Perched on a steep hill in Montpelier, Delia Robinson’s cozy home studio is filled with dozens of whistles and vivid paintings. Robinson moved to Vermont in the early 1980s and has spent her 80-year lifetime making art. A third-generation whistle maker, Robinson learned the craft from her mother, Mildred MacKenzie, when she was a teenager; she has since sculpted thousands of whistles out of clay. She fires the intricate creations — some based on folk ballads — in her basement kiln. Upstairs in her painting studio, she fills canvases with colorful stories, often inspired by dreams. Over the years, Robinson has shown her work extensively throughout the state, country and abroad.
In the latest episode of “Stuck in Vermont,” Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger got a tour of Robinson’s eclectic home and heard a few whistles — and a folk ballad, too.
Sollberger spoke with Seven Days about filming the episode.
How did you meet Delia Robinson?
I met Robinson back in 2007 when I made a video about “The Mail Art Show” at Studio Place Arts in Barre. Robinson and her former neighbor Gabrielle Dietzel put together an entire art show based on items they had mailed back and forth to each other — dog toys, children’s shoes, a French press lid. Robinson and I became friends on Facebook, and I have watched her adventures from afar over the past two decades. She continues to have art shows, and when she turned 80, I thought it might be a good time to reconnect.
How was your visit?
It was a frigid, icy day outside but warm and cozy inside Robinson’s treehouse-like home. I could have easily spent days examining all of her décor and books. Robinson’s stairs are lined with her paintings, her bed is surrounded by a castle that was once a puppet theater backdrop, and her walls are covered in art. I was even treated to a cranky performance — a moving scroll with images accompanied by a ballad. What a dreamy place to spend time.
I was completely unprepared for the variety of Robinson’s whistles: What I thought were intricate sculptures were actually all whistles! And she proved it to me by playing them. The goldfinches outside at her bird feeder were the perfect companions for all the whistling inside.
Did you get to see her make a whistle?
Robinson transformed a clump of clay into a bird-shaped whistle during my visit. She was so deft with her hands that the bird was tweeting sweetly in about 10 minutes. She used her mother’s domestic tools: a knitting needle to make the sound hole, a spoon to make the wings and a hairpin to make the feathers.
When did Robinson become a serious whistle maker?
Robinson was an ICU and emergency room nurse for about 15 years, and she also raised a family. She didn’t really start producing whistles seriously until she was in her thirties, when she sold thousands at craft fairs and became a full-time artist. Robinson has taught many people the ancient art of whistle making over the years. As she put it, “I love obsolete things and old things, and whistles are definitely in that category.”
This article appears in The Wellness Issue • 2026.
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