THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 7, 1994 TAG: 9408050129
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: TERESA ANNAS
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
COLONIAL Williamsburg is losing its well-respected but low-key director of museums to a sculpture garden in Murrells Inlet, S.C.
Late last month, Lawrence Henry announced he would leave Williamsburg, where he has worked since 1986, for Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach. He plans to start his new job by summer's end.
In Williamsburg, Henry, 51, has been responsible for the development and operation of Carter's Grove, a 350-acre complex of historic buildings and museums on the James River. In 1990, he also became director of Bassett Hall, the 18th century Williamsburg home owned by Abby Aldrich and John D. Rockefeller. The couple that enabled the restoration of the old colonial capital spent every spring and fall in the mid-1930s at their beloved and comparatively modest home - modest, that is, for a Rockefeller.
During Henry's time there, Bassett Hall was closed for renovations. The two-story home reopened in October with new audio tours focusing on the Rockefellers' contribution to Williamsburg.
A master gardener, Henry has been in charge of Williamsburg's annual spring Garden Symposium since 1987. It is the oldest annual horticulture program in the nation.
Graham Hood, vice president of collections and museums and Henry's supervisor, said Henry ``made a permanent contribution to the success of the Garden Symposium. And he certainly changed the interpretation of Carter's Grove, and brought that to a new point of excellence. He also changed the interpretation of Bassett Hall.''
In 1990, Henry also assumed direction of DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Gallery, a significant repository of colonial-era decorative arts.
Henry played a major role in the biggest exhibition mounted at DeWitt Wallace since it opened in the mid-1980s.
``Tools: Working Wood in 18th-century America,'' on view through Jan. 14, features more than 1,500 18th and early 19th century woodworking tools and related objects.
The show was inventively staged, and includes mock-ups of period woodworking shops and splendid tools set in gilt frames to stress their beauty. Videos hypnotize with close views of traditional artisans at work, from wheelwrights to coopers. The sound of craftsmen sawing and planing fills the galleries, some of which resemble plainly framed workshops.
At Brookgreen Gardens, his challenge will be to ``reach a new level of excellence'' and ``achieve national recognition as one of the finest cultural and educational institutions of its type,'' said Gurden Tarbox, the retiring president whom Henry replaces. Tarbox, who served on the committee to find his successor, led Brookgreen for four decades.
Brookgreen Gardens was the first public sculpture garden in America, and is a 9,127-acre spread that includes a wildlife park. The gardens were founded in 1931 by patron Archer M. Huntington, and showcase works by his wife, Anna Hyatt Huntington.
The two regions share connections: Huntington also founded The Mariners' Museum in Newport News; a major work by his wife, ``The Torchbearer,'' faces The Hague in Norfolk at the entrance to The Chrysler Museum. STRUNG OUT
A few blocks from DeWitt Wallace, the products of tools are strung and hung at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center.
Through Sept. 6, the nation's oldest folk art museum is hosting ``Blue Ridge Folk Instruments and Their Makers,'' which is ``the first focused examination of instrument making in the western Virginia Blue Ridge,'' claims Roddy Moore, director of Blue Ridge Institute at Ferrum College, which organized the touring show in 1992.
Blue Ridge Institute is one of few regional folklife centers in the nation, and is an authoritative source for information about Blue Ridge folk traditions.
On the walls and propped on pedestals are 65 fiddles, banjos, dulcimers, guitars, mandolins and autoharps - all handmade by 50 Blue Ridge artisans in the last 200 years. A catalog, sold in the gift shop, relates the tradition with photos, essays and biographies.
The collection on view is impressive and diverse. The banjo has strong ties to the region. In the 1830s, Joel Walker Sweeney of Appomattox became the first minstrel banjo player and first white man known to have played the instrument.
Prior to Sweeney, the banjo was played in America by African-Americans; they had brought the long-necked, stringed gourd instrument called the banjer from Africa.
It was once believed that Sweeney invented the five-string banjo, but recent findings - including a late 18th century painting in the collection of the folk art center - suggest the notion of a fifth string came earlier.
Banjos on view include a circa 1900-1920 poplar banjo with a copper ``skin.'' A 1983 banjo made by Olen Gardner of Montgomery County was made for The Gospel Truth religious band; the tuning head sports three crosses and other Christian symbolism in mother-of-pearl inlay.
An 1891 chestnut and walnut dulcimer made by Stephen Melton of Lee County started a family tradition that persists. Dulcimers by Stephen and five of his descendants are on view.
The last of the line is 60-year-old Jacob Ray Melton of Carroll County, birthplace of his paternal grandfather Stephen. Jacob Ray has been actively building the sweet-sounding lap instruments since he retired in 1969 from a Galax lumber company.
Also on view is a rare double dulcimer for courting. Lovers could sit opposite one another and strum on joined teardrop-shaped instruments.
Instrument-making in the Blue Ridge has been a man's domain. But there's one gal amongst 'em.
Audrey Hash Ham, 45, carves out a living in Grayson County making fiddles and dulcimers. She learned the craft from her late father, Albert Hash, who also made mandolins and banjos.
There are several instruments by Ham's hand on view, including a 1980 maple and spruce fiddle. Its head was carved in what appears to be a likeness of the maker, her long hair swept back, revealing high cheekbones and eyes bent on watching over her creation.
Somehow, Ham has said, ``they turn out looking like someone I know.'' MEMO: The Folk Art Center is on South England Street across from Williamsburg
Lodge. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Admission is $6, or by various
passes. For program information, call 1-220-7698. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDATION
Jacob Melton, center, taught his brothers Daniel, right, and Raymond
to build dulcimers.
A 1790 tool chest on view at DeWitt.
by CNB