Tag: art star craft bazaar

Meet NEW ASCB Vendor Leanne Tremblay of Loomination

I’m Leanne Tremblay, the weaver behind Loomination, based in Lowell, MA. I fell in love with weaving as an art student and bought my first loom right after grad school, almost 10 years ago. After working in arts and nonprofit administration for several years, I took my business full time in the fall of 2013.

My studio is in a giant live/work industrial loft at Western Avenue Studios & Lofts in Lowell, MA, a complex of historic mill buildings that are home to over 300 artists. Lowell was the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution and there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of old mill buildings that have been transformed into studios, condos, schools, restaurants, and small businesses.

A lot of artists and craft hobbyists talk about their tendencies to hoard fabrics, beads, paint, pretty much any kind of supply they can get their hands on. Here at Loomination, it’s all about the yarn. I usually have about 250-300 pounds of yarn on hand, and I use it up really fast!

Every product I create is made using fabric that I have woven myself. I start with the yarn (of course!) and thread it on to my vintage handloom, a huge wooden machine that is operated by hand. It can take up to 8 hours for me to prepare the loom before the actual weaving can begin. After the fabric is woven, the next step is to wash and shrink it before sewing into the final product. The fabric shrinks A LOT, usually 15-25% for most pieces, although it depends on the fibers I’m using. Calculating shrinkage is a big part of the process.

My newest collection of tableware – tea towels, placemats, and table runners – is what I’ve mostly been working on lately. I just started making placemats a few months ago and I’m a bit obsessed with them – there are so many different color combinations that I’ve been dying to try. Most of my home textiles are inspired by vintage feed sacks and ticking fabrics, everyday designs that are timeless and classic.

Photo by Heather Ahrens

Another project I’ve been excited about is a series of limited edition bamboo scarves. I love to play with color, so I’ve been hand dying a lot of the yarn, but many of the pieces are black and white, giving a stark, graphic contrast. Bamboo might just be my favorite yarn to work with and to touch. It is SO soft and has a wonderful sheen and drape. It’s like silk, but even better, and is sustainable, which is a huge bonus.

I’m really excited to participate in the Asbury Park Art Star Craft Bazaar – it’s my first ever show in New Jersey! The location is just fantastic and a few of my friends – Christine Brown of Fawn and Heather Wang Jewelry – are also coming down from Massachusetts, so make sure to come see us. You can also find my work online at www.loomination.net.

July 7, 2015
Meet ASCB Vendor Spaghetti Kiss

Hello there! My name is Michael Bracco and I am the artist, writer, screen printer, and general weirdo behind Spaghetti Kiss; a company featuring my hand screened apparel as well as my graphic novels, “NOVO”, “Adam Wreck” and “The Creators.” The work I create is an extension of the geeky kid I was, who escaped through comics and sci-fi/fantasy movies, only now I get to escape through my own creations. In most of my work, you can see that I really enjoy hybridizing animals, machinery and other strange things to create some off the wall designs and stories.

My process, whether I am designing a tee shirt or the next page in a book, always starts in the same place; my sketchbooks. I am constantly sketching, researching, plotting and taking notes before starting a ‘final’ drawing which is also done in a sketchbook so that I can keep my work portable and keep it going anywhere at the drop of a hat. As far as tools, I always work in Strathmore 400 series books and use an assortment of pens and markers including microns, zebra brush tip pens and sharpies.

In my apparel designs, I find that beyond the illustration and its concept, the design and placement of a print on a piece of apparel is really important. I love when a creature feels like it is crawling across someone’s chest or a city is rising up from the bottom of a shirt. Sometimes I have placement in mind when I first start sketching while other times I am playing around with the placement as I am pulling the first couple of prints.

When it comes to comics, the process is a bit more intense. After I come up with a concept for a story I need to write an outline or “Beat Sheet” while doing tons of research and character sketches. Then I start writing scripts for chunks of the stories depending on if I am writing chapters, issues or whole books. Once the script is done I will storyboard 2 pages or a spread at a time and then do the pencils, inks and lettering directly into my sketchbook. At the completion of a chapter, issue or book, I will scan all the pages, make little corrections and add color if necessary then send it off to press!

All of my work can be found this summer at the Asbury Park Art Star Craft Bazaar this July as well as Spaghettikiss.etsy.com for the apparel and creatorscomic.com for my present comic project.

