Christiana Lehmann, Printmaker, Graphic Designer, Musician

ALFRED: Christiana Lehmann has wanted to work in an art field for about a long as she can remember. She has a memory of an interest area test in which her choices indicated that she might do well if she aimed her studies toward an art field. In elementary school, for a flicker of time, she considered being a teacher but shortly realized that would be a disaster – too much talking and not enough drawing. Other than that moment of considering teaching, art is what she has pursued.

                Christiana graduated from Arlington High School, about an hour and a half north of New York City. When it came time to choose a school, she narrowed it to Pratt and Alfred and one of the things that tilted strongly toward Alfred was the Performing Arts Department.

                Christiana started flute lessons when she was about 9 and continued with flute in high school and through her 4 years in Alfred. She started playing acoustic guitar when she was 13 and spent a few semesters studying piano at Alfred. Her newest instrumental experience is with the cello which she has played for just over a year.

                She played in Symphonic Band all 4 years and has been a member of the flute choir since it started. She played flute in both Symphonic Band and Orchestra one year and then started cello lessons so played in the cello section of the orchestra this year. The cello attracted her because of the glorious sound it can make. That range of tones is so rich and full that she had to give it a try.

                Christiana’s degree will be a Bachelor of Fine Arts and she has chosen to concentrate on graphic design and printmaking. Her senior thesis show, Melodic Dissonance, will combine drawings, handmade flutes and recorded music. In this title, Christiana is the melody. It’s the music within her and the emotions that music brings to her. She is the midst of carving print blocks that reference music and the emotional aspect of music. The dissonance in the melody is the repeated stamping of the blocks in overlapping rows, columns and patterns to create new designs with the varied placements.

                All of her stamps have designs 5 lines representing the lines of the music staff. She showed me some prints that are done in gray, black and white or just black and white. Some of the stamps are just a few inches in size but she places them on the paper over and over to create huge designs and said she is never sure how the small patterns will look when they are used over and over. One large print has curved lines that reference the shape of the cut out on a cello. Stamps made in straight lines sometimes give diagonal designs or a sort of plaid. The surprising outcomes are part of the fun of printmaking.

                Christiana likes functional art and decided that her thesis show would include a collection of handmade, functional flutes. She chose to make the flutes from bamboo because it is a natural and fast growing material and thought she could get some at a garden center. Instead she had to order bundles of it from the also fast-growing but perhaps not so sustainable Amazon. Needs must.

                Early in the flute making process she discovered things about flutes and bamboo. One is that bamboo is brittle and cracks sometimes when drilled. Another is that bundles of bamboo contain some long narrow poles amid long wide poles with few being a great diameter for a flute. Another is that the head of a flute needs to be smaller in diameter than the body of the flute to be in tune.

                She starts by drilling the mouth piece hole and then gets what she calls the original note to sound true. After she successfully gets an original first note she applies mathematics to determine the placement for finger holes. She plans to have 13 flutes starting with a low D and going up the scale in half steps to the D one octave above.

                When you attend her show, if plans aren’t modified, you will see a display of her flutes amid the prints based on the line designs. You’ll hear recordings of her playing the flutes which will be blended and edited and played in a loop.

                The designs will be printed on the flutes as well as on paper. She learned that if she prints on acetate and wraps it around a flute, she can burnish the acetate to transfer the print to the bamboo flute.  

                This semester has been Christiana’s favorite time at AU. She has her thesis show work, music including both Symphonic groups and flute choir and Astronomy to more than fill her days as she thinks about finding a job in graphic arts after graduation. She’s enjoyed her time in Alfred but plans to move south toward the milder weather that her siblings live and work in, and, no offense to The Rogue Carrot, near a large grocery store.

                Senior thesis shows are always on a Saturday evening. May 5^th is the date set for this year and the time is the usual 4 to 7 pm. Christiana Lehmann’s work will be in section B10 in Binns-Merrill Hall. There will be dozens of other graduating seniors showing their work on the campus and in town. Follow an excited crowd and make it into an active area where there will be labeled maps to guide you.Senior Shows are free and open to the public though parking areas are scarce.

Pollywogg Holler

   Published in Pittsburgh, 2005

Bill Castle in 2005

         At first, it was a private spot, a little family project.  Slowly, it grew and eventually commanded a page in Fodor’s Nights to Imagine:  Magical places to Stay in America. 

            Pollywogg Holler, as it was named, began in 1976 when Bill and Barbara Castle bought 28 acres of land between Belmont and Alfred Station, in Allegany County.  Barbara insisted that she and Bill needed to get their kids involved in a family activity.  Some ambitious families might create a tree house in the backyard, and others -- more predictable folk -- might bake some cookies.  But the Castles, with their three children, grabbed saws, chains and sledge hammers and built a cabin.

