The 2025 Roycroft Little Journey Speaker Series continues Wednesday, August 6 : Master Photographer Peter Potter will present an epilogue to his February 2024 Little Journey on Carl Sadakichi Hartmann: “A Little Journey from Dashima to Bohemia with Sadakichi Hartmann” will explore the intriguing connections Sadakichi made and the unlikely path of Hartmann as a vagabond, poet and radical fellow of the original South Grove Campus of Elbert Hubbard’s Roycroft.
Hartmann was an acclaimed art critic, author and interpretive dancer who is credited with writing the first Haikus in the English language. Having lived on South Grove while writing for Elbert Hubbard as well as other publications, he is an important figure in early East Aurora Roycroft history. Hartmann’s writing about photography had a profound impact on the documentary craft as it evolved into a fine art form.
Hartmann was the subject of the inaugural reboot of the Little Journeys series on South Grove in February 2024, and attendees were regalled with exploits as a compatriot and fellow of Hubbard within the young artists community of East Aurora at the turn of the century and is immortalized within the peristyle of the Sadakichi Hartmann courtyard garden at The Roycroft Inn. Potter, a Roycroft Master in the medium of Photography, will revisit Hartmann’s life and this fascinating figure’s influence on photography, poetry and politics.
Beginning in February, the Little Journey speaker series will be presented in two parts within The Roycroft Inn Complex on South Grove. The evening’s program will begin with a relaxed start cocktail hour at 4:30 pm in the Library Bar inside the Roycroft Inn before attendees to the lecture will move to the Roycroft Chapel at 5:45 for the presentation beginning at 6pm. Those who wish to dine following the lecture will receive 10% off of their dinner at The Roycroft Inn that evening beginning at 7:15 p.m. by mentioning Little Journeys when making a reservation.
As a RALA Little Journeys, this presentation is offered at no cost, but requires advance registration. Tickets are needed for entry to The Chapel. Reserve your space by visiting ralaweb.com. Active RALA Patrons and Members who cannot attend in person will have the option to join via member livestream.
Roycroft Master Peter Potter has been a student of photography from a young age. “Ever since I was a child, I was fascinated with the process,” he says. “I loved to use the darkroom and develop film.”
Now utilizing digital photography, Potter’s unique multiple-image process presents his scenes more like an observer would actually experience it. He captures at least five images of a landscape or architectural scene, one brighter than the next. Using computer editing software, he combines multiple —usually three—of the image, rendering images that excite and engage. He has found inspiration in the work of photographer Wilbur H. Porterfield, and painters Rix Jennings and Charles Burchfield.
Potter achieved Artisan status in 2015, and was approved as a Master in 2020. He is a past-President and currently serves as the treasurer of the Roycrofters at Large, and has championed the expansion of the Roycroft Artisan culture to include artists working in Fine Art and conceptual media, in keeping with the organization’s mission to evolve and foster talent within the Arts & Crafts movement.
Potter’s previous Little Journey on the topic of Sadakicki Hartmann from February 2024 can be found on the Roycrofters at Large Youtube Broadcast channel.
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RALA’s Little Journeys connects Roycroft Artisans with the community by offering artist talks, demonstrations and lectures in the Masters’ mediums that educate and create opportunities for collectors and members of the Roycroft community to connect with the modern Roycroft artists, and serves as a homage to Elbert Hubbard’s original Little Journeys, small trips to artists of note that shared intimate glimpses behind their process and lives. For years, this series was an important part of RALA’s presence on South Grove, and offered “show and tell” by Masters and Artisans, Artisan Forums and visiting nationally known speakers. After resurrecting this series, in February 2024, RALA is proud to celebrate a new year of “Little Journeys 2.0” in formal sponsorship and collaboration with the series’ birthplace, The Roycroft Inn.
The next Little Journeys will take place on October 8, and December 2, 2025.
Information on the Roycrofters-at-Large events and membership options can be found online at www.ralaweb.com. Follow the Roycrofters-At Large Association’s social media pages at Facebook and instagram, @roycroftartisans, for updates and information.
Also check out other Arts events in East Aurora, Literary Art events in East Aurora, Fine Arts events in East Aurora.
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