July 2, 2015
Meet ASCB Vendor Elaine Lai of Tough Luv Clothing

Tough Luv is a Philadelphia based fashion brand blending rock and roll, loungewear, and contemporary design aesthetic for effortless, edgy style.

Tough Luv is the creation of designer Elaine Lai. After working for several well-know fashion brands in Los Angeles, she fell in love with the process of garment dying and the endless possibilities and uniqueness that could be achieved when subjecting finished garments to hand treatments and dyes. Combined with an eye for fine details, and a passion for music and art, the groundwork for the brand was laid.

Today, Elaine has taken the brand to the next level. With distribution in nationwide, Tough Luv is proudly made in the USA, and is sold in over a hundred boutiques and specialty stores nationwide. Tough Luv transforms staple fabrics like American cotton tee-shirt jersey and fleece into fashion forward designs without sacrificing wearability, comfort, or detailing. Tough Luv seamlessly blends edgy street looks with feminine touches, resulting in a line that is cool, flirty, and fun.

Who Luvs Tough Luv?

The Tough Luv muse and mindset is always a large part of Elaine’s vision for the brand. Though not any one specific person, when asked to describe her, Elaine knows exactly who she is. “Her taste is not mainstream. She likes music on the edge and style the same way. She enjoys live bands and gallery openings, fine dining and vintage shopping. She wears boots with her dresses and heels with her favorite tee. She is not trendy. She is successful, headstrong, and unique. She appreciates romantic notions but understands Tough Luv.”

Our Designer:

Designer Elaine comes from a family whose history is a melting pot of culture and inspiration. Her mother immigrated to America from Hong Kong and brought with her a passion for designing and making her own clothes, while her grandmother came to the United States in the 1940’s from Scotland. It is this combination of cultures that defines Elaine as a designer, fusing old world European traditions with the functionality that fast-paced, technology-driven, metropolitan life demands.

Elaine attended OTIS College of Art and Design in Los Angeles where she studied fashion design but later dropped out. Instead, she received a Certificate of Completion from the famed Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London for Experimental Fashion. Since then, Elaine has worked for several well-know fashion brands and has evolved into a well-rounded designer who takes pride, and specializes in American-made fashion, a passion that she applies when designing Tough Luv season after season.
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Visit Tough Luv Clothing Online http://toughluv.com/
And at our Upcoming Art Star Craft Bazaar in Asbury Park on July 25th + 26th, as well as our Art Star Pop Up Market at 2nd Street Festival on August 2nd!

June 30, 2015
Upcoming Artist Opportunities

Genevieve Geer of Le Puppet Regime at our Spring Art Star Craft Bazaar. Photo by Chris Kendig

Thank you so much to everyone that came out to our 12th Annual Art Star Craft Bazaar on May 9th + 10th. It was one of our busiest years yet – over 15k people came out to buy handmade this past year! If you did not make it to our show, please visit our vendor line-up page or stop by our store to shop our vendors!

We have just a few (winks) events coming up! AND many opportunities for Artists and Crafters who are looking to vend.

Art Star Craft Bazaar at Asbury Park, NJ – July 25th + 26th Details HERE

Art Star Pop Up Market at Spruce Street Harbor Park. Every Saturday through September 26th from 11-4pm. NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

Art Star Pop Up Market at 2nd Street Festival. August 2nd, 12-8pm. NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

You can find info and applications for ALL OF OUR UPCOMING SHOWS now at www.artstarcraftbazaar.com This includes our Pop Up Markets

AND Please check out all the beautiful photos taken by Chris Kendig at our May 9th + 10th Bazaar here.

12th Annual Spring Art Star Craft Bazaar

More Artist Opportunities in Philadelphia via some of our friends (all now accepting applications):
Art Market At Tyler School of Art
Bang!Boom!Craft fair
Art For The Cash Poor HURRY! Only a few spaces left!!

May 26, 2015
Meet New ASCB Vendor Aaron Powers of New Antlers Illustration

Thanks to both of my parents, I was born as someone with a compulsion in his blood to visually describe the world to others. There was always a story to tell in a meticulously rendered portrait or a quick accidental brush stroke resembling something familiar.