            The Castles’ log-and-stone dwelling was originally intended as a weekend retreat.  Weekdays were spent in Hornell where Bill owned a construction company.  He built bridges for New York State in his stress-filled occupation until 1983.  That’s when he suffered a heart attack and life changed.  Bill sold the company, moved with his family to their cabin and enrolled in art school.

            Bill Castle feels that he learned to think deeply while he was a student at the School of Art and Design at Alfred University.  He says that art students focus more on creative thinking than on any particular aspect of art.  Problem solving is the real work.

            When Castle entered Alfred University, the original cabin had been completed.  (Now known as the Lodge, it is used for visitor reception, accommodation, food preparation and dining.) But with a constant flood of ideas, a school full of resources, and acres of empty land, Pollywogg Holler developed a life of its own.  Castle spent a year creating his second building – a structure bursting with personality - known as the honeymoon loft and sauna.      

            One enters by way of a covered porch, which shelters an extraordinary door carved with a Castle motto -- “bathe often, never hurry” -- and an inlaid glass depiction of the earth and moon.  Roof supports are capped with four sculptured rams’ heads cast in what art students call brassy bronze (a cheap material made of melted plumbing fixtures). 

            The stone porch floor continues seamlessly inside where it wraps up one wall and surrounds the thick metal door of a firebox.  Another wood door opens to the sauna and wooden steps and a few brick footholds lead to the loft-bed with a skylight for star viewing and access to a tiny balcony overlooking an outdoor stage, where solar-powered concerts rock for special occasions.   

            The loft and sauna, with a moss roof, is near a covered well festooned with more of Castle’s carving.  Castle presented these structures as his senior show at Alfred University, the culmination of his four-years of study.  Because Pollywogg Holler morphed from private home to public lodging, this “show” has now run continuously since 1988, with people enjoying the sauna, loft and stage during company parties, weddings, birthday celebrations, family reunions, benefits and pizza-barbeque parties. 

            Castle connected the lodge to the honeymoon loft with a small bridge and a curving path.  That path now also leads to an acoustic stage facing plank benches set around a campfire pit.  Behind the benches is Bistro de Holler.  The bistro is open on the sides but sheltered with a terra cotta roof.  It is filled with Castle’s hand-hewn tables and stools, furniture with character. 

            On most warm Wednesday nights, it seems that half the town sips wine and watches cheese bubble and brown on pizzas in the wood-fired Navajo-style oven.  During parties, some private, some public, chefs bake as many as 100 of these regionally famous pizzas while pulled pork and baked beans (special recipes prepared by the Bar-B-Q Bandits) slowly roast in a converted corn chopper. 

            If music, food, wine and company aren’t enough to help you relax, you might like to have a session with Don Powell, licensed massage therapist.  He’ll tell you about his raccoon, Uncle Albert, or his skunk, Jesse, while massaging your kinks with one of his many massage techniques – Russian, medical, Shiatsu, Swedish, reflexology or old Egyptian style. 

            Behind the bistro, a crooked, covered stairway, looking like a fantasy movie set, leads to a small door and a sleeping area – the wood loft -- a place to listen to acoustic music from the stage below, to watch birds and to enjoy the view of the forest from the tree tops.

            Another narrow path, behind the acoustic stage, leads to a bathhouse/restroom where a hanging barrel dispenses heated spring water into the private, candle-lit shower for two.   In an adjoining cubicle is a composting toilet.  It’s an odor-free unit where, instead of flushing, one closes the lid and walks away.  Similar toilets and showers are located throughout the site -- small, log outhouses blending into Pollywogg’s woods.

            Positioned away from the main buildings stands the so-called “love shack.”  You can sit on one of the chairs on the covered porch or step inside to find a quilt-covered bed and a small wood stove.  Originally built by son Quentin when he was a teen in need of private space, the love shack, guests say, is quaint, private, snug and well-named.

            All of these buildings are more sculptures than dwellings and all are hidden in the woods, a full quarter-mile saunter from the road and parking areas where a 40’ wide, stainless steel geodesic dome guards Pollywogg’s entry.  

            On the other side of the dome, alongside a creek, the path to the lodge is strewn with sculptures.  Over the past two decades, Alfred University’s art students have contributed an over-sized clay toaster, a huge metal tricycle and a towering head along with myriad other clay, glass, metal or wood sculptures.  (You’ll find them on this trail and in the weaving path known as High Water Trail.)    

            The path continues past a small waterfall, rustic bridges, the honeymoon loft, both performance areas, the main lodge and the bistro.   One side trail leads to the newest structure.  A break from the log or cedar-plank style of the other buildings, this is a steel-framed dome clothed in canvas and featuring a “floating bed,” an “air chair,” and plenty of windows for star gazing.  The bed is a huge steel hoop with a woven rope base and foam mattress.  Swaying in it, one can view the fireplace, the woods, or a nearby pond where frogs, mink and heron live.  When not in use, the bed cranks up to the ceiling giving plenty of polished floor space.

