A handcrafted guitar neck by Spokane artist Joel Stehr.
Sound and beauty are in the limelight at Art Demonstration Day, Saturday April 12, at Artisans at the Dahmen Barn in Uniontown. The demo day is one the barn’s biggest events each year. Here’s a look at what will be seen and heard:
~ John Elwood of Garfield makes instruments from Cougar Gold Cheese cans dubbed canjos (see accompanying story). He also makes wood dulcimers, along with banjos from cardboard boxes for children. He will demonstrate making tuning pegs by hand on his foot-powered lathe.~ James Fitzgerald and Tim Ely, both of Colfax, started a joint guitar project in 2012. Fitzgerald creates guitars and Ely paints them. They’ve completed 15 unique acoustic instruments of steel and string that fuse the processes of making wood and book crafts. They also play their instruments.
~ Paul Smith of Palouse creates banjos from gourds and plays them. Smith will demonstrate the installation of a glued goatskin head on a fretless gourd banjo. The fretless gourd banjo was the original design of the banjo made by Africans in the Americas, recreating lutes that they knew in West Africa.
~ Kevin Peters of Lapwai and the Nez Perce Tribe creates traditional wooden flutes from elderberry limbs and will demonstrate his carving technique. The flute Peters plays was once considered the domain of men only as a courting instrument.
~ Geoff Crimmins of Moscow and Jeff Jenson of Lewiston are amateurs who make and play bagpipes. They will demonstrate wood-turning and other techniques used in making Scottish smallpipes and highland bagpipe practice chanters.
~ Spokane/Coeur d’Alene artists participating include Michael Elwell who makes classical guitars in the Spanish tradition for serious musicians. He will demonstrate making a rosette, the ornamentation around the guitar’s sound hole. Joel Stehr will demonstrate how to create acoustic guitars. Stuart Gort Sr. makes electric guitars under the label Stuart Keith and will allow visitors to try them out. Marcus Daniels of Marcus Daniels Luthiery is working on a solid body electric guitar dubbed the Art Guitar and will demonstrate carving the top of a solid body guitar.
What: Eighth annual Art Demonstration Day featuring handmade musical instruments
When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 12
Where: Artisans at the Dahmen Barn, Uniontown
Cost: Free
