Category: artist spotlight

Meet the Maker: Heidi Shenk/Row House 14

Words and Photos by Heidi Shenk

I’m Heidi, the owner and designer of Row House 14, an indie stationery and paper goods company. I’m a small town Indiana girl that made her way to Baltimore somehow and became a teacher. On the days I felt burned out in the classroom, I turned to art as a creative outlet. The final products– cards and stationery.

Six years later, I moved on from the classroom to design and make cards full time from my home studio in my historic Baltimore row house. I never thought that something I did to keep a creative energy going would turn into my job, but I am always excited for a new adventure in life and haven’t looked back since.

My inspiration comes from daily life, so many of my cards embrace the humor in every day life. I enjoy writing the cards just as much as I like to design them. I pair bold and bright colors with recognizable images to create designs that are relatable. If I can make someone laugh or smile or just make someone’s day a little better, then I think my ultimate goal has been accomplished.

I love experimenting with the final product as well. Some of my cards are bolder and brighter in design and finished digitally. Others, I print myself using a letterpress printing press. Each medium offers its own creative challenges and pushes me to hone my craft and think outside the box.

Aside from greeting cards, I offer other stationery goods such as note cards, notepads, and pencils. The pencils are all individually hand imprinted with a vintage Kingsley press– a piece of history in itself. The process is one that I enjoy immensely and is truly a labor of love.

Working with my hands is incredibly fulfilling for me. I also find importance in using recycled and sustainable paper and products for the end results in my shop. I want my business to not only bring happiness to others, but to be an extension of my own lifestyle from the day to day, so that includes being environmentally conscious while still providing an incredibly high quality product, as well as finding joy in what I do in the day to day.

Through Row House 14, I hope to offer witty, stylish, and ridiculously hilarious stationery goods.
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Thanks for sharing Heidi! Visit Row House 14 at our May 7th + 8th Art Star Craft Bazaar at Penn’s Landing Great Plaza, Booth #86 (along the Walnut Plaza).
http://www.rowhouse14.com/

April 12, 2016
Meet The Maker: Jedediah Morfit

Words and Images by Jedediah Morfit
http://jedediahmorfit.com/

The problem with sculpture (at least the kind of sculpture I make) is that is extremely time consuming, labor intensive, and expensive to produce, which obviously makes it expensive to buy.

I started working with laser cuts last year, as a way to a) make work my friends and family could actually afford, and b) hopefully fund my ever-expanding studio expenses. This new work challenged me to keep thinking like a sculptor, while using my background as a commercial illustrator and designer to create an accessible series that (crucially) retained its conceptual and visual integrity.

The first laser cuts I made directly re-imagined some of the imagery found in my sculpture. The woman on the left (seen here in “The Price Of Doing Business, Second State”, 2011) was among the first bas relief sculptures I made in this series. She was also the subject of the first laser cut I ever made, “Daughter Of The Revolution”, 2015.

The woman on the right in this image is taken from Brueghel’s Painting,”The Dulle Griet”. She is seen here in my 2011 sculpture “Paved With Good Intentions”, and in the 2015 laser cut “Mad Meg”.

This one is a little harder to see, but the image on the right is a detail of my life-sized sculpture “Mama’s In The Arbor”. The image on the left is an adaptation of that same figure, is also called “Mama’s In The Arbor (Second State)”. I have found that working with laser cuts provides a fascinating opportunity to re-imagine the subject through a new lens, where the rules of 3D generally do not apply, and the graphic relationship between color and shape are everything.

As I gained a better understanding of the process, and the possibilities of the medium, the pieces naturally began to take their own shape, while still very much reflecting my usual aesthetic and conceptual concerns (jumbled imagery, the flotsam and jetsam of consumer culture, the casual violence of daily life, etc.). In this case, the image on the left is from a suite of sculptural furniture that was commissioned to by Atlantic City, called “Flood Suite”, 2013. The image on the right is from one of the later, larger laser cuts, entitled “Privateer”, 2015.

At this point, Illustrator has established itself as my preferred drawing method. Some of the work I will be bringing to the Art Star Craft Bazaar began as sketches for a new body of dimensional sculpture, which is still in the early stages. For me, it’s interesting to see the process starting to work in reverse; starting to imagine three dimensional work through a series of works on paper. As I think about it, working that way is probably the norm, but it’s new to me, and incredibly exciting.