Playing to my strengths, I was focused by my teachers and honed by my years at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s illustration department. After college and the requisite years that a twenty-something guy spends in a van playing music with his friends, a series of events pointed me towards a job in New York City that evolved over years into a position at a better known apparel catalog as a head fashion photo retoucher/compositor. Though grateful for the experience over those years, there came a point where I realized I needed to spend the majority of my time creating rather than concealing. Although it was mildly rewarding to have a god-like command over reality through Photoshop, it felt unnatural to be largely defined by covering the tracks of others so that it seemed as if no work needed to be done in the first place.

Every night I would come home and scrub dried up pixels from my hands and try to squeeze a few minutes of drawing in before sleep takes over and the alarm resets the day. So when the corporate belts started tightening and heads needed to roll, I opted for the fresh air of Central Massachusetts so someone else could have my desk instead of an unemployment check.

It’s been an exciting year since then, from teaching myself the craft of screen printing to publicly displaying my work for the first time. The din of a midtown office has been replaced by the sounds of migrating birds and the echoes of my past professors/peers while considering my compositions.

In addition to my personal work, there have been the opportunities to produce hand-printed gig posters, music packaging, greeting cards, and entire suites of custom wedding invitations as well as the chance to teach youth printing workshops.

I find inspiration in old friends and new strangers, and in the varying levels of connections we all have with nature, technology and each other. These prints are a blend of vectors and gestures, flora and fauna, and the coping with (and preparing for) equal parts of both happiness and loss. Even though my back is sore and the hours are long, it’s now ink I’m washing off my hands every night and it still feels like I’m getting away with something. Thank you for taking a moment to visit the Art Star blog and I look forward to meeting passers-by at the New Antlers booth #54 at this weekend’s Art Star Craft Bazaar.

May 8, 2015
Meet New ASCB Vendor sPACYcLOUD!

sPACYcLOUd was born in DC, from the mind of designer Tatiana Kolina (AKA Tati) with a focus towards the sui generis spirit that lives in all of us. The ethical core of sPACYcLOUd is built on self expression, love, and positivity. Its visual aesthetic breathes from the world of break dancers, hip hop artists, street artists, skaters, and motorcycle riders. Those whose wardrobe exists in a state of counter-culture, carving through life to the rhythm of their own choosing. sPACYcLOUd reflects political and social currents though clothing, artwork, and attitude.

sPACYcLOUd ‘s jackets are made of custom printed fabric using Tati’s and other artists’ art work. From the choice of commonly overlooked fabrics to the colorfully designed prints displayed on each garment, sPACYcLOUd is a social rebellion of creativity. sPACYcLOUd life and street styles are imbued with movement: biking, skating, evolving, but also creative, rebellious, musical and artistic lifestyles.

Leftover jacket fabrics are used for patches on T-Shirts, string bags, hoodies patches, skirts, and other apparel. No fabric is being wasted. Tati is also using a screen printing technique to design her own collection of skateboards and mini cruisers.

Tati’s journey is a testament to her spirit. Born in the Soviet Union, she was without a mother and father after age 7, she grew up with her grandmother, often times taking care of herself. While a teenager, she joined a number of tusovkas (street groups) to survive. The group which affected her life the most was “farsovshiki.” It was a group of kids, the first wave of black marketers in Soviet Union, who ran around big cities (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Tallinn, etc.) and traded Levi’s jeans, t-shirts, gum, etc. for matreshkas, black caviar, and KGB paraphernalia with American tourists. Doing her best to avoid the attention of undercover militia and the street mafia, Tati spent time in Russian jail several times for possession of foreign currency and talking to foreigners.

In the Summer of 1990, her life changed dramatically. Meeting an American family in St. Petersburg, she sold them two lacquer boxes with Russian fairy tales depicted on them. Touched, they took her contact information, later sending her an invitation to come to the US. It took some time and convincing before she made one of the biggest decisions of her life.

In January of 1991, she landed in San Francisco with no money, a tiny backpack, and a present for her new family, a cuckoo clock. More important than the room and board she received was the love and support, that echoes in her spirit to this day. One day Tati was moved to ask her host father, “How can I ever pay back for all you have done for me?” His answer was simple, “You pay back by helping others when you have an opportunity.”

