Art Wine Design showcases talents of three women

An Art Wine Design event was held Friday and Saturday in Akwesasne at the Lost Dauphin museum featuring the talents of three women in very different fields. The event was hosted by the St. Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. Marjorie Skidders was showcased as a vintner, having recently created Laughing Crow Winery; Charlotte King is a talented painter, and Jean Pond is a home decorator.

Each woman is featured in the following bios:

Marjorie Skidders: Vintner is

rooted in tradition

While wine-maker Marjorie Skidders is new to the profession, its roots run deeply through her family tradition as well as her Mohawk Culture.

“My people were planters. They hunted but they also planted huge gardens,” she said from her Akwesasne home overlooking the St. Lawrence River. “When I was growing up we grew everything we ate. Then we canned the food. I did a lot of gardening as a kid and I did it with my four kids.”

Years ago, her daughter suggested growing grapes and making wine, but no one took the idea seriously- at least not for awhile. A few years ago, Marjorie husband died and she decided to retire after 25 years of education, as a teacher and principal. She was amazed to find herself watching “about five hours a day of cooking shows.”

She took her head: “I love to cook but I said I’ve got to do more. My kids and I thought again about planting grapes.”

True to her academic self, she did research for about three years before planting a grape or making a glass of wine. While vineyards are not a familiar sight in this part of the state, the Thousand Islands has a blossoming wine industry, and they make wine in Quebec, she reasoned.

“We’re in the middle of prime agricultural soil,” she said.

She also had not-so-secret advantage: woman power.

“When it came time to plant, I invited everyone but it turned out that only women showed up. How could the grapes not grow?” She laughed. On top of that, she and her daughter sing happy songs to their little grapes, urging them to grow strong and flavorful.

For now, they’ve planted 300 vines so they can build a retail shop/café’ this summer and work on the business end of the venture. They anticipate harvesting the grapes in 2010 and plan to add another 900 vines, she said.

While they swore they’d never make wine from strawberries or watermelon, the family’s research led them to do just that. A lot of people like sweet, fruity wine so Skidders learned how to produce that by using grape juice until her grapes are ready. Her pride and joy will be wine made from Marquette grapes, which she says tastes like pinot noir.

“We’ll bottle pinot as well, but we want to transition to the Marquette,” she noted.

Along with touring wineries, getting hands-on practice and learning about planting the grapes, Skidders took a business development course from NATC, which included the expertise of business students at Clarkson University. The former principal delighted when she entered a classroom full of students dressed in business suits and sitting with laptop computers at their desks. They helped with a business plan, put together a Web site for her, and painstakingly created just the right logo for Laughing Crow Winery.

“At one point I think we had 32 versions,” she said. “They were very professional and friendly. We worked well together.”

She had no problem naming the vineyard. It’s called Red Swan for her son, who had red hair at birth. His name in Mohawk-Sawentanon- sounds like swan in English. The name of the winery was harder, though. It finally came when she was visiting a friend and noticed a crate name Laughing Crow Seeds. That was a business from the 1930’s, she learned, a company long gone.

“The crow is appropriate because we have to protect the grapes from the birds. And the laughing works because the birds eat the fruit and are happy. I knew I wanted the logo design to have a silhouette of the crow, with its mouth open to laugh, and four posts. That’s one for each child,” she said.

There’s a saying in the wine business: You need to have a big fortune to make a small fortune. Skidders doesn’t have any fortune, though she’s very proud to make history by starting her vineyard/winery in Akwesasne.

“I wanted to leave my kids a legacy,” she said. “And I have a new granddaughter. She was born April 24, so this will be hers someday too.”

Charlotte King: Art from the heart:

Charlotte King learned how to discuss her art by taking art classes at SUNY Potsdam, but each stroke of the brush gives voice to her Mohawk history. She fills a large canvas with bold, warm colors and incredible detail. Some of the images come to her in dreams, others from photos. Symbolism deepens the story behind each design so that you can study her work, and then see more every time you look at it.

“I don’t really know what to say about my art,” she said quietly. “I paint because I like paint, I like to see what comes out of my brush.”

The living room of her home in Akwesasne is filled with paintings and sketches as she prepares them for the Art Wine Design event. Some hang on the wall while others are neatly stacked for transport. Lithographs and ink sketches mingle with the paintings, and a picture-perfect waterfront scene is among the collection of giant pieces that reflect her culture.

One haunting image is of a woman looking off uncertainly into the distance. She clutches a blanket against her as the wind blows her hair across her face, framing her eyes. It’s a beautiful piece of work that’s profoundly lonely and sad.

Charlotte nods, agreeing, “My people have been displaced so many times.”

Other pieces, though are warm and intriguing, rich with detail. Strawberries and corn are important in ceremonies, she said, which inspired her to paint a night scene of two women standing amid giant, surreal strawberries and huge ears of corn. The corn is stacked like logs in a fire, the kernels glowing like embers. The older woman gathers berries while the younger one holds one up, gazing at it in wonder. Above them, green stems merge into an arc.