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Find Jedediah Morfit’s work at our May 7th + 8th Art Star Craft Bazaar at the Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing

April 7, 2016
Meet The Maker: Tara Vaughan Ceramics

Hey friends! I am starting up our Meet the Makers series again. We will be featuring posts by a selection of our new Art Star Craft Bazaar Vendors every Tuesday and Thursday each week, leading up to the show on May 7th + 8th. We hope you enjoy these profiles as much as we do. First up is new Art Star Craft Bazaar, Tara Vaughan. – Megan

My name is Tara Vaughan and I make pottery here in Philadelphia.

I was first introduced to clay in freshman year of college at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. I took the class as an elective, but quickly fell in love with it. I immediately changed my major from Insurance to Ceramics and continued to work in pottery and sculpture throughout my time in undergrad. After graduating in 2014, my friend Morgan and I decided to get a studio together in the Crane Arts building. We were very fortunate to have such amazing friends and mentors that were willing to donate a lot to help us get on our feet. We were given hundreds of pounds of clay, tables, molds, tools, and the best of all, even a 35 year old kiln. (Which after being refurbished, works like a charm!)

I hand build all of my work. Pinching and coiling are my most used methods, while I do slab work for more geometric pieces. Almost all of my work is made using the same technique, but usually with different results. Bottles are my favorite piece of pottery to make, because they never turn out the same. I always have an idea of how I would like it to look, but the result is always very different, sometimes better. Each form is new and unique to the one made before it.

I love plants, and decided to make a planter for every type of plant lover. Small to large, indoor to outdoor, hanging or sitting, I have got one for you.

I am very excited to be a part of ASCB this year. Please come and say hi! I would love to meet you.

www.taravaughanceramics.com
Find a selection of Tara’s work year round in our Shop

April 5, 2016
Meet the Maker: Indigo Marie Illustration

by Indigo Marie Illustration

Hello there! I am an illustrator & soft sculpture maker residing in Baltimore, Maryland. I have a strange fascination with hairless kittens, tea, & otherworldly splendor. I am a collector of old, weathered textiles, driftwood scraps, & anything with a story that’s since been neglected.

As a young child I was most often found hunched in the branches of the old apple tree in my backyard illustrating & writing books. Not much has changed since then. As a fresh graduate from Maryland Institute College of Art with my BFA I’m slowly starting to carve away my artistic path.

I love working in a variety of mediums however my primary mediums include ballpoint pen & acrylic paint for my 2D illustrations. For my sculptural work I use polymer clay glazed with acrylic paint and fibers for their soft bodies. Being a maker allows for a very magical opportunity to inject art into peoples everyday lives with it being serendipitous and affordable. This is the reason why I delight so much in making my strange little, dusty creatures. They look as if they have arrived on a ship from a different world, a charming nostalgic treasure hidden on a book self end or crevice of someone’s sacred space. I delight in creating these odd treasures that people tend to double take to fully soak in.

All I ever hope to achieve with my works is to inspire people & get them out of their heads to reconnect with the pure wonder of imagination and the feeling of being 5 years old again, uninhibited by worry. I use nature as a primary muse to my works as well as my love for soaking in different people essences and injecting them into my characters.

I currently sell work in local artisan shop Strongbox and at scattered pop up markets around Baltimore. I enjoy doing commissions for people. I find a lot of pleasure in getting told what to create from other people’s worlds and hopefully superseding their expectations. The unexpected collaboration between the artist and the client is oddly beautiful to me. After the chaos of the holidays are over I will be helping illustrate a book for a dear friend which I’m very excited to dig into and have high hopes for.

This is my first time vending at the Art Star Craft Bazaar and I could not be more excited. Please take a gander at booth #36. I look forward to meeting all of you!

Visit Indigo Marie Illustration on her website

November 5, 2015
Meet the Maker: Scott Staats

My name is Scott Staats and I am a glass artist. I’ve been blowing glass for five years but I have spent whole my life creating art. I have always loved to create things and make art working with many different mediums, but once I started working with glass I knew I found the one for me. Glass instantly fascinated me, it can be used in so many ways to create nearly any shape and color, yet you can never touch it with your hands while working with it.