            Well past the Bistro is a double-pond area being developed as an eco-resort/spa/retreat for the purpose of bringing people closer to nature.  Castle’s architectural drawings depict five cabins, each roomy enough to accommodate two couples.  As planned, these cabins will be self-sufficient with solar-based electricity, solar showers, propane heat and composting toilets.  When completed, the area will have still another wood sauna as well as a wood-fired, Japanese style hot tub.  Right now, the first cabin is just a pile of logs harvested by Castle and his 1953 Allis Chalmers tractor, but there are lean-tos ready for guests. 

            We stayed there one spring when the ponds were full of tadpoles.  Walking around the ponds to the first lean-to (called Pine Knot), my husband, Rick, and I disturbed thousands of tadpoles who turned their wide heads away from the shallow edge and thrashed furiously toward the safety of deeper water. 

            That night we lingered over dinner in the lodge  – Cornish hen stuffed with wild rice pilaf for me and Steak Florentine with Parmesan cheese, spinach, mushrooms and garlic for Rick and, after dark, retraced our steps along the quiet path, lit with torches and tea candles set in stone niches.  At Pine Knot we were warmed by a fire, serenaded by frogs, soothed by night noises and enchanted by the stars.  In the morning, we followed the sounds of an axe.  Someone was splitting wood for the stove.  Castle, meanwhile, was slicing, frying and toasting breakfast at the lodge.  

            Later in the year, we stayed in the floating bed of the dome where our night was filled with hooting owls, croaking frogs and honking geese.  If you are interested in luxury cotton or silk sheets, room service and a private Jacuzzi, this isn’t your place.  Right now, Pollywogg Holler is for hearty, outdoor folk who consider mud to be a natural part of life and who are unruffled by the sounds of porcupines, raccoons or other rustling noises. 

            Barbara Castle says the big cabins at the ponds will be the last project for Pollywogg Holler, but Bill designs as naturally as he breathes so it’s hard to imagine that he would stop building and planning.  If you take the time to visit, he’ll sip some wine and share his ideas.  None will be ordinary or predictable, but they will be interesting and chances are he’ll draw you into them.  

                                                                    - - -

Driving Directions:  Pollywogg Holler is at 6242 South Road between Interstate 86 and Route 244.  From Buffalo, take 219 South to I-86 East at Salamanca.   Exit at number 32, West Almond.  At the end of the exit ramp, go straight down hill and turn left after the blue metal building.  Follow on South Road, a gravel road, for 2.5 miles.  The Pollywogg Holler office will be in the ranch-style house on the left but continue 100 yards to the parking lot on the right.  Park, walk through the geodesic dome and follow the trail through the woods to the Main Lodge.

                                                                *

(This was published in 2005. Contact information, services and fees will likely be different.) 

Reservations:  The main lodge (the Castles now live in a house across the road), honeymoon loft and sauna, wood shed loft, dome and other buildings are available for overnight guests.  Rates start at $110 per person for dinner, lodging and breakfast.  Massages - $60 per hour.  Most meals, stressing organic ingredients, are prepared in the brick oven.  Special dietary needs can be accommodated.  Private parties for up to 100 people by arrangement.  Open all year.  Contact 585-268-5819, 800-291-9668, or click on the Web site,  www.pollywoggholler.com.

                                                                        *

Hours:  The sculpture garden is open to visitors daily from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. 

For pizza and barbeque information telephone Pollywogg Holler.

                                                                        *

Listed in:  Nights to remember: Magical Places to Stay in America by Peter Guttman, and Home Work by Lloyd Kahn Jr.

                                                                        *

Elaine Hardman, a writer and studio potter, lives in Wellsville, New York with her husband, Rick.

Molly Stansfield

ALFRED: Musical ensembles at Alfred University bring people together in cohesive, cooperative groups but the things that led the members of the groups into music couldn’t be more different. Occasionally students say that, as elementary students,, they were impressed with an older sibling’s skill and wanted to be just like them. Some students said that they started music lessons to get out of doing something else such as track or house chores. One student found his grandfather’s trumpet in a closet and that set him on his way toward music lessons. However they start, it’s always wonderful when students make time to continue playing their instruments in college and beyond.

                Molly Standsfield came to Alfred University as an experienced and confident musician and has played flute in every Symphonic Band concert over the last 4 years. She has also played in several student recitals as a developing solo flutist and in every flute choir performance. Molly’s entry into music was influenced by two relatives.

                Her paternal grandmother, Agnes, was “into music”.  This grandmother not only accompanied the choir in her high school and played in churches but also accompanied her husband’s barber shop quartet in the days before Molly joined the family. Agnes was one of the piano teachers in town and encouraged Molly to be musical.

