Documentary Videos

Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2022/26393

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Elmer Schlensker: The Broommaker of Milltown Indiana
(Traditional Arts Indiana, 2009) Kay, Jon
Elmer Schlensker (1930-2012) was a fourth generation broom maker from Milltown, Indiana. As a child he helped sew the brooms that his father made. However, Elmer had never made a complete broom, until many years after his father passed. A coordinator at the Lanesville HeritageFestival approached Elmer to demonstrate at the event. He went home and took several of his father’s old brooms apart to remind him how they were made. Through trial and error, he taught himself the craft. Throughout his retirement years, he worked year round to make enough broom to sell at the Lanesville Heritage Festival.
Dani Tippmann's Elm Bark Baskets
(Traditional Arts Indiana, 2024) Kay, Jon
Myaamia artisan Dani Tippmann makes baskets out of elm bark. Making bark baskets was once common throughout the Great Lakes region. A member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Dani is a descendant of Chief Richardville. The style of basket she makes was commonly used to store maple sugar. Dani began making these bark baskets after seeing a 1910 photograph of Kiilhsoohkwa (the granddaughter of famed Miami leader Little Turtle) with a basket made in this distinctive style. Spring is the best time to remove the bark of the red elm tree because the cohesion between the bark and the sapwood is less than in other times. While the tree is still alive and standing, Dani uses a hatchet to chop a series of x-slits around its circumference near its base. Then she climbs a ladder and repeats the process as high as she can reach and still be below the elm tree’s branches. She then cuts a perpendicular slit connecting the two rings of x-cuts. Then, with a spud, a homemade tool flat on one side and rounded on the other, she carefully pries the bark loose from the sapwood. With pops and cracks, the bark peals away from the tree. Once removed, Dani carries the bark home to begin her craft, exposing the elm's trunk. The tree will die and will be cut for firewood in winter. Back home in her garage, Dani lays the pliable bark flat and cuts a rectangular section that will be the basket's body. Using a drawknife, she scrapes the flaky outer bark away, revealing the red inner bark, and then with a knife, cuts three slits on two facing sides. Carefully folding the sides up and locking the slits together, the bark bends into a four-sided box, which she holds together with clamps. Then Dani uses an auger to make two rows of holes that straddle the seams of the basket, cuts several narrow strips of bark, and proceeds to sew the basket together. Once stitched tight, Dani wraps the basket’s rim with split dogwood or green wood to protect the opening.
Ngai Chum: A Chin-dianapolis Basketmaker
(Traditional Arts Indiana, 2022-10-05) Kay, Jon
Basketmaker Ngai Chum moved to Indianapolis from Chin State in western Myanmar (Burma) in 2013. As a boy, Chum had learned to weave a variety of basket forms by watching his father make them. He continued to weave baskets for friends and family in Burma, where he also worked as a master carpenter. After moving to Indiana, he worked for two local businesses, but due to health and other issues, he took a break from working. Today, he devotes much of his time to making baskets for his community—which he enjoys greatly. While living in Chin State Chum made baskets from locally sourced rattan. he produced pieces for both his family and personal use, but also to sell in larger cities. Finding a suitable material in Indiana, however, is difficult. He started weaving using plastic (polypropylene) packing straps to make his woven wares, which comes in a range of colors. He has since found an online source for dry rattan, which blends with the plastic straps. Today, he creates a variety of basket types, ranging from small storage containers to larger pack baskets. These carrying baskets are designed to be used with woven straps that traditionally wrap around the user’s forehead. He also makes a mid-sized basket that is commonly used for fishing in Burma, but here is used to carry everyday items as well as to display as a cultural object. Chum stresses that making baskets is an enjoyable craft for him. Being able to weave for his community today gives him purpose in his later years, and reminds him of his youth when he made baskets for his village.
Making a Bowl Adze with Dave Voges
(Jon Kay for Traditional Arts Indiana, 2020-03-16) Jon, Kay
A bowl adze is a special and hard to find tool used to hew or chop bowls. Machinist and blacksmith Dave Voges began making these special adzes when his friend Keith Ruble asked him if he could help him design better tool. Based on Keith’s bowl-hewing knowledge and Dave’s skill, the two designed what many consider one of the best bowl adzes available. Bowl hewers across Indiana prize these special tools. When the elder blacksmith learned that Jon Kay from Indiana University was going to video him making his tools, he decided to have some fun and affix a plaque from his alma mater and IU rival university, Purdue, on his power hammer. Sadly, Dave passed away before this project could be completed. I had intended to interview him about the making process, but it was not to be. Kay dedicate this video to the memory of David Flesher Voges (1940-2017) of Terre Haute, Indiana.
