Royall House and Slave Quarters Hosts ‘Create a Slave Cabin’ Workshop Nov. 5

Historic New England and the Royall House and Slave Quarters are pleased to present a historically inspired craft workshop on Saturday, November 5 at 2:00 p.m.

Teaching artist Ifé Franklin will guide workshop participants in creating small cabin-like structures of their own design to take home with them. Participants will work with fabric, shells, raffia, beads, and buttons to creatively interpret these miniature dwelling spaces.

Using the artist’s Indigo Project for inspiration, these small creations are reminiscent of slave cabins, designed to honor the ancestral spirits of Africans who were enslaved throughout colonial America. Ms. Franklin describes them as “wishes or gifts to the spirits of these ancestors, who never had a home of beauty, or even a home of their own.” She has led similar workshops as the featured guest artist at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

A graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Ifé Franklin has worked as a professional artist for more than 25 years. She specializes in indigo-dyed textiles, using resist and dyeing techniques from West African culture. Ms. Franklin has taught textile and other art forms at the Eliot School for Applied Arts and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows at several Boston-area galleries and her indigo-dyed fabric-wrapped “Slave Cabin” is part of the Fitchburg Art Museum’s permanent collection.

This workshop will take place at the Royall House and Slave Quarters at 15 George Street, Medford, in the only remaining freestanding slave quarters in the North. The workshop runs approximately 2 hours, and includes a museum tour and light refreshments. On-street parking is available, and the museum is located on the 96 and 101 MBTA bus routes.

The workshop is supported in part by a grant from the Medford Arts Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Admission is $10 for Historic New England or Royall House and Slave Quarters members. General admission is $15. Children ages 7-12 must be accompanied by an adult. Pre-registration is required. To register, please email Programs@RoyallHouse.org or call 617-994-6678.

About the Royall House and Slave Quarters: In the eighteenth century, the Royall House and Slave Quarters was home to the largest slaveholding family in Massachusetts and the enslaved Africans who made their lavish way of life possible. Architecture, household items, and archaeological artifacts bear witness to the intertwined stories of wealth and bondage, set against the backdrop of America’s quest for independence. The Slave Quarters is the only remaining such structure in the northern United States, and the Royall House is among the finest colonial-era buildings in New England. Visit RoyallHouse.org.

About Historic New England: Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. We bring history to life while preserving the past for everyone interested in exploring the New England experience from the seventeenth century to today. Historic New England owns and operates thirty-six historic homes and landscapes spanning five states. We share the region’s history through vast collections, publications, public programs, museum properties, archives, and family stories that document more than four hundred years of life in New England. Visit HistoricNewEngland.org.

– Submitted by Tom Lincoln, Royall House Director