Little Journey on April 8 Features Voices of Two Masters
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The April 2026 Roycroft Little Journey Speaker Series will present a collaborative presentation by Roycroft Master Artisans Thomas Pafk and Henry Schmidt on A NEW DATE: Wednesday, April 8: “Two Masters, One Vision.”
This joint presentation will detail the process and production of Pafk and Schmidt's “Raven Throne.” "The Raven Throne", a striking fusion of traditional craftsmanship and innovative spirit, was until recently on view with the 2025 Sylvia Rosen Craft Art Biennial at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. This exhibition closed to the public on March 29, 2026.
Pafk, a master furniture artisan, and Schmidt, a master sculptor, combined their expertise and design sensibilities to bring to life singular works of art, which was juried into the Rosen biennial out of hundreds of submissions from High Craft and Fine Art in Craft medium artists across WNY.
Thomas Pafk is a Master Artisan in Wood. He is nationally renowned for Roycroft Renaissance custom furniture and design. As a former designer and modelmaker, he was employed in his early years by Fisher-Price while establishing a part-time freelance design and fabrication business. This grew to full-time business in June of 1987 as The Design Factory, first designing prototypes and architectural models, where he honed his attention to detail which was eventually carried forward into furniture design. Thomas achieved Artisan status in 1996 and elevated to Master in 1998. He is also an educator, formerly of undergraduate furniture design at Villa Maria.
His workshop and design studio is located in East Aurora, where he manages the Schoolhouse Gallery for Roycroft Artisans and serves as the Mark Chair and Festival Chair of the Roycrofters at Large Association. He is a past-President and current Vice-President of the organization.
Henry Schmidt is a Master of Sculpture with a BFA in Painting and Illustration from Syracuse University and Master of Education in Art and General Studies from SUNY College at Buffalo. His career path has included art education, commercial illustration, graphic design and being Art Director at WKBW-TV, 1982-1989. From 1989 to 2013 Schmidt worked at Fisher Price Toys, starting as a product art manager and retiring as director of product art and sculpture. Since 2014, he has created art within his own firm, Henry Schmidt Art & Design, and is an artist-in-residence at the Buffalo Maritime Center, involved with the development of the Buffalo Maritime Foundry. Schmidt has been a Roycroft Master since 2020 and is an exhibiting member of the Buffalo Society of Artists. He has exhibited his work in a number of group shows, including at the Artists Group Gallery in Buffalo, NY (2018, 2017) and the Burchfield Penney Center (2016, 2012). Schmidt has also completed commissioned works, including the 155th New York Infantry Regiment Monument to commemorate the Civil War regiment. The monument has been incorporated into the Naval and Servicemen's Park at the waterfront.
The Little Journey speaker series is presented in two parts within The Roycroft Inn Complex on South Grove. The evening’s program will begin with a relaxed cocktail hour at 4:45 pm in the Library Bar before attendees to the lecture will move to the Roycroft Chapel 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 through the link here; active RALA Patrons and Members who cannot attend in person will be able to join via member livestream.
RALA’s Little Journeys connects Roycroft Artisans with the community by offering artist talks, demonstrations and lectures that educate and create opportunities for collectors and members of the Roycroft community to connect with the modern Roycroft movement, 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. This free to attend educational programming was an important part of RALA's presence in the WNY Arts & Crafts community, and was reprised in 2024 thanks to generous sponsorship from The Roycroft Inn, which is ongoing.
Follow the Roycrofters-At Large Association’s social media pages at Facebook and Instagram, for updates and information. Share this event and invite your friends through the Facebook event for Wednesday's Little Journey here.
Additional 2026 Little Journeys will take place on June 3, August 5, October 7, and December 2, 2026. Our next Little Journey speaker on June 3 will be Author and Historian Robert Lowell Goller.
To purchase or gift a membership as a Patron of the Roycrofters at Large, visit our membership page.
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