Bowl Hewing with Keith Ruble
(Jon Kay for Traditional Arts Indiana, 2020-03-19) Kay, Jon
In the 1970s, Keith Ruble learned bowl hewing from legendary bowl maker Bill Day, while the two were demonstrating at the Indiana State Fair’s Pioneer Village. More than forty years later, Keith continues the craft, using an adze to chop out vessels in a variety of shapes, including traditional rectangles, ovals, animals, and even the state of Indiana. This version of the documentary does not have narration. This video follows Keith through the creative process: cutting out blanks, chopping out the container, and finishing a bowl.
The Rail Splitters of Brown County: Alan and Porter Richards
(Jon Kay for Traditional Arts Indiana, 2020-03-16) Kay, Jon
Generations of Alan Richards’ family has lived in Brown County, where log houses and split-rail fences have remained part of the landscape. Once his grandchildren were old enough, he recruited them to help him split rails at the local Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Show in Nashville. This video was shot of Alan and his grandson Porter splitting rails at an Arts in the Parks event at TC Steele State Historic Site. From straight grain red and black oak trees, Alan starts to split the log with an ax; once the log cracks, Porter uses a set of wooden wedges and splitting maul to cleanly split the length of the log. They repeat this until the log is split into quarters. They can spend all day transforming a pile of logs into a length of fence.
Willow Work: Viki Graber, Basketmaker
(Jon Kay for Mathers Museum of World Cultures at Indiana University, 2015-08-18) Kay, Jon
Folklorist Jon Kay made this short documentary for the exhibition, "Willow Work: Viki Graber, Basketmaker." The exhibit explored the work of Viki Graber a willow basketmaker from Goshen, Indiana. Viki learned willow basket weaving at the age of twelve from her father, who was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a 2009 National Heritage Fellow. Where once her family plied their talents to make utilitarian workbaskets, Viki makes baskets for collectors and to sell at art shows and galleries. While using the same tools and methods as her great-grandfather, Viki's keen sense of color and innovative designs have elevated her family's craft to a new aesthetic level. Sponsored by the Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences as part of their Fall 2015 Themester @Work: The Nature of Labor on a Changing Planet, the exhibition and the video were on display at the museum from August 18 through December 20, 2015.
Making an Oak Box
(Chipstone Foundation (Jon Kay, producer and videographer), 2013-08-20) Kay, Jon
This documentary was shot and edited by folklorist Jon Kay for the Chipstone Foundation, a research organization that supports the study of American decorative arts. The video features master furniture maker Randall O’Donnell and details the methods used to produce a replica of a Bible box in the Chipstone’s research collection that was originally made in the 1600s.
The Mallet: Making a Maul in a Baiku Yao Community
(Indiana University, 2018-04-19) Kay, Jon
In 2017, folklorist Jon Kay traveled to Southwest China to join a team of researchers from the United States, the Anthropological Museum of Guangxi, and the Nandan Baiku Yao Eco-Museum who were documenting the basket and textile traditions of the Baiku Yao people in Nandan County, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The members of the research team visited a home in Manjiang village to inventory the baskets collected and used by a local family. As the fieldworkers worked photographing and measuring baskets, Mr. Lu Bingzhao came into the house and picked up a mallet, which he showed everyone and then went outside. Kay did not speak Mandarin or the local Baiku Yao dialect, but felt Mr. Bingzhao had something he wanted to show the team, so he followed the man outside and saw him lay the mallet on the trunk of a small felled tree for measurement; Kay realized he was going to make a mallet, so he grabbed a camera and began shooting. Mr. Bingzhao worked as the children played nearby. Neighbors and family members stopped by to visit as they returned home from picking greens. Mr. Bingzhao worked steadily as people came and went. With heavy chops, he used a billhook to quickly remove the excess wood. With the same tool, he then shaved the mallet’s handle smooth, using a pulling motion. Finally, at the end of the video, just as he completes the mallet, he gives it to his daughter-in-law. Technical Note: The video was shot with a Canon 90D camera with a RØDE stereo microphone attached to the camera’s hot-shoe mount.
A Rice Basket: Basketmaking in a Baiku Yao Community
(Jon Kay for Mathers Museum of World Cultures, 2019-10-21) Kay, Jon
This is a documentary short about a rice basketmaker in Nandan County in Guangxi, China. Born in 1957, Li Guicai makes baskets in Huaili Village, a Baiku Yao community. As a teen, he split bamboo for a local basketmaker and learned the trade through watching the older artisan work. Mr. Li now weaves for family and friends and to sell in the village. He specializes in making baskets to hold sticky rice. The documentary was shot and edited by Jon Kay, with a Canon 90D DSLR Camera and a Rode stereo microphone.

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