“Sometimes I think I’m done and then the picture evolves into something else. The strawberry one was like that. I realized I wasn’t done and went back and added more to it. I often turn to my culture for ideas- animals, the earth, our clans. Sometimes I look at the shadings of texture in a blank canvas and may see an image, like a spirit,” she said.

King has drawn and painted since she was a teen, but she took time out to marry and have five children. She and her husband later divorced, and in 2005, she enrolled at SUNY Potsdam, where she studied printmaking, oil painting, ceramics, and art history. She also studied art in Santa Fe, which adds some Southwestern themes to her work.

“I was scared going back. I was older and didn’t know if I could do it,” she admitted. “I was juggling classes and had two daughters in school at the time. I enjoyed going to school though. It opened my eyes to a lot of things.”

With one teenage daughter at home now, she juggles her art with a full-time job doing administrative work for the local ambulance corp.

“I don’t think anyone can teach you to paint,” she said, “but you learn how to talk about art. And I learned a lot about culture from art history. If you want to know about people, study their art.”

She’s deeply interested in cross-cultural art and history. One of her favorite texts is a thick history book that shows similar motifs repeating across various cultures and eras.

“Look at the broad perspective, see things globally,” she urges. “You can’t study something in isolation or you’ll be putting together a puzzle with pieces you think fit that don’t.”

Art is always a piece of the puzzle for her.

“You can’t go trough life without being creative,” she said firmly.

“I do my painting in the evening when I get home from work. The light is not the best but it relaxes my mind to paint. It relaxes my mind to clean the house, too,” she said. “But I can’t do both”. Contact Charlotte King at [email protected] or 613-575-2371.

Jean Pond: Sustainable Beauty

Life is the canvas for interior designer Jean Pond. She transforms entire homes, rooms, windows, walls-you name it. Drawing upon more than 20 years experience from the Hamptons to the North Country, she’s able to talk to her clients to learn their tastes and needs. Then create an attractive, comfortable oasis for them.

And, she does it using organic, sustainable materials from fair-trade suppliers.

“I won’t buy from a company or country that doesn’t treat workers in a humane way,” she said while hemming a piece of cloth at her downtown Malone shop, Creative Home Elements.

She and he brother, Hugh Hill, are Malone natives who came home after years away. Their retail store is filled with beautiful decorations from around the world. It’s the type of place where customers automatically reach out to touch soft, colorful fabrics, stare at the patterns in crystal or the grain in hand-carved bowls.

“We like natural wood, stone and organic products,” she said. “Everyone’s homes and personalities are different, so we offer unique products.”

Pond’s workroom is in the back. This is where she custom makes drapes or brings old chairs and sofas back to life with new upholstering. This is where she has a mountain of books with swatches of material or patterns for wallpaper, all of which are chemical-free. This is where she brings old furniture gleefully snatched from the roadside to recreate into a new piece.

This is where “Design by Jean Alice” flourishes.

After years of working with some of the best interior designers in business and learning all she could from them, Pond struck out on her own to have full control over the workroom and put her imprint upon the field. She handles her custom-design assignments from concept to execution.

While Pond is quick to dissolve into contagious laughter, she’s totally serious about her work. She puts her vision and her values into action.

“Each year, we’ve become more aware of environmental issues and we work with green design. The three R’s- reduce, reuse, recycle- are a big part of it,” she said. “Regular fabric has over 200 chemicals in it so we only use organic fabrics. We have hemp carpet with wool padding that is 100 percent chemical free. Hemp and bamboo are drought resistant and need no pesticides to grow.”

A mother of two grown sons, she looks to their future as well.

“We all have to live here. I want to leave the world nice for my children and grandchildren.”

While many clients are overwhelmed at the design possibilities, let alone the choice of material, she introduces them to the options within their price range and sensibilities.

“I love the thrill of putting together on a budget. I love it. Reusing things is awesome and I’m always stopping the car to pick up things someone else is throwing away. If you see a crazy lady on the road, it’s me!,” she laughed.

“But I can save an old hutch and give it a new look by upholstering it inside and painting on the outside or doing something you just never thought of.”

“I’m very passionate about reusing the bones that were,” she added. “Every home has a character; that’s what makes a home, home. A successful design means feeling familiar and feeling comfortable.

She seeks out companies that make green products in a fair way and has had a lot of luck with small, family owned businesses. She’s searching now for more makers of handmade wallpaper. Those of us not in the field may not realize it but straw, silk and even recycled plastic can evolve into wallpaper.

Along the same line, beautiful woven reeds and grasses can be made into lampshades.

“All in all, I like to be different,” she admits. “I’m all about what’s unique to each individual. No job is too big or too small. My motto is: I’m only limited by imagination.”

That means she’s not limited at all.

Contact Jean Pond at Creative Home Elements 518-483-1202. The shop is at 432 Main St. in Malone. For more information on the free Art Wine Design event, call Ruby Sprowls of NATC 315-386-4000