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ARTS & CULTURE
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FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
Society for Creative Anachronism member Jerry Harder shows a tour group how fibers are pulled out of barley and wheat stacks.
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standards around the campsite.
The SCA group in Lawrence has close ties to the University: the founder of the Lawrence group, Larry Brow, is a current archivist and library assistant at the Spencer Research Library. Brow founded the group after he moved to Lawrence his senior year of high school and brought his past SCA experiences with him. A self-professed history geek, he uses his time at SCA to live out the subjects he researches as well as create works for sale with his Master's in pottery.
"I've been doing this for 41 years, and I have friends from all over the world who do this," he said. "There are experiences here that you can't have in any other context."
Brow works with current graduate student and teaching assistant Carla Tilghman to create and sell
pottery at SCA events. Tilghman founded the SCA group in Manhattan when she was in high school.
"There's an emphasis on fighting, on the arts and on service," she said. "There's a nod to the romanticized version of chivalry, which is fun.
"We don't have plagues; it's a selective recreation of the Middle Ages," she laughed.
The SCA emphasizes an inclusion of everyone, no matter their background. In the "mundane" world, members can be everything from a law enforcement officer to a factory worker, but all of that goes out the window when they put on pre-17th century clothes.
"It's the enacting version of being a history nerd," Brow said. "It's a lot more fun when it's not just from books."
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
SCA member Michael Vognild repairs a metal gauntlet in his shop. Vognild has been involved with SCA for 22 years, starting when he was 18.