When I’m in the studio working with the glass it starts out as a liquid, at 2000 degrees fahrenheit, with the viscosity of honey and is gathered on the end of a metal blowpipe. All of the glass starts clear and then the color is added while it is still hot. Once the glass is colored it gets blown up and manipulated using a variety of traditional tools. When the piece is finished it placed in an annealer where it can cool to room temperature over a time span of 24 hours.

I am inspired to create by so many things I see around me. I have always been drawn to the random natural patterns and colors of nature and the scale and lines of urban cities. Drawing upon these inspirations I like to incorporate wood and steel into some of my work.

I like making art that people will enjoy, give as gifts and decorate their homes with. My products include seasonal decor, functional glass, installation art and custom lighting. I hope that my work brings joy to people’s lives like so many other artists work has brought to mine.

This will be my first year as a vendor at the Art Star Craft Bazaar and I am very excited. Please visit my website at www.ScottStaatsGlass.com and please visit me at corner booth #46. Thank you.

November 3, 2015
Meet The Maker: Lital Gold

Hello! My name is Lital. I’m a print designer and illustrator. I was born and raised in Israel. As a kid, I used to spend time at my dad’s studio (he is a graphic designer). I was always drawn to the art books, catalogs and design magazines that he had in his library. He had exciting things in his studio, like a Pantone fan and boxes filled with colors, paints and different kinds of papers; it was like heaven for me. I used to sit there all day during summer break and draw with him. This is where my love for painting came from. Watching my dad really inspired me to have a design studio when I grow up and that’s exactly what happened.

My trip to India before college inspired me to study textile design and major in print. I was looking to study something creative that contains a little bit of everything – art, fashion, graphic design and pattern design. I wanted to keep painting, but put the skill into something more practical and this is how I found textile design. After graduating, I had two different options. I got accepted to an internship at DVF in NYC but was also offered a job at the Free People studio in Philadelphia. I chose Philly and this is how I came to the USA. I worked at the FP studio for two years, creating original artworks and patterns.

These days I work from my studio, collaborating with different brands and working as a print/cad designer. I also work on my own line of clothing that will be launched in spring 2016.

My work is inspired from the organic motif of nature, animals and different cultural patterns from around the world.

My favorite mediums to work with are ink and watercolors and I paint all of my patterns and artworks by hand, with an intuitive and tactile approach. I love it when colors look happy and vibrant and I always make sure to have this in my work. I usually start from collecting some inspiration according to the subject I’m exploring. After I have a good amount of reference (pictures, prints, fabric swatches) I start to paint. I also work with books and nature magazines, when I paint animals, especially birds!

Hope to see you at the Fall Art Star Craft Bazaar, I will be selling holiday goods, wall art prints, greeting cards and more! Come say hi!

and Visit Lital Gold’s Website year round!

October 29, 2015
Meet the Maker: Molly Moran of Snarky Scouts

Hello Art Starlets and craft connoisseurs! I’m Molly Moran, creator of Snarky Scouts. I’m pretty new to the craft vendor world, and this will be my first year at Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philadelphia. Brace yourselves!

Snarky Scouts is my reinvention of actual vintage Girl Scout and Boy Scout badges into funny, usually inappropriate merit badges for adults. These take the form of 5×7″ letterpress prints and felt brooches or ornaments.

The Girl Scouts of America discontinued this style of merit badge a few years ago and they use a new merit badge system now. That means I can find lots of these old badges on eBay. I do the letterpress myself at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center’s letterpress studio in Silver Spring, MD. I hand-sew and hand-embroider the felt items.

I started this project last year when I was looking online for old badges that I thought I might use to decorate a zip-wallet. As I looked through several old Girl Scout badges on eBay, I couldn’t always tell what the badges represented, and I found myself making up silly names for them. The one I remember most clearly is the badge for Reptiles and Amphibians – to me, it looked like a turtle walking a high wire. So I made a badge for “Turtle Circus Arts.”

Once I realized that this could be a viable project with items to sell, I applied to a large juried craft show in DC, and funded my startup costs with a Kickstarter campaign. I didn’t know what to expect, but I found that people loved the badges and I sold out of nearly all my designs. So this year, armed with a better sense of what people like, I’ve added about two dozen new designs to my repertoire and a couple new craft fairs to my calendar – including ASCB in Philly!

While the art technique in my work is letterpress and needlework, the most expressive aspect is the humor I use. It’s with humor – this less tangible, less material aspect of the work – that I experiment and invent. My ideas are inspired by the imagery of the actual badges, so there’s a constraint inherent in the process that is challenging and fun. I’ve recently had ideas for four new designs, which will debut at ASCB in November. I’m most excited about introducing the merit badges for “Road Rage” and “Day Drinking.”

