Sound Craftsmanship on Exhibit

An exhibit featuring locally handcrafted antique and contemporary musical instruments opens Friday, Dec. 3, at the Mary E. Black Gallery of the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design, 1683 Barrington St., Halifax. The exhibit, titled Sound Craftsmanship: Instrumental Progression, is curated by Jay Perry and runs until February 2000.

Mr. Perry has researched the production of musical instruments in our region, including the highly successful 19th century manufacturers of pianos and organs in places such as Truro, Annapolis, Bridgetown, Yarmouth and Halifax. At that time the keyboard business was a major employer and significant contributor to the export market of Nova Scotia.

Antique highlights of the exhibit include a reed organ loaned courtesy of The Organery Museum in Truro, a violin made by Earl Sangster in 1934 and an 1867 Fraser piano from the history collection of the Nova Scotia Museum.

The exhibit also contains contemporary instruments and information reflecting the wide range of instruments now made in the province. The industry is enjoying growth not seen since the heyday of the boom in piano and organ manufacturing.

There are currently many Nova Scotians making guitars, violins, mandolins, dulcimers, ukeleles, banjos, harps, bagpipes, flutes, and pennywhistles. As well, some people are making early musical instruments such as fitholes, keyboards and hurdy-gurdies, percussion instruments and large pipe organs. Many people also make a living repairing and restoring instruments, including many types of brass and woodwind instruments manufactured elsewhere.

The public is invited to view Sound Craftsmanship: Instrumental Progression, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery will close for holidays on Friday, Dec. 24, at noon and open again Wednesday, Dec. 29. The centre will also close from Saturday, Jan. 1, to Monday, Jan. 3.

Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design is a development centre for crafts and design-related industries, which are integral to the Nova Scotia economy and culture. The centre provides a visitor destination site which attracts 30,000 people annually. The centre offers wholesale and retail product information, and provides facilities for learning, for exhibition and for display.

It also provides a focus for public interest in the work of Nova Scotians who are active in these fields. The Centre for Craft and Design is a program/resource centre of the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture operated by the Department's cultural affairs section.