National Magazine Honors Ohio Artisan

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For more information contact: Tess Rosch, Publisher, Early American Life 440-543-8566 TRosch@ftrelandsmedia.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sally Van Nuys-Brown of Amherst, Ohio ranks as one of the top traditional artisans in America, The experts-curators from such prestigious institutions as the American Folk Art Museum, Hancock Shaker Village, Historic Deerfield, and the Museum of Southern Decorative Arts, as well as antiques dealers, independent scholars, and professional instructors-selected the top 200 craftspeople working with traditional tools and techniques for the magazine's 20th annual Directory of Traditional American Crafts®. Van Nuys-Brown’s handcrafted Russian punch needle embroidery showed mastery of the art form, heritage techniques, and workmanship, according to the judges.
The Directory of Traditional American Crafts® is a special listing that appears in the August 2005 issue of Early American Life, a national magazine focusing on architecture, decorative arts, period style, and social history from colonial times through the mid-19th century. The Directory has been used for the last two decades by curators at living history museums, owners of traditional homes, and motion picture producers for finding artisans to make period-appropriate furnishings and accessories for displays, collections, and use. Works chosen for photography in the Directory earned a rating of ''master'' or "museum quality."
"The judges look for authentic design and workmanship, whether the piece is a faithful reproduction or the artisan's interpretation of period style," said Tess Rosch, publisher of Early American Life. "Scholarship, as well as use of period tools and techniques, is particularly valued in this competition."
One goal of the Directory is to help preserve traditional handcrafts, part of our culture that is rapidly being lost in the digital age. Many of these skills were passed down from master to apprentice for hundreds of years, but now few new people choose to learn and master them. "If our traditional arts are lost, we have forgotten a part of who we are as Americans," said Rosch.

Van Nuys-Brown enjoys creating one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces; including traditional hooked rugs as well as miniature, punch needle embroideries. Her studies and collecting preferences draw her toward adapting antique designs into her rugs and embroideries. “Many antique American rugs and textiles have been lost or are in such poor condition that they will not survive another 100 years,” Van Nuys-Brown said. “By adapting the old patterns into new works, I feel I am helping to preserve some of the treasures that folk artists of the past created and left for us to enjoy. It is my hope that the adaptations and reproductions created today, with stronger and more color-fast materials, will last for many generations to come.” Van Nuys-Brown also creates original designs, many of which have been published in national magazines and offered for sale from her web site, www.amherst-antiques-folkart.com.
As an antiques collector and dealer since the 1980s, Van Nuys-Brown has watched early textiles and folk art become scarcer, and the prices for antique hooked rugs and other handcrafted fiber pieces steadily increase over the past 20 years. “Many collectors simply cannot find or afford antique rugs and textiles,” said Van Nuys-Brown. “By offering adaptations, reproductions, and original designs that blend into antique collectors’ homes, and by teaching others these art forms, I can do a small part to ensure that our traditional American crafts are not lost forever.”
The August issue of Early American Life, now on newsstands, lists all artists selected for the Directory as well as their addresses and telephone numbers for those wanting to own their work. The 20-page Directory features lush color photos of the artworks deemed "museum quality" by the expert panel of judges, photographed in the historic buildings and on the grounds of Hancock Shaker Village, a 1,200-acre living history museum in Pittsfield, MA, that preserves the heritage of the 19th-century's most successful communal society.
"The Directory is a source for collectors and historic museums eager to own fine, handcrafted, period-accurate objects and also a means of promoting awareness of the art forms that are such an important part of our nation's heritage," Rosch said. To learn more about Early American Life and for subscription information, call 800-446-1696 or visit www.EALonline.com.

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Early American Life is a bimonthly magazine with a circulation of 90,000. The magazine was founded in 1970 and is owned by Firelands Media Group LLC, Cleveland, Ohio. Editors can request a copy of the August 2005 issue with the 2005 Directory of Traditional American Crafts® by calling 440-543-8566.