THREE RIVERS AREA — It’s a small, flat-bottom boat that is great for navigating in shallow water. John Van Orman of Mountain View said he remembers seeing these pirogues on almost every farm as he grew up in the Midwest.
Going on to pursue his education in music and anthropology, Van Orman often thought about those little flat-bottom boats. He got his master’s degree in Russian, East European and Eurasian studies from the University of Kansas. He focused his studies on the music traditions of the Turkic-speaking people of Siberia.
“I noticed the last couple of decades, these boats have vanished,” Van Orman said.
He said he developed a love of woodworking at a young age from his grandfather. In 1976, Van Orman started building folk-music instruments, and he worked at North American Carrousel and Cart Manufacturing Co., where he was a design engineer and shop foreman. Hebuilt historical replicas of wagons, amusement rides, artillery, stage sets and signage.
Van Orman worked as director of the Ozark Folk Center after moving to Mountain View from Little Rock in 2000. He now teaches cultural anthropology at Ozarka College in Mountain View.
Believing that society has settled too much into consumerism, Van Orman decided to resurrect the lost art of pirogue building.
“If you needed a boat to go duck hunting, you made one,” Van Orman said. “Regrettable of our culture, we’re out of the habit of making things for ourselves, even cooking and music. We’re such a consumer society.”
Looking back on his father and grandfather, Van Orman said building a boat was part of their workday, and if they needed a boat, they built it.
Van Orman set out to see how long it would take him to build a pirogue, and in conjunction with the Arkansas Craft School, he offered to teach a class on the lost art of pirogue building with a minimum number of tools and no prior woodworking skills.
During a five-day class, students learned the techniques of simple boat building.
Glenda Osten had no woodworking experience, and she had never held a power tool. But she took Van Orman’s class anyway.
She moved to Stone County from Los Angeles five years ago, searching for a passionate life.
“I had a really good life inLA, but there was no passion there,” Osten said. “I traded my Jaguar for a Chevy pickup, and I love it.”
After studying the history of the area and the lifestyle of the people of Stone County, Osten said she has developed a great love and passion for her life there.
She and her husband bought a 160-acre hobby farm in Stone County with four ponds. One of the ponds has an island, and Osten wanted to get there to clear some trees. She borrowed a small boat, and she saw a different perspective of her farm from the middle of the pond. She kept the borrowed boat for a year and decided she should get her own.
“Everything we did [in the class], I kept comparing it to something else I’ve done,” Osten said.
She compared the band saw to a sewing machine, and the bag of adhesive is like decorating a cake.
Even though the boat takes a five-day class to construct, it takes another three weeks to finish painting and sealing the pirogue.
Osten said she just finished painting her red and black pirogue, but she hasn’t been able to get it in the water yet.
“I’m glad to see women take an interest in this,” Van Orman said. “There is no need for this to be an exclusive domain of men.”
For a calendar of upcoming classes or more information on the Arkansas Craft School, visit www.arkansacraftschool.org or call (870) 269-8397.
- jbrosius@ arkansasonline.com
Three Rivers, Pages 115 on 06/20/2010