Lighting the way

December 1, 2008

By Bonnie Russell TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Sutton–And the lights all will go on in Massachusetts — at least in the Blackstone Valley as the annual Chain of Lights of celebration ushers in the holidays.

Activities will take place Dec. 6 in Sutton and Dec. 7 in Grafton and Millbury.

SUTTON

On Dec. 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., three trolley routes will take visitors to various stops to enjoy holiday activities and celebrations.

Route 1 starts at St. John’s Church, Route 122A, and visits First Congregational Church and Keown’s Orchards.

Route 2 starts at Whittier Farms, Douglas Road, and goes to First Congregational Church.

Route 3 begins at Sutton Senior Center, Hough Road and goes to St. Anne’s Church.

Shuttle service connecting routes 1 and 2 with route 3 will be provided from the First Congregational Church.

First Congregational Church Choir will perform throughout the day, carolers will perform during lunch, and tours of the sanctuary will be offered, along with Winter Wonderland, Christmas crafts, and vote for the best wreath. Roast beef dinner at the church has seatings at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Cost is $8 adults, $5 children 4 and older, and free to children younger than 4.Other highlights include: Artist Linda Sinacola, selling her original watercolor, oil paintings and prints of Sutton scenes;Sutton Historical Society, offering demonstrations all day on the skill of blacksmithing at The Blacksmith Shop; St. Mark’s Church’s holiday fair; Sutton Public Library, storyteller at 10:30 a.m. and crafts from 11 a.m. to noon; Bellawood Farm will feature a goat milking demonstration; and the Sutton Middle School will have a Relaxation Station with nail painting, hairdos, massages and lunch available at the Cheesecake Cafe. Santa will be on the common for caroling and tree-lighting ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 6.

Additional locations include Keown Orchards, Heritage Plaza, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Eaton Farm Confectioners, National Gallery, Rebecca Lecouteur Interiors, St. Anne’s Parish, Vaillancourt Folk Art, Sleighbell Christmas Tree Farm and Gift Barn, and Sutton Senior Center.

For trolley routes, a complete list of events and updated information, visit www.suttonma.org/Pages/SuttonMA_Cable/lights.

Folk art featured

June 12, 2008

SUTTON — Vaillancourt Folk Art’s marketing materials were recently featured by Xerox Corp. at a trade show in Germany for the printing equipment industry.

Vaillancourt produces hand-painted chalkware figurines and has been working with Xerox to test its digital printers, the privately held business reported. Xerox’s production color product marketing group featured Vaillancourt materials, such as catalogs, at the trade show.

Vaillancourt display stakes out new space

October 14, 2007

SUTTON— Vaillancourt Folk Art recently celebrated the grand opening of its new museum.

Judi Vaillancourt, right, displays some historic figurines made from chocolate and ice cream molds to Lexington collectors David LaFauci and Claudia Cassettari at the Vaillancourt Folk Art Museum’s recent grand opening. (MICHELLE SHEPPARD PHOTOS)

Judi Vaillancourt, right, displays some historic figurines made from chocolate and ice cream molds to Lexington collectors David LaFauci and Claudia Cassettari at the Vaillancourt Folk Art Museum’s recent grand opening. (MICHELLE SHEPPARD PHOTOS)

Located within the retail/studio space at the Manchaug Mills at 9 Main St., Suite H-1, the museum chronicles the melding of old and new that created the business noted for its signature folk art holiday chalkware and ornaments.

“Believe it or not, we did start out creating and painting folk art pieces, and that’s why we have this display of hand-painted clock faces as part of this exhibit,” company owner Judi Vaillancourt said in a prepared statement.

Twenty-three years ago, the Vaillancourts were developing a business that was very different from the one they have today. But it is exactly that contrast that makes the rest of what is displayed in the museum interesting, Ms. Vaillancourt said.

Mr. and Mrs. Vaillancourt have taken special care to show their visitors just how multifaceted their particular expertise is. At one end of the museum space are the original antique chocolate molds that Judi’s husband Gary, the company’s president, bought for her one Christmas.

Above, top, a Santa Claus figurine made from a mid-19th-century German chocolate mold; and bottom, Sherrie Morin of South Grafton looks over some ornaments.

Above, top, a Santa Claus figurine made from a mid-19th-century German chocolate mold; and bottom, Sherrie Morin of South Grafton looks over some ornaments.

From there, visitors get glimpses of several types of collecting. The Vaillancourts have become collectors themselves as they evolved their own business into one based on collectors’ demands.

The museum is arranged so visitors start by viewing early antique chocolate molds, backed by the catalog pages that originally advertised them. Another display shows how chalkware was popular during the Victorian era and how peddlers went door-to-door with chalkware pieces that were created to decorate fireplace mantels. Juxtaposition against an early Vaillancourt Folk Art catalog with their product gives the visitor context for the depth and variety to be found in the museum’s displays.

Several display cabinets show the progression of chalkware that developed under the Vaillancourts’ craftsmanship. They also show the story of how chalkware molds used by Vaillancourt Folk Art are “retired,” never to be used again; “inactive” meaning that they might be used again but will not be painted the same; and “NIPTY” — Not In Production This Year.”

