Erin and I were honored to jury this year’s Art Market at our alma mater – Tyler School of Art. We were so impressed with the pool of applicants and think we picked out a strong group of artists that include Tyler alumni & student groups. The show takes place this Friday from 12-7pm and Saturday from 12-5 at Tyler School of Art. View Map / Directions here. 26 artists will be set up selling their handmade goods, which include fine art, jewelry, accessories, glass, prints, pottery and more! Get started on your holiday shopping while supporting a talented group of artists & Tyler. A portion of the proceeds from the Art Market at Tyler benefits scholarships to the Tyler School of Art. Here are some highlights of participating artists’ work to get you in the spirit. A full list of participating artists can be found here.
The First Clover Market of this season is upon us! This show makes me happy – I love doing it! Great mix of antiques, vintage and handmade PLUS it is very low stress for us vendors IMO due to proprietor Janet Long’s organizational prowess.
Photo by Carrie Hill Photography, Courtesy of Clover Market
We will be bringing a variety of items from our shop, which includes goodies from our own line of products (like our Hot Tots / I Fight Crime T’s and onesies) and a variety of pieces from the shop. We hope to see you there! The show is in Ardmore from 10-5. Details: www.theclovermarket.com
Here are some more photos to get you in the mood for this fab show! All these pics are by the lovely Carrie Hill Photography from the September 2012 show and were nabbed from Clover Market’s beautiful new website (jealous!!)
Photo by Carrie Hill Photography / Courtesy of Clover MarketPhoto by Carrie Hill Photography // Courtesy of Clover MarketPhoto by Carrie Hill Photography // Courtesy of Clover MarketPhoto by Carrie Hill Photography / Courtesy of Clover MarketPhoto by Carrie Hill Photography / Courtesy of Clover MarketPhoto by Carrie Hill Photography / Courtesy of Clover Market
Save the Date! The 2013 Spring Art Star Craft Bazaar will be held on May 11th + 12th at The Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing. And guess what? This is our 10th Art Star Craft Bazaar! We’ve decided to revisit one of our favorite designs by Julie West for this year’s logo. This is the first image she designed for us – she just reworked it a bit this year. She also gave us a design with gold highlights, which we hope to use for the print materials.
If you are an artist and would like to participate, we are now accepting applications! Deadline is March 5th, Midnight. Spread the word to fellow artists!
I finally uploaded Carrie Bender Hill’s beautiful photos from last year’s bazaar. We were blessed with incredible weather ALL WEEKEND for like, the first time in I don’t know how long. Here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend. More HERE on our Flickr page.
ENJOY!
(P.S. if you are an artist that participated and there is a photo of your work, feel free to include your name and website in the comments section on FLICKR)
We asked Art Star artist, Ryan Myers, to create an exclusive piece for us & I love what he came up with: Naptime Was His Kryptonite, oil on canvas (below). The original can be purchased for $350 or you can pick up an archival pigment print for just $25!
"Naptime was his Kryptonite", oil on canvas
I thought this would be a great opportunity to highlight Ryan & his work! Check out my interview with him below.
What is your art background? Where did you study?
Art has always sort of been part of my life. I can’t think of a time growing up where I wasn’t at the very least drawing. I have a degree in illustration and art history from Hartford Art School in Ct..
How long have you been painting?
I started painting in college. I got serious about showing my work the way it looks now in about 2004.
Have you always painted children? How much of your own childhood inspires this imagery?
I definitely haven’t always painted children. I came out of art school content on being an editorial illustrator, so my work was focused on whatever the job required. There wasn’t a lot of personal work then. I am not sure there’s a lot of my childhood in the kids I paint now, but obviously all my experiences help inform the paintings.
"Adoration of the Snozzwanger", oil on wood
The way that you draw the children & the overall color palette is very cute & sweet, but I get a deep sense of sadness & loneliness when looking at your work. I am assuming that is intentional? Do you have back stories for these children? I am curious why they are so sad.
This is a tough question with a few parts, so I’ll do my best to tie this one up with a nice little bow. The cute and sweet colors matched against the feelings of sadness and loneliness are definitely intentional. To use a loaded art word it’s basically for the juxtaposition of the emotions. I don’t typically think of the kids as sad. There are some of the teary-eyed exceptions, more typically though I like to think they are just completely indifferent to everything going on around them. They may not be happy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are sad. I feel like much more emotion can be attached to a non-smiling face. Obviously I have some sense of a story when I begin work, but they don’t really have back stories. I like to include just enough in the paintings to hint at a back story, but leave the scene open to interpretation. The viewers are interrupting something that’s going on in the painting and it’s their job to figure out what.