The sPACYcLOUd family has been proud to have organized and participated in a number of events and groups that share a spirit of creativity and alacrity. Always with an eye to the future, sPACYcLOUd moves to involve and inspire the younger generation through surf and snowboarding camps, longboarding rides, internships, and skate events. From celebrating local heroes like Maryland Stunt Rider Alonzo and local DC Skater Angelina to BBoy Atomic Goofball, sPACYcLOUd moves to reflect what’s happening now.

Tati launched Skate Girls Tribe after being inspired by Skatistan, realizing that skateboarding, and action sports overall, can be used to build communities and help building confidence in girls, free from the limitations society tries to hinder them with.

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Thank you Tati for sharing your incredible story with us! Shop her collection online here and visit her in booth #50 at this weekend’s Art Star Craft Bazaar at Penn’s Landing Great Plaza!

May 6, 2015
Meet New ASCB Vendor, S. Casey of Desarc by Susan Casey!

I am so happy to introduce Desarc, and myself to the Art Star Craft Bazaar this year. I’ll be offering jewelry, accent lights, and decorative mirrors for sale. My objective as a designer-maker is to produce useful objects that are attractive, meaningful, and well-made.

I earned my BFA from the Tyler School of Art in 2010, with a concentration in jewelry and metals. The variety of ways I learned to work metal gave me the flexibility to explore object design and craft in many directions. Making functional objects like jewelry gives me a sense of purpose when making creative decisions. I love how jewelry intrinsically deals with concepts of identity. My current line, Resist, is an expression of personal introspection. The balance between the bold and the delicate elements in the collection celebrates feminine strength in an industrial aesthetic.

In addition to jewelry, I have fallen in love with making objects for living spaces. I created the Echoes line of light fixtures (and now mirrors!) years after a summer trip to England where I saw Stonehenge and many other ancient artifacts in London’s museums. Being close to the large monuments, watching the shadow play in and off the slabs of rock, and knowing our ancestors were so compelled to respond to their world, made me feel connected with humanity and craftsmanship in a new way. The Echoes collection is my homage to mankind’s commitment to shape our world like a river though rock.

I cannot wait to see you all on Saturday and Sunday to show you more of my work, but until then you can see behind the scenes photos of my progress on Instagram @desarcbysc or on my Facebook page Desarc by Susan Casey. I also have other lines and more photos of these collections on my website: desarc.carbonmade.com.

Come check me out at booth #69!

May 4, 2015
Meet New ASCB Vendor Samantha Skelton!

Samantha Skelton Jewelry Design is a one-woman jewelry machine located in Fairview Pennsylvania. I design, create, market and sell all of the work featured in my jewelry collection; however I wasn’t always interested in jewelry. My collection has grown from my love of metal, the form of each element in this collection has been directly influenced by industrial sculptures which I both studied and created.

I studied both graphic design and metalsmithing in undergrad at Edinboro University, choosing to follow metalsmithing into graduate school at Miami University, I focused on large scale copper sculptures. The sculptures I created had an industrial aesthetic and a sense of balance and symmetry, all hand forged and kinetic. Along side my sculptures I found myself making smaller sculptural jewelry, almost as a sketch for larger pieces. It allowed me to play with form in a much faster and more direct way.

Choosing to pursue jewelry full time following graduate school has allowed me to continue connecting form with function. My sculpture and jewelry continue to reflect each other;
I want the wearer to feel the visual impact of the jewelry without being overwhelmed by the physical and visual weight of the metal.

Along with making jewelry and traveling for shows and exhibitions I also teach jewelry workshops at craft schools and universities both locally and internationally.

Visit Samantha Skelton Jewelry in Booth #62 at our Art Star Craft Bazaar on May 9th + 10th and visit her online at http://www.samanthaskelton.com/

May 2, 2015
Meet New ASCB Vendor, Emiko Shinozaki!

After a lifetime of playing and teaching, I put down my violin for the last time in 2006. I felt I was finished with the musical chapter of my life, but I had always made a living working with my hands. I felt a need to explore what I could do with them next.

An immediate change in life ensued—A program to Italy to study fashion design through Fashion Institute of Technology, Accessories and Jewelry classes upon my return…

It wasn’t until I started working with brass, silver, fire, hammer, file and wax that the instruments of my future began coming to life before my eyes. I had transitioned from the ephemera of musical performance to the permanence of metals, and it was intoxicating. I could hold my creations in my hands. I could wear what I imagined. I was in love again.