Limited edition pieces also tell part of the story that is important to the collectors who look forward to seeing new pieces each year. “Our Starlight Santa is always created as a limited edition,” Judi Vaillancourt said. “And our collectors are very conscious of that. A great deal of thought goes into what we will create to make each year unique, and we’ve already started to work on our 2008 figure.”

Above, top, a Santa Claus figurine made from a mid-19th-century German chocolate mold; and bottom, Sherrie Morin of South Grafton looks over some ornaments.

Above, top, a Santa Claus figurine made from a mid-19th-century German chocolate mold; and bottom, Sherrie Morin of South Grafton looks over some ornaments.

Another highlight exhibit shows how molds and the manufacture of molds themselves have changed over the years. Glass ornaments continue to be created from steel molds, but confectionery molds have moved from heavy metals to polycarbonate (which looks like clear plastic) and other materials.

The Vaillancourts own thousands of molds they can access for their chalkware designs. Today, the company’s catalog includes about 200 chalkware pieces a year.

The variety their business is capable of is showcased in the cabinet labeled “Molds in Motion” that is entirely based on figures with “movement” as their theme. From a rabbit paddling in a kayak to Santas in automobiles, planes and, of course, sleighs, the display captures both the variety of molds the Vaillancourts are able to tap, as well as the artistry that gives a whole new look to an Old World figure.

The gallery, studio and now museum are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. From Thanksgiving until Christmas, the hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, call 508-476-3601 or visit www.valfa.com.

Santa’s present: Patriotic figurines bring welcome boost to sales at Vaillancourt

December 18, 2001

SUTTON – America’s patriotic fervor is heating up activities in an unexpected place — the workshop of Vaillancourt Folk Art.

With just days to go before Christmas, artists at the handcrafted ornament business are toiling to turn out enough red, white and blue Santa figurines and fierce bald eagle ornaments to satisfy buyers across the country who are clamoring for made-in-the-USA collectibles.

“What we’re seeing is people saying, ‘We want to buy American,’ ” said Gary F. Vaillancourt, co-owner of the business.

The hunger for patriotic objects is nothing new in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. Flag sales skyrocketed immediately after the attacks.

Yet at Vaillancourt Folk Art, known for its hand-painted chalkware, consumer patriotism has breathed new life into two lines of ornaments that have been generating modest sales since they were launched years ago.

One ornament line is a stars-and-stripes Santa that is based on an 1863 illustration by artist Thomas Nast. A second line is a bald eagle taken from a design dating to about 1920.

Both are examples of the meticulously crafted, high-end chalkware produced by Vaillancourt Folk Art.

The business uses antique chocolate and ice cream molds to turn out plaster-like figurines that a team of artists hand paint, following the designs of Mr. Vaillancourt’s wife, Judi C. Vaillancourt. All pieces are produced in limited numbers, and each piece takes about three weeks to complete.

At the Vaillancourt Folk Art Web site, www.valfa.com, the patriotic Santa is selling for $110 and the eagle is selling for $150.

Part of the allure of Vaillancourt Folk Art objects is their made-in-the-USA status, something rare in a gift industry dominated by foreign producers, some retailers said.

“Right now, it’s not just the patriotic, red-white-and-blue stars and stripes that is popular,” said Julie E. Delgrosso, owner of the Christmas House in Elmira, N.Y., and a longtime retailer of Vaillancourt Folk Art ornaments. “It’s the idea that it’s made here and we’re helping our country by purchasing a Vaillancourt Folk Art piece.”

Demand has been unexpectedly high for the patriotic Santa and the eagle, according to Mr. Vaillancourt. The business launched the eagle ornament in 1984, selling about 250 up until this season. Since Sept. 11, the business has sold 220 eagles, many to corporations that are giving away the ornaments.

The Santa, originally launched in 1985, is even hotter.

“Normally, I’ll sell 20 a year, maybe 25,” Mr. Vaillancourt said. “This year I’ve sold 700 in the last six weeks.”

Some of the business’s longtime retailers have been unable to keep up with demand.

“It’s incredible. I had 75 of the (Santa) ornaments, and I have none left,” said Vivienne B. Magee, owner of Vivienne’s Antiques in Portersville, Pa., and a longtime seller of Vaillancourt Folk Art objects. “I would’ve gotten more, but they didn’t have more to give me.”

Sales of patriotic items are so strong at Vaillancourt Folk Art that the artists will likely be producing Christmas pieces into January to fill back orders.

For Vaillancourt Folk Art, the patriotic buying is a welcome end to a year in which many recession-wary clients reduced ornament orders. Still, Mr. Vaillancourt said he is mindful that the fervor behind the recent buying stems from tragedy. The business is donating 10 percent of its proceeds from the sale of patriotic items to the American Red Cross, and it has already sent about $5,000 to the charity, he said.

Vaillancourt Folk Art also will not try to capitalize on the market with patriotic ornaments for Easter or other upcoming holidays.

The one concession the company made was to redesign the decorations on a glass snowman ornament to include a flag. The ornaments are made in Germany but painted in Sutton.

Mr. Vaillancourt said he does not expect demand for patriotic ornaments to last long. But he said he hopes consumers retain their affection for domestically produced collectibles.

“Who knows how deep the resurgence of American pride will go,” he said.