I think part of the pleasure of reading these badges is realizing the extent of the departure from the original meaning of the badge. The history is important. So I use only real scouting badges, and I research each one before incorporating it in my designs. With every item I include a little card with information about the original use of the badge.

My absolute favorite part of this project is having a booth at a fair, because people laugh at my items. We’re not talking a polite little giggle, we’re talking completely busting up. It’s awesome: it’s an entire day of getting to watch my work make people laugh. It’s a joy and a gift and it inspires me to keep at it. So come by my booth on November 7th or 8th – I promise you’ll find something that makes you smile.

October 22, 2015
Meet the Maker: Marisa Krol of Interstellar Love Craft

by Marisa Krol, Interstellar Love Craft

I never planned on being a jewelry designer. They say, the thing we most enjoy doing as a child is incredibly valuable in identifying what would make us happiest as adults. Looking back now, I feel that is true for me. The beauty and mystery of life process, is how it has shown up in the most unexpectedly brilliant way.

I firmly believe we are all gracing this plane of existence to connect with and learn from one another. In our own unique ways, we connect through infinite forms of expression. It is my intention to create a platform in which expression is free to be what it wants to be in any given moment. Interstellar Love Craft was created 6 years ago (almost exactly as I write this), to communicate the intention of connecting with and serving others though creative expression. Months after its inception, I began the process of learning my craft through volunteering my time studio assisting an artist in my local community. During this time; the past, present and future felt as if they were intersecting, and ILC found its home in the practice of jewelry metal smithing. I share this with you because openness has been, and continues to be, a significant component in the success and growth of this endeavor. An openness expressed in process as well as outcomes, interactions and direction. No matter what path one takes, it will always be a roller coaster of experiences and feelings about those experiences. So long as we adhere to our values and inner truth, pay attention, and not take anything that isn’t constructive personally, I firmly believe we will be taken care in this world.

For me, expressing and sharing this inner light and truth is what inspires my line of work. My hope is that it is felt by, and experienced through the wearer. By utilizing open forms inspired by sacred places and sites of reverence, pieces take shape and become apart of a greater collection. There are tangents along the way that result in micro collections and one of a kind pieces. This keeps the work engaging for me, and hopefully for those who follow its development and support its growth. I often feel like I am making something for someone in particular, which is unique to them. It brings me joy beyond compare when each piece unites with its person. For this reason, I enjoy traveling as well as building relationships that are both customer and community based. For example, the Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philadelphia not only has become one of my favorite destinations, but it has also been a source of inspiration and collaboration in a way that facilitates growth. In no other place, that I have had the good fortune to spend time in, has the maker scene felt so supportive, healthy and fun. You all rock!

In closing, words cannot express the gratitude I feel for being able to participate in the creation of what I want my life to look like, and the good fortune of meeting others along the way who are invested in doing the same. It is a power we all possess, and one that requires the conquering of certain fears and trusting that the universe strives with us towards fulfillment. I hope that whatever it is that moves you, it is something you are able to practice with regularity. Discovering purpose in ones work, and feeling like we are a part of a larger network of life supporting beings seems to me to be most valuable.

Thank you for taking the time to read my musings on life, work, and creativity. I hope you are living (at least part of the time) in a place of childlike joy and peace. And if not, make the time to search and discover. Humanity might depend on it.

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You can find Interstellar Love Craft at our November 7th + 8th Fall Art Star Craft Bazaar or visit her website year round!

October 15, 2015
Meet ASCB Vendor Tadpole Creations!

Some of us are born makers. I was fortunate to come from highly creative stock and was raised in an environment that fostered creativity. I was born to a family with kitchen designer parents and a fine artist older sister. Some of my earliest memories are of playing with clay in my mother’s studio or sewing bits of fabric together from her sewing room to make clothes for my dolls.

A consistent thread throughout my life has been living the life as a maker. I have always made stuff – whether it be with a paintbrush or a sewing needle in my hand.

Looking back – I have always traversed between painting and various fiber arts.
My college degree is a BS in Art Education with a minor in Fiber Arts. I worked as an elementary art teacher and decorative painter before the establishment of Tadpole Creations.

