Happy Halloween from the First of Roycroft Campus' New Bloggers

Hello and a Happy Halloween to all our loyal readers. There has been a short hiatus since the last posting by Janet, but I am here to let you know that there will be regular postings from now on. It will take three people to replace our dedicated predecessor, but we hope to inform, educate and entertain you as well as she did.

I will be your Tuesday blogger. My name is Sue, and I come to the RCC having known of the Roycroft for many years. I grew up on a farm in western NY, but the Roycroft had long since closed. I found my way to the Arts & Crafts Movement through my work in the decorative arts: as a prop artist for theatre in Buffalo, NYC and Baltimore, an interior designer for resorts in the Caribbean, and a designer and marketer for both a decorative painting firm and a high end antique lighting showroom in Baltimore. 

In 1994 I was fortunate enough to attend the Head, Heart and Hand exhibit in Rochester, NY where I received my initiation to all things Roycroft. I devoured the book, toured the buildings in East Aurora, followed the Inn's restoration from afar, and made the pilgrimage to the A&C conference at The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC (an annual affair every February). I have enjoyed numerous Thanksgiving dinners and lunches at the Roycroft Inn while on visits back to WNY and always made a point to stop in at Vidler's on main street for a bit of 'creaky floor five and dime shopping'.

I have returned to WNY and the family farm. It has always been my vacation spot, so now I live in my vacation destination. The sky is as big here as it is in Montana, but there is a coziness to the rolling hills and valleys with small farms nestled into the winding country roads. I plan to bring you a bit of the rural quality of WNY today and Hubbard's era salted in from time to time with the Roycroft Campus news.

Be sure to stop by to see the (re)construction at the Power House and Copper Shop. Things are happening all the time. This past weekend was the Roycroft Campus  Arts & Crafts Conference, The Connection: 2007, which featured a number of wonderful speakers and demonstrations by several of the Roycroft Master Artisans. More about that on my blog next week - I have to organize my notes. See you around campus!

Sue