Grey photo Dean Powell.
A rich sense o f hi story and easy access to major cities
and museums make Portsmouth a natural locale for
a burgeoning arts community.
study one of its historic homes for a class.
“Thirty-eight years later, I’m still in Ports-
mouth,” he says, looking at his wife, Lisa
Grey, whom he met at Strawbery Banke
during the 1970s, when Grey had a weaving
studio there. As rents increased in the 1980s,
many craftspeople migrated from down-
town! Portsmouth to studios that had opened
at an abandoned button factory on the out-
skirts of town, but Grey and Happny pur-
chased an old factory building in an indus-
trial zone, where they live and work today.
In addition to Grey’s busy teaching sched-
ule-including workshops at the Mendocino
Arts Center in California and Penland
School of Crafts in North Carolina—she can
be found in her rooftop studio, experiment-
ing with disperse dyes as she integrates her
love of photography with the handwork
of textile craft, while Happny w'orks on his
“jewelry for buildings” dowmstairs in the
forge. Happny collaborates with designers
and architects from New' Hampshire to
New' York, creating one-of-a-kind railings,
light fixtures and iron sculptures for pri-
vate residences as well as public buildings.
Portsmouth’s rich sense of history and
easy access to major cities and museums
make it a natural locale for the burgeoning
arts community. Boston is one hour south,
Portland one hour north and at points in
between you’ll find such treasures as the
Ogunquit Museum of American Art, the
Currier Museum of Art and the Peabody
Essex Museum. For those w'ho don’t want
to travel, an active cultural commission,
Art-Speak, funds art exhibitions and events
in town. There are also monthly gallery
walks, outdoor festivals, holiday open>
Above:
The woodwork of
Portsmouth local Mark
Fenwick, who has
been calving since he
was a boy, has received
national attention.
Left:
Lisa Grey experiments
with disperse dyes
on fabric, such as in
Anywhere But Here.
Over the past several
decades, Grey and her
husband, blacksmith
Peter Happny, have
borne witness to the
city’s strong craft scene.
Opposite:
Potter Steve Zoldak,
whose slip-trailed stone-
ware pieces include
this platter and tall jar,
both 2009, created the
Portsmouth Holiday
Aits Tour with his wife,
Maureen Mills, with
the goal of showcasing
local craft work.
dec/jan 10 american craft 069
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