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NJFF Archive |
Heritage Area Presenters 2007 |
Heritage FacilitatorsJaclyn StewartMs. Stewart is the Director of the Jersey Shore Folklife Center at Tuckerton Seaport. Joining the organization’s staff in March 2006, Ms. Stewart was previously Ships’ Programs Coordinator and then Education Manager for Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At Tuckerton Seaport, she is responsible for the research, development, and presentation of the Seaport’s folklife programs on the diverse communities and traditions of the Jersey Shore and Pinelands. In addition to coordinating the Seaport’s folklife demonstrators and assisting with the development of events and exhibits, Ms. Stewart also runs the Jersey Traditions outreach program, which brings local tradition bearers into schools to share their art with students. Ms. Stewart has been involved with the New Jersey Folk Festival since 1999, previously as student coordinator and currently as a board member. Rob NelsonRob Nelson came to Rutgers in 1994, working first as a Program Advisor
for the Rutgers College Student Centers and then as an Assistant Dean
for Rutgers College Academic Services. Her earned his M.Ed. in
Educational Theory and History in 1999. He has taught several courses
in the American Studies Department at Rutgers. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. degree in American History. His research focuses on 19th
and 20th century cultural and educational history in the United States.
In 2003 Rob Nelson served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Folk
Festival while Professor Gillespie was away in Norway on a Fulbright
Fellowship. Currently, he serves as the Associate Director for Education in the Provost's Office at the University of Pennsylvania. Heritage Presenters Basketry
Mary Carty, a lifelong resident of Burlington County, demonstrates her Native American heritage through her handmade baskets. Many of her traditional baskets are shapes and styles with which her Lenape ancestors would have been familiar. A skilled teacher of weaving, Ms. Carty beautifully combines innovation with tradition in her craft. She stresses the importance of free-flowing creativity to her students, while instilling a deep respect for the conventional. She has researched and studied traditional Lenape basket weaving, and her mastery of the craft has been confirmed by many awards for her original and traditional designs. Instrument Making
South Jersey Maritime Traditions—Tuckerton Seaport Waterfowler Fred Reitmeyer, of Pomona, carves his decoys using the tools and techniques he learned from his grandfather, the legendary boat builder Carl Adams. He began carving at the age of twelve, making a rig of black ducks, his first decoys, from cork. Mr. Reitmeyer carves a classic Barnegat Bay decoy, but instead of gouging out his hollow decoys, he uses a resource-efficient, three-piece technique developed by his grandfather. This technique utilizes scrap plank ends, hollowing out the middle with a saber saw, saving the refuse for a duck hear or sandpiper. A regular demonstrator at Tuckerton Seaport, Fred Reitmeyer teaches youth carving classes and is an instructor at the Jersey Shore Folklife Center’s Jersey. He represented New Jersey decoy carving at the 2004 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and was one of six carvers in the state invited to participate in the 2004 Mid-Atlantic Decoy Competition. Mr. Reitmeyer is a New Jersey Master Decoy Carver teaching in the Apprenticeship Program of the New Jersey Council on the Arts.
Commercial fisherman Jim Rickmers, from Waretown, New Jersey, traces his yearning for the sea to his great- great-grandfather, a whaling captain from Germany. In addition to working as a carpenter, Mr. Rickmers has made his living from the bay--clamming, eeling, shedding soft shell crabs, shrimping, and fyke netting for flounder and bait. He began fyke netting for flounder with an “old timer,” and after a few seasons with him, Mr. Rickmers went out on his own. During the flounder fishing season, which runs from November 1 until February 19, he fishes eight fyke nets in the Barnegat Bay. Mr. Rickmers has demonstrated fyke nets as part of Tuckerton Seaport’s Artist in Residence program, and has particpated in Tuckerton Seaport’s Baymen’s Seafood and Music Festival.
Korean Masks
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Michael Terris first became intrigued with instrument building when he attended the Newport Folk Festival in 1964. A former art student and veteran of the US Navy, Mr. Terris’s first attempt at guitar making “created lots of firewood.” His craft eventually was perfected through research on classical guitar construction, as many of the elusive techniques involved were finally revealed. In addition to classical guitars, Michael Terris builds flat-top steel string guitars, banjos, mandolins, and resonator guitars—a type of guitar barred with a steel slide as opposed to fretted. Each of his instruments is hand-built, which is evident in the unique detail of each striking piece. Mr. Terris prefers building classical guitars to any other instrument because of the delicacy of the instrument. The process is more challenging, and it takes many years of dedication and attention to detail to achieve the sought-after qualities that make the distinction between a mediocre instrument and a truly outstanding one.
Sneakbox builder Gus Heinrichs of Tuckerton is a fourth generation wooden boat builder. His grandfather, Sock Heinrichs, owned and operated a boat yard and marine railway on Tuckerton Creek until the 1940s, and his father, Gustav, built and sold sneakboxes until his death in 1972. Gus Heinrichs grew up helping out his father in Burton’s boat yard until he began clamming in a 24-foot garvey made by his father. Before becoming a judge for the competition, Mr. Heinrichs won at least seventeen awards for his feather-edged sneakboxes at the Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show. Today, his sneakboxes are parts of private collections. Gus Heinrichs also is a demonstrator at the Tuckerton Seaport where one of his sneakboxes is displayed alongside a sneakbox built by his father.
Carl Tarnow, of Belford, is a fourth generation retired commercial fisherman who clammed and fished pound net traps on the Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays. Mr. Tarnow’s family ran its own seafood packing house in Belford, and he represented the area as a member of the Shellfish Council for several years. Carl Tarnow designed and maintains the model pound net maze in Marshall Meadows Exploration Park and is a valued speaker on pound net traditions. At the Tuckerton Seaport, Carl Tarnow works with Gus Heinrichs in Perrine’s Boat Works; he demonstrates net mending and shares stories and pictures of pound net fishing in the area. Mr. Tarnow’s pound net models can be found at the Tuckerton Seaport. He restored a model pound for Barnegat Light Historical Museum which was originally created by Axel B. Carlson, Jr. In 2004, Carl Tarnow represented New Jersey commercial fishing traditions at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Long Island Traditions Folklife Festival. 
Captain Fred Kalm from New Gretna, NJ is a bay man who has spent most of his life making a living from the Barnegat Bay. A former charter boat captain, Fred Kalm used to run fishing parties on the Sapphire Lady, a boat built for him by his father Otto Kalm, a former tugboat captain. Over the years, Fred Kalm has tongued for clams and scallops, worked in the cranberry bogs, raised oysters and Springer spaniels, and served on the Philippine Sea during the Korean War. In 1991 Fred Kalm received Hurley Conklin Award, presented to people who have lived in the Barnegat Bay Tradition. Today Fred Kalm is a full time clammer for Parson’s Clam House and demonstrates tonguing as Captain for the Seaport’s vintage charter boat, Melody II. 
The Jersey Shore Folklife Center researches, documents, supports and presents the diverse communities and traditions of the Jersey Shore and the Pinelands. The Center provides professional oversight for folk art programs and exhibits at Tuckerton Seaport and manages the artist roster and guest demonstrator schedule, the Folk and Traditional Artist in Residence Program, the Jersey Traditions outreach program and changing artist exhibits in J.C. Parker's workshop. Through daily demonstrations, educational programs, classes and exhibits the Jersey Shore Folklife Center celebrates the profoundly creative spirit of the region, its traditional arts; and its occupational and recreational folklife. 