For Release: 2009-03-09 12:55:00
Berea College and its student handcrafts are well-known in Kentucky, and Roy Underhill introduces both the school and the artisans in this Appalachian town to his viewers across the nation in The Woodwright's Shop, airing Saturday, March 28 at 3:30/2:30 p.m. CT on KET2.Underhill, who shuns electrical shortcuts, instead harnesses brains and brawn to turn out practical, whimsical and memorable woodworking projects each week. Broom-making and weaving are two of the skills he demonstrates.
Then it's off to the college's Wallace Nutting traditional furniture display, which features many of Nutting's authentic reproductions of colonial designs, as well as his early 20th-century nostalgic photographs depicting colonial life. Underhill also discusses Berea's collection of Doris Ullman photographs, which depict Appalachian people in attitudes just as distinctive and respectful as the subjects she photographed in her New York studio.
Underhill also stops by the shop of woodworking teacher Kelly Mehler, a Berea graduate who passes on the craft to students who come to him from around Kentucky and as far away as Alaska. Then the program visits Berea's Monty Saulmon Early Technology Laboratory, where numerous examples of vintage, muscle-powered woodworking machinery are available for students to try out -- and learn from.
The Woodwright's Shop is produced by UNC-TV. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.
Contact: Ellen Soileau
View or link to a public version of this release.