                Fifth grade was the time that Molly could start lessons in school and her family steered her toward the flute. She had an older cousin who played flute but, after graduating high school, had no interest in keeping the flute in her life. Molly’s family felt that if the instrument was there, and free, any sensible girl would like it. Happily, Molly did.

                Molly’s Grandma Agnes was in her 80s when 5^th grader Molly started playing flute. By the time Molly was flute-proficient, Agnes didn’t travel far or often but she always came to hear Molly play at Christmas Eve services so that Molly will always feel that music connects her to the memory of her grandmother. Molly’s grandmother passed away when she was in her sophomore year at AU. Following her grandmother’s lead, and not that older cousin’s, Molly plans to continue flute playing in community music groups in Maine.

                Molly said if there wasn’t a flute at the ready for her, she might have chosen to play saxophone. She took a semester of baritone sax during something called lab-band that her high school in Maine. Band-lab allowed students to give different instruments a try for a while. Molly like the sax but stayed with her flute and, during high school, the piccolo too.

                She has some good memories from playing music in high school. One Christmas she and Bryce (clarinet) and Kelcie (bassoon) were to play a woodwind trio during a band concert. Since it was Christmas they decided to festoon their instruments with bows. It may have looked great but Bryce accidentally pushed a bow into a key where it silenced the clarinet. Luckily he figured out the problem and dismissed the bow to continue performing but the next year they left the bows out of it.

                Music at AU was a plus when she was choosing a college to attend but more important was the Equestrian program and the barn. The way Molly’s paternal grandmother was “into music” her maternal grandmother, Evelyn, was “into horses”. Molly’s mom took riding lessons and tiny Molly tagged along finally starting her own riding career at age 7.  

                When visiting the Bromeley-Daggett Equestrian Center she met not prim and proper folk in formal riding gear but people in work boots and every day gear working and bonding with horses. It was her kind of horse world and she has ridden and worked there throughout her college career. She plans to keep riding when she returns to Maine where there are horses she has ridden and worked with.      

                This May, Molly will graduate with a BS in Psychology with concentrations in both Clinical and Child Psychology. She will also have minors in music and equestrian studies. Next year she will start study at the University of Southern Maine where she will earn a MS in School Counseling.

                Molly has 2 performances at the end of this semester to cap her flute experiences at Alfred University and you are invited to both. First is a student recital in which she will perform with the Alfred University flute choir directed by Caroline Sonnett scheduled for Sunday, April 15 at 3 pm in Howell Hall (the building with pillars situated next to the Carillon uphill of the King Alfred statue). The recital will also include some string ensembles.

                Molly will also perform with the Alfred University Symphonic Band on Friday, April 27 at 7:30 pm in the Miller Performing Arts Center.  As always, the concert will be free and to the public.

Elaine a few years prior to this story. 

Sebastian and the Bunny

            My grandfather is a dim memory who died when I was five. His fuzzy picture holds a man sitting at his weathered, square table just outside the back door of the old, white house. A short, round, silent man with a pipe, Sebastian didn’t enjoy eating at a table full of noisy grandchildren so Grandma Anna served him meals under an awning at the back door. He sat with his back to the wall and surveyed his domain, a few acres of grape vines and gardens with a chicken coop, a shed and a barn.

            Sebastian taught me what real communication is. He didn’t mean to teach me anything but from him I learned that it is important for a person to check the territory around someone’s words before making a deal. It was all because of this bunny.

Grandmother Ann, the rabbit cook, standing
among her children while Grandfather
Sebastian, the rabbit eater, is seated.
Elaine's mother standing to Sebastian's
left.

            Some other family decided that taking care of a rabbit was too much trouble so they gave it away. The lucky rabbit came to live at our house, in a box in the kitchen, sharing carrots, lettuce and space with our family. My brothers and I were supposed to keep it clean and cared for but we didn’t do very well so my mother, raised in farm country, said that was where the rabbit belonged. She sold us on the idea that the bunny would go to Grandpa’s house in North Collins, NY.

            I pictured it living in the little shed next to the barn being fed and drinking fresh water and wiggling its nose in greeting when I went there. We brought the rabbit to the earthy smelling chicken house and fed it bits of grass through the fencing. Satisfied that it would be happy there, I went home with a smile.

Grandmother Anna 

            On our next visit I ran to the hutch. Empty. I asked Grandpa about it but his Italian and my English weren’t making the proper connection. Something was wrong. 

             I went for another answer and then another before collapsing in tears. The pet bunny had become rabbit stew. Grandpa’s enthusiastic thanks had nothing to do with the soft ears and cute face. The bunny had joined Grandpa at his weathered, little table behind the house, the reason for his full belly just before the silent pipe.