Hi : )My name is Bob Fugett and I am the person who designed, coded,
established, and implemented this website.
I also wrote most of the content.
Otherwise much of the imagery has been graciously provided by other artists in Sugar Loaf, New
York (chief among them my wife of a half century
Mary Endico).
I am writing this on May 10, 2016 almost 4 years after the first publication
of this page (original content below).
It is time to wrap it up and set it
off on its own.
Before this website was published all that was being written and published about Sugar Loaf was
coming from
the now defunct Chamber of Commerce which was populated only by businesses
who were highly unsuccessful and transient (thus what was being said about Sugar
Loaf was full of
misrepresentations), while the actual successful businesses in the hamlet were
busy taking care of their success and did not bother crowing about it.
Our efforts with the Guild attracted a lot of attention from publications that
more accurately presented Sugar Loaf, such as the articles done by
Delaware and Hudson Canvas Magazine.
It is clear the Sugar Loaf Guild website establishes a
much needed bridge between the rich history of Sugar Loaf's current incarnation as a tiny
arts Mecca and the newest arrivals who can benefit from this outlining of a clear path for those who wish to continue
the same artistic journey which defines our history.
I have been asked where my understanding of local business comes from,
specifically my knowing how to thrive in such a unique business environment as is
found in Sugar Loaf ... inside of Sugar Loaf proper without outside shows, grants, and
incomes.
When it comes to my understanding of light manufacturing and service
providing nano-businesses that are self sustaining based on money received from
walk-in visitors and return clientele, the photo below says it all: I was born to it.
Bob Fugett
New Years Eve 1953
Center Main Restaurant
London, OH
More about the photo above is found in the film Hidden History of Sugar Loaf
which currently has a sneak peek on my
YouTube channel.
This page you are reading as it was first published in 2012 is archived below.
<— At left
is a Mary Endico haute conduite
watercolor from her studio in Sugar Loaf, NY, and below is described what
prompted the Sugar Loaf Guild version 2.0
website that you are now reading.
My name is Bob Fugett, Mary's husband.
Recently, the beginning of 2013, I was watching one of those junk
collector reality shows in which the stars run around the country picking
through people's garbage to find something valuable from the past and in the
process screwing up the prices for people who
have actually always cared to own such things for their intrinsic value.
I stumbled across the show only a few weeks earlier after being forced to
finally accept a cable TV box (read: information tracker) from our
local information conglomerate.
Immediately I fell in love with the junk collector show (despite the obvious
scripting) because they really do find wonderful things and explain the
history of each piece.
However, in this particular episode somebody pulled a vintage stained glass
window out of a pile of trash and made a big deal how rare it
was, how the materials and
construction were so superb it obviously had to be an object from the distant past because,
"...nobody does that kind of work anymore."
Except I knew that my neighbor across the street in Sugar Loaf, NY
works with stained glass using the best historic methods and materials while routinely preparing windows and installations artistically
far superior to what had just been pulled out of the junk pile and lauded as lost
art.
Below are a couple examples of the work currently being done within sight of
my house:
Sundog Stained Glass Studio, Sugar Loaf, New York
And that was just my first thought.
Down the street is a second generation woodcarver who does work that
defies description, not only in raw quality but also in brute diversity of
widely distributed quantity. Things like this:
Clay Boone, woodcarved sculpture, Sugar Loaf, New York
And of course two doors down is the candle maker whose hand
dipped candles are
unparalleled in their perfection of the craft.
There is also a potter whose work tests the limits defining the line between mere top level craft and all out refined art.
These businesses have survived decades due to their excellence
of execution and their close attention to providing one of a kind custom
service.
I could say "etc" and mention a number of people who live in
and around Sugar Loaf, New York, whose work is capable of restoring the vintage
cathedrals of Europe while being displayed in world renowned international museums and
galleries (actually their work has restored and is displayed thus), but going
further into that now would be wasting time talking while I should be about the
business of updating the Sugar Loaf Guild website after
years of languish.
Actually I have little choice in the matter.
These are people whose work is of such excellence they have not only weathered
the storms but flourished through some of the worst times America has
seen.
I mean, what would you do in the same situation?
Here you go, I have prepared a page with photos of every shop in town with links to a
walking map, so you can
take
a look at my situation.