You could also say appreciating the importance of a child’s viewpoint has influenced my life as a maker. This carries over to this day, from the fabrics I choose for a product, to the method of construction.

The murals, quilts, clothing and critters I made for my own three children when they were very young provided the foundation for the beginnings
of the Tadpole Creations brand.

Moo-Cow – the earliest known Tadpole Creation. Made almost 18 years ago for my oldest child.

A popular new baby gift from present day – the elephant rattle – tails and seams are reinforced for durability, the ears are corduroy for tactile exploration.

A denim whale pillow – having great unisex designs along with classic girl and boy offerings gives my buyers a choice when deciding on the perfect gift.

A linen and Liberty of London bunny rabbit toy. Featuring a hand painted and stitched face.

My hope is that my creations are the ones that are well loved by your little ones, that some receive the greatest honor of becoming a childhood treasure. Like Moo Cow.

Home goods are a more recent addition to my line, as I expand beyond the baby goods market. Such as these linen and Liberty of London pillows.

My newest home products are hand painted pillows, each is one of a kind.

The best part of my job is getting to meet my buyers and hear about the little ones in their lives. I hope that we have an opportunity to meet at a future market!

xo
Renee D’Amico
Tadpole Creations
Visit her at our Upcoming Art Star Craft Bazaar in Asbury Park – Booth #8

July 23, 2015
Meet ASCB Vendors As The Crow Flies + Co

As the Crow Flies & Co is a little family business in West Philadelphia run by Mike and Wilder Scott-Straight. Married for almost ten years, they started As the Crow Flies & Co five years ago combining their efforts. Mike has been making jewelry for over 20 years since he was a youth vending stained glass jewelry on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley, Ca. Wilder technically could have met him then, as they both moved to the Bay Area at the same time, lived in the same neighborhood and frequented the same places. That however, wasn’t meant to be and they didn’t meet until 10 years later when they had both gone back to the east coast and discovered a mutual love of all things old and the joys of flea marketing together. That joy led to Wilder’s vintage plate collection, which led to much of the jewelry that Mike makes today.

The story goes, that one of Wilder’s favorite calendar plates fell and broke. Mike who up until that time had just made stained glass jewelry thought maybe he could make something for her with the broken shards. He made a piece for her and a few more too and soon he was looking around to see what other plates were damaged enough to cut up.

Over the last 7 years he’s perfected his technique and his eye. He looks for interesting images and patterns, cropping them carefully from the original plate. He tries to find the stories in these images and hopes you can see them too. He has a love of all things nautical so ships and lighthouses always abound as do birds. By choosing already damaged plates from flea markets to work with, he brings new life to an otherwise discarded object.

Vintage dishes are storytellers, steeped in history. The original makers in Europe and the US have a fascinating past to them, as do many of the patterns and the places they came from. The original owners, and their stories also have tales to tell. Mike does a lot of custom work from family dishes that have been well loved over time. By making the broken shards into necklaces, earrings and cuff links, families can keep the memories and have something uniquely wearable to show.

Mike has kept doing stained glass, his first love as well. With an art deco aesthetic he makes earrings and necklaces. Just recently he started making chevrons, based on the windows of his 1903 West Philadelphia home.

Wilder always had an eye for color and fabric. She originally started with knitwear but when their daughter came along she wanted to make timeless clothes that weren’t easily found in shops. Believe it or not she’d always been intimidated by sewing, mostly due to the half broken machines that she’d found in thrift stores and been working on. Her friend gave her some expert advice, buy a cheap, new machine with instructions (this is key) and learn the ropes on that. She did and with a few quick lessons from said friend, figured out sewing was not as terrifying as she’d first thought. It, in fact, was fun and liberating!

Wilder uses simple, timeless, vintage patterns and combines them with new designer fabrics to create a fresh look that’s sweet and harkens back to bygone days. Her inspirations come from her some of her favorite childhood books, Pippi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables and The Princess and The Goblin.

At the moment she only makes girl’s clothes but with the new addition of a little boy to the family she realizes boy clothing is going to have to happen soon (look out for it this fall).

Mike is excited to be vending at the Art Star Craft Bazaar in Asbury Park, which was his grandmothers old summer stomping ground in the 1920s. He’ll be there with plenty of ships and lighthouses as well as stained glass brights and Wilder’s summer dresses and skirts, perfect for the beach.

July 22, 2015