Sauder Historical Village - Part 2

 Building #13 is The W.O. Taylor Printing Office.

Almost every small town in Fulton County had a newspaper established sometime between 1860 and 1900.

The W.O. Printing Office is a reproduction of the community of Archbold's first newspaper office.

William Orvell Taylor started the publishing business and in July 1905 published the first edition of the Archbold Buckeye newspaper.  Most papers like those W.O. Taylor printed started off being set by hand.  Eventually, the linotype would be added along with electronically run presses and folding machines.

Today, newspapers are done almost entirely on computers.  The Archbold Buckeye is still being printed weekly in Archbold by the Taylor family.

Highlights include a working hand press, a linotype, and a large newspaper press.  You can often see our printer at work making tickets, tags, recipes, and other projects used throughout the Village. 

Step back in time as you listen to the guide show you how the type would be set on various machines.  The smell of ink takes you back to the early days of history to those old newspaper offices.  What a time in history and how things have changed in our ways of communicating!

Building #14 is the Burlington Glass Works.

This is the studio of internationally acclaimed glass artist Mark Matthews.  Sadly he was not there.  I do love to watch him work!  It is absolutely fascinating!

What a glass artist is able to create is mind-blowing.  

Mark Matthews is internationally recognized for his work in glass, especially glass spheres. Highly collected and valued, Mark's work has been published in many books and magazines. His work is held in museums around the globe. In 1985, Mark was invited to open a glass business within the Sauder Village. It was here that he began to explore radically diverse color systems and historical glass techniques within the spherical format. Many surprising results and discoveries were made as a result of this endeavor.

Mark's "Ice Blue Air Numbers" was inspired by a Swedish air-trap paperweight made in the 1950s. His experimentation with this technique soon led to "precision air entrapment" of the integers 0 through 9, and later the entire alphabet. This work eventually led to the resolution of truly three-dimensional figurative air bubbles.

One of Mark's most exciting developments is the animal skin spheres. The resulting patterns within the glass are highly accurate to specific pelts from the National Museum of Natural History. This work led to the resolution of 20 mammal pattern spheres, all in perfect scale to one another. The "Life and Death" series is a comprehensive installation consisting of premium examples of the animal skin spheres. An example of the first Tiger and Leopard spheres are included in the permanent collection of the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Mark brings several radically different designs together within a hemispherical bowl to evoke a unique vignette. "Birthday," "Rio de Janeiro" and "Return of the Great White Hunter II" are examples of the genre. "Nine Balls in a Bowl" was acquired for the permanent collection of the Ohio Craft Museum. "Birthday" is part of the permanent collection of the Toledo Museum of Art.

One of Mark's most impressive works is the Population Portrait Marble Jar editions. The last edition,"Population Portrait IX," is a culmination of a 10-year effort and the fifth generation of Marble Jars. The Population Portrait series was always an exercise to discover the maximum diversity possible within the category of glass spheres. Population Portraits were autobiographical in the sense that they contain the finest examples within each major category that had been developed to that point. Close scrutiny reveals an intricate set of interdependent relationships. It is an entity that allows for free play between imagination and rational understanding within the mind of the viewer.

The newest dynasties of Graal Black and White spheres are inspired by cultural and ethnic themes.  "Chevron Eye," "Vortex Labyrinth" and "Circle Mesh" are spectacular and elegantly resolved. Many unprecedented issues of intention and implementation were faced and solved during the development of this new series.

Building #15 is the Broom Shop.  

This shop was closed for the day.

In the Broom Shop, guests will watch our talented broom makers create functional and beautiful brooms using broomcorn, some of which are grown right in this area. Watch our craftsman make a broom and purchase a full-size broom, a child’s broom, or even a decorative broom for your own home.

A simple trade but unique in its own way.  It is difficult for us to think simple things that we use every day were once something that was carefully handmade in every home.

Building #16 is the Festival Barn which is open when needed for group lunchroom and event activity area.  I remember eating lunch here when I came for a field trip in 5th grade.

Building #17 is Brush Creek Pottery.  

What a pretty country lane!

Resident potter Mark Nafziger creates traditional and contemporary pottery in his timber-framed studio and showroom where his work is available for purchase.

Growing up here in northwestern Ohio, Mark Nafziger's plan was to study math and science so he could then become a teacher. Today, he's teaching, but not math or science: Mark is the resident potter at Sauder Village and teaches through his craft not in a classroom, but in his own studio.

Each day, Mark goes about his work while visitors observe and learn more about the fine art of ceramics. Some days, you might catch Mark in production, others decorating or glazing. His studio houses both production space and a showroom where his pottery is for sale. More of Mark's finished pieces can also be purchased from the Sauder Village gift shop.

Resident potter and an Archbold native, Mark has been at the Village since 1981. Today, he makes his studio in this timber-frame structure which was built on the property. The timbers were squared one summer using century-old techniques and then the structure went up in an old-fashioned barn-raising event over Labor Day weekend in 1989.

The skylight overhead and the cathedral ceilings are the perfect settings for Mark's traditional, functional and one-of-a-kind stoneware pottery. Mark is considered a continuing craftsman, one who works in the present, but draws heavily on the past.

It is such a neat form of art - beautiful and useful!

The barn where they offer horse-drawn wagon rides.