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Rock art at the Hagood Mill site is open to many interpretations. Is the imagery sacred, documentation of historic events, part of a simple amusement, or of a larger pictographic language? The answer...
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Peter obtains many of his broom handles by collecting driftwood from rivers. Whitewater rivers of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge may yield rhododendron and dogwood, while the flat meandering rivers of...
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The bean pot is a traditional form that resurfaced in the Catawba potter’s repertoire in the early 1990s. Master potters used an image from an anthropological record of the early 1900s to guide their...
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Maintaining Catawba tradition involves passing down family histories, belief systems, language, folklore, the arts and other aspects of cultural heritage. The Catawba Cultural Preservation Project...
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Hundreds, possibly thousands, of years of weathering and erosion rendered the Hagood Mill site petroglyphs invisible to the naked eye. Amateur archaeologist Mike Bramlett discovered several of the...
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Peter is a physical education professor at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches canoeing and kayaking as a healthy pursuit and a fun way to enjoy nature. In this video, we take a trip to...
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Many traditional Catawba pot designs are based on a basic "cooking pot" style, dating back to the Woodland period (1000 BCE - 1000 CE) of North American pre-Columbian culture. Widespread use and trade...
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One theory suggests that the traditional American broom has its origins in Benjamin Franklin's beaver skin hat. In the late 1700s, Franklin received a whiskbroom from France, purchased by a friend who...
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Weaving. After Peter has securely attached the broom straw to the handle, he begins to weave the base of the straw into a uniform shape and pattern around the handle.
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Artifacts are manmade objects, sometimes referred to as material remains, that are recovered during the excavation process. Pot shards, intact pots, rubbing stones and arrowheads are examples of...
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Flattening. Brooms come in round and flat shapes. For our camera, Peter chose to create a flat , sweeping end that is more typical of a modern broom. Peter flattens the broom by jumping on it. A vice...
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Securing Weaving. In this step, Peter secures the finished weaving with a simple knot. The rough, unwoven parts of the broom straw base are cut off using a bread knife.
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A hunt with Tom is a lesson in waterfowl behavior, habitat, and patience. Our hunting trip with Tom could be considered a "blue bird day", a pleasant, calm day, yet not one conducive to duck hunting...
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Herb Parker's Piccolo Labyrinth, a nature-based sculpture of grass, sod and steel rebar, created a temporary, "quiet, contemplative space" on Charleston's waterfront. As an installation, the sculpture...
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Extended ephemeral work lasts for several years while encouraging the artist and viewer to revisit the sculpture throughout its life cycle. Parker describes ephemeral elements of his work in the...
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The Boozer family's move from the midlands of South Carolina to its coast was a bit of a homecoming. In 1734, Tom's ancestors emigrated from Germany to the Charleston area, where they worked as...
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Raking, planting and laughter could be heard for miles on Saturday as Boy and Girls Club members and community volunteers came together to plant a garden. The garden is a part of the project by the...
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Decoy makers use field guides, photographs, and duck mounts as references for painting their decoys. Tom mixes ordinary house paints to achieve the unique colors of many species of waterfowl. After...
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After the body is hollowed, Tom attaches the carved head of the duck. Tom takes care to attach the head at an angle that appears natural and in keeping with the attitude of the body. After the head is...
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Herb Parker describes his work as belonging to three distinct realms: architecture, sculpture, and landscape. Passageways, thresholds, oculi, seating areas, and planned spaces of light and shade...
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A look at various possibilities that exist for green jobs in South Carolina.
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Exterior revisions to Crucible involved adding a sturdy, stacked stone layer to its dome and a covering of native plants such as ebony spleenwort and sheet moss. The following video features Clemson...
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Native Americans called it "tree hair." French colonists changed it to "Barbe espagnole," or "Spanish Beard," to ridicule the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Spanish moss survives as its common name...
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Tom's toolbox is a museum of traditional woodworking implements. It contains a 150-year-old drawknife, a hatchet, his father's wood rasp, his grandfather's brace and bit, a mallet of resilient...
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The ability to work with wood was an asset on rural farms where lifestyles required self-sufficiency and living off the land was common. As a boy, Tom carved his toys - small boats that he floated...
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Ducks use their tails to signal whether they are at rest or in danger. Tom carves the tail so that it feathers slightly upward, a sign that the duck is at ease with its surroundings. The process uses...
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To float properly, the body of the duck must be hollowed out with a hand drill and chisel. Buoyancy and stability are achieved by combining a hollow interior with lead weights applied to the underside...