Architecture, music as math, chemistry, and symmetry–all my old flames– inexorably find their way into my work. I spend hours soldering and chasing flux through the narrow channels between my hexagons. Days fly by as I work out the kinks of an intricate piece of casting. Every method has its advantages and demands. To cast or not to cast? Precision soldering and cleanup versus casting and yet more cleanup?

Doing things the hard way has its rewards. I handcraft each and every piece of jewelry myself for Emiko Shinozaki Jewelry and I don’t do e-commerce. Why? Because I want each piece to be unique, and I enjoy meeting the people who will ultimately wear my pieces. What that means is that I don’t really have a complete ’system ’ in place for manufacture or distribution. The exciting part is that I’m still learning with each piece I make and every client I come in contact with. I continue my tradition of teaching and learning, this time with family and colleagues, as it’s the best way I know how to enjoy life.

I have an unending attraction to the physical changes that brass undergoes when thousands of degrees hit it. My necklace creations have intrinsic “torch marks” that deepen with age, lending depth and 3-dimensionality to an otherwise humble material. One of my necklaces can have upwards of 100 solder connections, sometimes less, sometimes more. As I’ve expanded my offerings, I’ve found the best 18K gold-platers in NYC and learned to make molds & cast silver with the lost-wax method. Each silver or brass Alt-triangle bracelet is hand formed, filed and finished, taking many careful hours from start to finish.

There are no easy answers but, so far, keeping things fresh makes me very happy. Every method has its advantages and difficulties, but the end result is always gratifying. Mistakes are humbling, yet I’ve also come to appreciate these impromptu lessons. I think I was a pretty good violin teacher… I sometimes see an old student interviewed on TV, image impossibly large on the Times Square Jumbotron…

These days I look at my hands and wonder at what jewelry-making has yet to teach me.

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Visit Emiko Shinozaki and her incredible line of jewelry at the Spring Art Star Craft Bazaar (booth # ) on May 9th and 10th at Penn’s Landing Great Plaza. http://emikoshinozaki.com/

April 29, 2015
Meet New ASCB Vendor, Julia Walther!

Well hello there! I’m Julia Walther and I make pottery in Washington, DC.

My journey with pottery began nearly six years ago during my senior year of college when my ceramics professor told us that clay can do anything, you just have to ask it at the right time. That mix of constraints and possibilities is a large part of why I’m so in love with ceramics.

I throw almost all of my work on the wheel using a porcelaneous stoneware that’s a beautiful creamy color when fired. I then spend most of my time decorating those pieces with slips and colored underglazes and carving back through the layers to reveal the bare clay underneath. In the midst of those decorative choices, I’m constantly surprised by threads of ideas that can lead my work down completely new paths.

The cacti decorations have come out of my appreciation of papercutting, and other folk crafts that use abstracted shapes to convey stories and show evidence of the human hand. I also really enjoy carving out the spikes!

After the glaze firing, I’ll choose a few pieces to which I’ll apply metallic luster accents and do another firing specifically for that. So your pot may have had a trial by fire three times before it ends up in your hands.

I work alongside about twenty artists working at Red Dirt Studio, a repurposed firehouse just outside Washington, DC. I love the community we’ve established through weekly seminar meetings and by sharing the building. It’s easy to accidentally isolate yourself as an artist, so I’m glad to have this flow of interesting people around my studio space.

At the same time, this is also the first instance in my career where I’ve had freedom to call nearly all the shots. I want to spend the precious time I have in the studio actually making work and taking care of my body to prevent injuries from overwork. In the last year, that has meant switching to a commercially produced pre-mixed clay, and changing the firing temperature of my work so I can use electric kilns, which tend to be more compatible with an urban environment. Additionally, for the past three years I’ve been throwing standing up, which will hopefully prevent future back issues related to sitting and leaning forward (the worst possible position for your back!).

Pots are special because they can be both a sculpture and a canvas. I’ve found a lot of joy in scribbling on the surfaces of my pots, freezing the movement of a hand in time. I’m excited about creating those juicy points of interest that ask you to turn the pot in your hands to soak up the details while you eat your meal or admire your flowers or engage with the piece in any other way. The last step of making pottery is getting it into the hands of the user, and that’s where a new adventure begins.

This will be my first year at the Art Star Craft Bazaar, and I’m so looking forward to the show! I’d love it if you stopped on by Booth #59 and said hello.

April 28, 2015