BOROUGH OF SNPJ, Pa. — The SNPJ Heritage Center would like to thank everyone who purchased a cookbook in 2009. Orders were being received on Christmas Eve! Even though we weren’t able to have the books delivered in time for Christmas, I’m sure the cookbooks will be used and enjoyed throughout the year and for years to come.

Thank you for another successful season. The Heritage Center is closed and will reopen Sunday, April 18 (but even though we’re closed, cookbook orders are still being filled).

Mark your calendars for our new event at the Heritage Center. Heritage Day will be held Sunday, April 25. The SNPJ Slovenian Heritage Center museum will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. with Slovenian crafters and exhibitors exhibiting from 1 to 4 p.m., and ethnic food will be available for purchase in the dining room. Any purchase made in the gift shop this day will be 10 percent off the total price.

Irvan “Bud” Brown from Coudersport, Pa., will be exhibiting “tramp art” during Heritage Day and shares his story of discovering his carving talent:

“In 1990, at age 72, while attending Slovenefest at the SNPJ Recreation Center, I was looking over the art display sponsored by the Slovenian American National Art Guild and noticed a notched wood carving on display. I inquired about the carving to Doris Sadar, who explained that the carving came from Slovenia and was known as ‘tramp art.’”

Tramp art, a woodworking style popularized in the late 1800s and early 1900s, is characterized by the notched carving and layering of many small pieces of wood, and was used to decorate a variety of objects. Recycled cigar boxes, once made from wood, were typically used. Tramp art evolved from folk art chip carving traditions, and the style is thought to have come from Germany and Scandinavia, though there is no conclusive research documenting this claim. The craft was practiced and can be found in all the industrialized nations of the early 1900s.

During the Great Depression in the 1930s, many people were out of work so they went back to doing the wood carving art work and traded it for food and necessities. In the late 1950s, the name “tramp art’ began appearing in literature to describe what had previously been called “chipwork.” The name “tramp art” stuck, but folk art authorities weren’t pleased with the suggestion of this name.

By the 1970s a new interpretation suggested that tramps and the itinerant labor force of the early 1900s made the objects and spread the craft. The latest research suggests that many of the crafters were well respected in their communities, not tramps or itinerants. Woods used to create tramp art include bass wood, birch plywood, and reclaimed wood from cigar boxes, fruit crates and shipping pallets.

According to Bud, “I realized that this art work was part of my heritage that my father’s family did for many generations in the United States and Europe. I studied the carving in the Heritage Center, went home and duplicated it in the shape of a cross. That September I brought it to the Heritage Center. It is now displayed in the Heritage Center for everyone to see. The carving came to me naturally, as though I had been doing it all my life.

“Since 1990 I have made hundreds of carvings, all shapes and sizes. My largest carving is a six-foot-tall cross that is above the entrance at St. Eulalia Catholic Church in Coudersport. These people were referred to as ‘tramps,’ but they were qualified people looking for jobs. That’s why this type of carving is referred to as tramp art. I like to listen to polkas and waltzes while I do my wood work; it increases the quality [of the work] and my productivity.”

Bud enjoys people visiting his home and workshop, and enjoys explaining how the wood carvings are done. You will have the opportunity to try your hand at tramp art, with Bud giving expert advice.

Additional Heritage Day displays/artists will include Olga Petek (614) of Wickliffe, Ohio, displaying and explaining a large personal collection of Slovenian artifacts; and Doris Sadar (5), representing the Slovenian American National Art Guild based in Euclid, Ohio, will be displaying an extensive collection of “splasher cloths.” Additional displays/artists are being confirmed. Look to future PROSVETA issues for more information.

The limited coal miner’s display in the SNPJ Heritage Center is going to be expanded. Many Slovenians had jobs in the coal mines, and the Heritage Center committee would like to share their stories with others. If you, a family member or friend worked in the mines and would like to share your personal story, please write down your story and mail it to me. The stories will be displayed in the Heritage Center. You can e-mail your stories to maruszaklcgazette@yahoo.com or mail them to 2151 Larchmont Dr., Wickliffe, OH 44092. We look forward to hearing from you!

Interested in learning more about the Slovenian heritage? Get involved as an SNPJ Heritage Center volunteer or committee member. Youth members and young adults are encouraged to become part of our team. Contact Roger Evanish for more information at (724) 693-8739.