In three generations political power has shifted multiple times over; pop culture has been transformed by MTV and Michael Jackson, and cataclysmic events like Chernobyl and Challenger explosions have rocked the world, leaving it forever changed.
But for the Barrow family, neither time nor experience has altered their passion for fusing their memories and emotions into their wooden carvings, a tradition forged nearly five generations ago.
At a small table in a secluded corner of the North Carolina Museum of History, members of three generations of the Barrow family sat displaying the varnished wooden canes during the tenth annual African American Cultural Celebration created by the eldest member of the group, Frank Barrow Sr.
Delicately shaving a wooden flower out of a small reed, Barrow said his craftsmanship originated with his grandfather, but he is largely self-taught.
“I’ve been doing this since I was about ten years old,” Barrow said. “My father and his father taught me how to weave oak baskets, but other than that I’m self-taught. I make my own knives, gather my own wood, and create most of my own designs. Now I’ve got about 50 of these canes, among other things.”
Emmanuel Wallace, one of Barrow’s five grandchildren, said his grandfather spends a lot of his time carving each and every intricate detail into every cane he makes.
“This cane represents Noah’s Ark, and all of these little animals were carved into the wood—they weren’t carved individually and then glued on,” Wallace said. “My grandfather spends about 100 hours on every cane he makes.”
According to Alecia Rodgers, spokeswoman for Somerset Place State Historic Site, the tradition of sculpting natural resources including wood goes far back into African American history.
“A lot of what they had was made from things that came from the land,” Rodgers said. “For example, they made spoons, bowls, musical instruments, and even loofas from different sizes of gourds. There are corn-cob pipes, corn husk dolls, and even toothbrushes made from twigs. A lot of what they needed, they made from things that grew naturally in the wild.”
Rodgers said these artifacts draw the fascination of all types of people, young and old.
“The kids that see these pieces love the flutes, dolls, and pipes. They find it amazing that people used to brush their teeth with sticks,” Rodgers said. “But then we also have a lot of visitors who remember a time when they or older members of their family actually used these things.”
To Stroria Davis, this overlap of discovering the past and present represents her mother’s personal artistic project.
Davis’ mother, Pinkie Strother, has created more than nine dioramas in the last 20 years of buildings from her childhood. Among her creations were a schoolhouse, store, community church, her personal home, and five other community gathering places.
According to Davis, every person molded and displayed in each piece is an actual person from her mother’s childhood.
“All of the people in this church she built represent real people from her memory,” Davis said. “If she couldn’t quite remember all of the details, she went back to her hometown in Calvert County, Maryland and contacted people in her community, took photos, and gathered stories to be sure her artwork was historically correct.”
But for people like Ife Grady, the crafts of the African American heritage do not solely lie in the past, but also serve as the means to continue into the future.
Grady was a prominent jewelry designer until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. Unable to continue using heavy equipment and inhaling strong fumes due to her medical health, Grady said she wanted to find a “softer medium” to continue her art.
What Grady found was the art of quilting, an African American creative tradition passed down from mother to daughter since times of slavery.
”I was looking for a softer medium, and when I went to one of the quilt shows for the African American Quilt Circle and I was totally blown away by the artistry exhibited by the group,” Grady said. “When I saw it I said, ‘I want to do that.’ And even though I’m cancer-free, I still love it.”
The cultural celebration not only served as a chance for local African American artists to present their artwork and cultural collaborations, it provided an opportunity to look toward the future.
TeenFest, an organization designed to spotlight youth musical talent and promote education in “furthering the substance abuse prevention and anti-violence messages,” presented at the celebration as part of their search for musically-inclined youth with leadership potential, according to Donna-Maria Harris, TeenFest spokeswoman and facilitator.
”Before the talent show, we hold different seminars for youth and their parents on preventative strategies,” Harris said. “We want to work with these teens to make them immediate peer health-educators around the issues of substance abuse prevention and violence reduction using their own creative voices.”
