Seasonal star creation

Seasonal star creators gathered at Hotchkiss Library of Sharon Nov. 23 for a lesson on folding the traditional holiday design.

Matthew Kreta

Seasonal star creation

The Hotchkiss Library hosted a small workshop Saturday, Nov. 23 on how to make Froebel, the 16-pointed Christmas Star made from folded paper. The star has no commonly recognized name in English, known also as the German Star, the Polish Star, the Pennsylvanian Star and the Advent Star.

The star, made of four thin strips of paper, is named after Friedrich Fröbel, a German educationist credited with the creation of Kindergarten. Fröbel used paper folding as one example of how to teach young children mathematical concepts.

Fröbel also was one of the first to encourage the use of patterned geometric building blocks for young children as gifts, which were later adapted for children’s education about sixty years after his death. However, Fröbel is not the creator of the folded star despite it being named after him. The knowledge of crafting it is speculated to have been known to many well before his time.

The Froebel Christmas Star, however, is no children’s feat. The four strips of paper require a shockingly high level of preciseness in order to reach the finished product, and while the first few steps may give the impression of an easy craft, the star proved a significant challenge for those in attendance who represented a wide variety of ages. Many of the steps are more akin to weaving than they are to folding. Instructor Anne Cameron spent multiple weeks practicing herself in order to prepare.

On the day of the workshop, Cameron used a video as an assistant, slowly going through step by step and checking in on each table. Soon, as the project reached its more complex stages, Cameron went from table to table and back again going over many of the specific rules on exactly how to fold the stars. Despite the difficulty, participants kept a determined outlook. After many attempts, do-overs and backtracking, attendees eventually finished their first star.


Matthew Kreta

The 16-pointed stars go by many names depending on where they are made.

Latest News

All are welcome at The Mahaiwe

Paquito D’Rivera performs at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington on April 5.

Geandy Pavon

Natalia Bernal is the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center’s education and community engagement manager and is, in her own words, “the one who makes sure that Mahaiwe events are accessible to all.”

The Mahaiwe’s community engagement program is rooted in the belief that the performing arts should be for everyone. “We are committed to establishing and growing partnerships with neighboring community and arts organizations to develop pathways for overcoming social and practical barriers,” Bernal explained. “Immigrants, people of color, communities with low income, those who have traditionally been underserved in the performing arts, should feel welcomed at the Mahaiwe.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Living with the things you love:
a conversation with Mary Randolph Carter
Mary Randolph Carter teaches us to surround ourselves with what matters to live happily ever after.
Carter Berg

There is magic in a home filled with the things we love, and Mary Randolph Carter, affectionately known as “Carter,” has spent a lifetime embracing that magic. Her latest book, “Live with the Things You Love … and You’ll Live Happily Ever After,” is about storytelling, joy, and honoring life’s poetry through the objects we keep.

“This is my tenth book,” Carter said. “At the root of each is my love of collecting, the thrill of the hunt, and living surrounded by things that conjure up family, friends, and memories.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Beloved classic film ‘The Red Shoes’ comes to the big screen for Triplex benefit
Provided

On Saturday, April 5, at 3 p.m., The Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington and Jacob’s Pillow, the dance festival in Becket, Massachusetts, are presenting a special benefit screening of the cinematic masterpiece, “The Red Shoes,” followed by a discussion and Q&A. Featuring guest speakers Norton Owen, director of preservation at Jacob’s Pillow, and dance historian Lynn Garafola, the event is a fundraiser for The Triplex.

“We’re pitching in, as it were, because we like to help our neighbors,” said Norton. “They (The Triplex) approached us with the idea, wanting some input if they were going to do a dance film. I thought of Lynn as the perfect person also to include in this because of her knowledge of The Ballets Russes and the book that she wrote about Diaghilev. There is so much in this film, even though it’s fictional, that derives from the Ballets Russes.” Garafola, the leading expert on the Ballets Russes under Serge Diaghilev, 1909–1929, the most influential company in twentieth-century theatrical dance, said, “We see glimpses of that Russian émigré tradition, performances we don’t see much of today. The film captures the artifice of ballet, from the behind-the-scenes world of dressers and conductors to the sheer passion of the audience.”

Keep ReadingShow less