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Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collection, 2015.196.316.1, Connecticut Historical S ...
William Cumpiano’s Cuatro Workshop at Trinity College
Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collection, 2015.196.316.1, Connecticut Historical Society, Copyright Undetermined

William Cumpiano’s Cuatro Workshop at Trinity College

Subject (Puerto Rican)
Subject (Puerto Rican)
Date2016 August 20
MediumBorn digital images
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.316.1-.16
DescriptionPhotographs of a cuatro-building workshop led by luthier and scholar, William Cumpiano, at Trinity College on August 20, 2016. He was assisted in the workshop by santos carver Carlos Santiago Arroyo.

(.1) William Cumpiano instructing students.

(.2) Student cuatros in progress.

(.3-.7) William Cumpiano instructing students.

(.8) Tools and instruments in cases.

(.9) Carlos Santiago Arroyo assisting a student.

(.10) Student cuatros in progress.

(.11) William Cumpiano instructing students.

(.12-.16) William Cumpiano working on a cuatro.
NotesBiographical Note: William Cumpiano has been a renowned luthier since the 1970s, crafting guitars as well as his specialty, Puerto Rican stringed instruments such as the cuatro and the older forms tiple doliente and bordonua. He is one of the founders of the Puerto Rican Cuatro Project, an initiative that stimulated interest in, study of, and production of the cuatro, the iconic instrument of Puerto Rican musica tipica and the beloved music that the instrument expresses. In addition to creating sought-after instruments of the highest quality, he has organized workshops, festivals, performances, and lecture demonstrations that have brought Puerto Rican folk music to increased attention and new audiences. He taught apprentice Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez to build cuatros, tiples, and bordonuas under the Southern New England Traditional Arts Program. During that apprenticeship, they built cuatros together, along with tiples and bordonuas, older forms of Puerto Rican stringed instruments. As part of the apprenticeship they built a cuatro on the basis of a photograph of an unusual form from the early 1900's, which has a bent wood body rather than a hollowed-out base. Based in the Northampton, Massachusetts area, Bill has given several workshops in Greater Hartford, including an instrument-making workshop given at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut under the auspices of the Trinity College Fine Arts Department and Hartford Center Church, and in 2016 again at Trinity College.


Additional audio, video, and photographic materials exist in the archive relating to these artists.


Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
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