecture is so foreboding - talk form follows function! It's nice to see the school take off there and begin creating beauty.
Posted by: Karen | July 18th, 2012 at 4:47 am
Very nice! If I only had time to learn plastering techniques!
Posted by: Kandy Maharas | July 22nd, 2012 at 10:43 pm