Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/482452
136 | APRIL 2015 nshoremag.com in-depth SHOP mentor, children's book illustrator Burton Demetrios, died in 1968, the group signed a statement saying they would stop producing under the name Folly Cove Designers. "Their work went into the base- ment of the Cape Ann Museum and didn't get displayed," says Julia Garrison, who now runs the Sarah Elizabeth Shop. Yet, for many, the passion to create handmade work lived on. Finally in 1974, former Folly Cove Designer Sarah Elizabeth Holloran opened a shop in Rock- port's Whistlestop Mall, where she created new prints depicting local scenes including fish and fisher- men, lobsters, Motif No. 1, and pastoral landscapes. In her 50s at the time, Holloran took on a young apprentice, Isabel Natti, and the pair produced original prints in the style of the Folly Cove Designers. The Sarah Elizabeth Shop was buzzing in the little mall beside the railroad tracks that includes a thriving grocery store and other busy shops. Many people "who were aching for what the women had done for this community came here looking for the spirit of the Folly Cove Designers," says Garrison. Not only is Garrison, age 40, a talented artist and printmaker, but her dedication to keeping the legacy of the Folly Cove Designers' work alive is evident in everything she says. A full-time studio artist for film and television by day, Garrison's passion is firmly planted in the shop, where she either reproduces archival prints designed by Holloran and Natti or creates her own. "The Sarah Elizabeth Shop, for a long time, took the place of what the Cape Ann Museum wasn't able to do during the '70s and '80s," says Garrison, standing beside her 1830s-era Acorn press in the center of her tiny 13-foot by 15-foot store - front. She recalls that Holloran and Natti would give demonstrations of the block-printing process and re- count the history of the Folly Cove Designers for curious visitors. Gar- rison would do the same, but now the Cape Ann Museum has right- fully taken over that responsibility and boasts the largest collection of the Folly Cove Designers' works. Garrison feels she is now free to open by appointment only and con- centrate on producing more designs and replicating existing prints for clients. Her "little mouse's house," as she calls it, is crowded with neatly arranged printed textiles: placemats, aprons, table runners. Also displayed are new items she has introduced since she took over from Natti in 2012: pillows, tea tow- els, T-shirts, and handbags. The works featured in the shop today are tributes to those by the Folly Cove Designers.