How much of the work is autobiographical? I notice that your dog makes a bunch of appearances with a little boy, which makes me wonder if that little boy is supposed to be you.
I wouldn’t say that the little boys are me beyond the dark hair and eyes. I use some aspects of my daily life to inform some of the symbols and elements that reoccur in my paintings. It’s more like a familiarity that I am comfortable with, like keepsakes in a curio cabinet, than an autobiography.
"The House Call", oil on canvas
You are a father with two small children now, correct? How much is your imagery inspired by them?
Yes that’s right, I’m blessed with two beautiful children. I’m not sure that they themselves inspire my imagery, it’s more like their stuff does. The tiny clothes and toys usually give me a good jumping off point. Having two big eyed models at my disposal certainly helps though.
What is your artistic process like? Do you begin with an emotion / story & then go from there?
I’ve never been really good at explaining the process, but I can give it a go. I really always start off with an idea that makes me laugh – it’s sort of strange to say that though considering people so often speak of the sadness or haunting feelings of the paintings. For a long time I came up with the titles for paintings first and then worked out an image to suit. Occasionally I still do that, but more typically now I’ll get myself in the mood to work with music and depending what I am working on I’ll either start a drawing on paper or work things out right on the canvas.
Are there any particular artists that you are inspired by?
Inspiration is a funny thing… I feel like I am probably more inspired by Pee Wee Herman or something than another artist, but there are a few artists I really enjoy who have probably helped me towards my style. Artists like Giorgio de Chirico and Magritte really did a lot for the weird stillness I use in my paintings. I have got a few others, but I can’t give away all my secrets. Contemporarily though, I really like artists who work graphically, Toki Doki (Simone Legno) comes to mind first.
Do you paint full time? If not, what do you do for a day job?
I don’t actually paint full time. I work for the Post Office and am one of those rare people who really enjoys their job.
Any upcoming shows on the horizon?
I do have a few things lined up for the future – some I can’t talk about yet, but coming up soon I’m going to have a few pieces in a group show in Santa Fe.
What are you working on right now?
It always feels like I am juggling a few things. Right now I am working on some new types of images, but I’ve got a backlog of canvases that I’ve been working on in my studio for a while that I will try and wrap up soon. I also have some private commissions as well as some fun give away plans in the works.
We would like to welcome Adam Smith to our growing list of artists – we are thrilled to be carrying his work! Adam is a Philadelphia artist, designer, illustrator & silkscreen printer. We learned about his work after he applied to our summer craft bazaar. We now have a good selection of his Men’s T-shirts, prints, & original paintings in the shop. All of his work is very affordable. It is hard to find an actual silkscreen printer these days – especially one as talented as Adam. What impresses me the most about him is that he designs & hand draws all of his own lettering.
"The Floorboards Hide Secrets" Silkscreen by Adam Smith
Aesthetically, we tend to be a bit on the more feminine side here at Art Star, so we are always trying really hard to look for an artist that will appeal to guys as well. I think Adam fits that bill, as evidenced by the fact that almost every man in my life purchased an item from him at our last bazaar. I hope you enjoy his work as much as we do.
"Going Home" acrylic painting on found wood by Adam Smith
I met Penny back in the early 2000’s when I was working in the gallery at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. She was a recent Alfred graduate who had studied both ceramics & glass, receiving her BFA in 2000. She was coming to Philly straight from an artist residency at Watershed, which provided her with studio space, a place to live, & covered basic expenses. She was looking to find a shared art community & studio space/time to continue to develop her ceramic & glass work. She volunteered in the gallery for me at The Clay Studio & also assisted our class studio technician in exchange for work space. Rakov states, “At the time, I was interested in making work that you live with. What I really loved about ceramics was how you interacted with it. I loved the simplicity of how something could just be beautiful & part of your daily life.” She worked on her pottery at The Clay Studio & also blew glass at Hot Soup (a glass studio/school in Philly) in exchange for teaching classes there.
ceramic cup by Penelope Rakov
Working in glass soon became too expensive & she felt her glass skills needed to develop further. According to Rakov, “At that point, I had never been as good in glass as I was in ceramics. So I applied to Tyler School of Art as a glass person w/ ceramic slides.” She was accepted in the glass department and paid for her tuition by teaching ceramic classes there. Her work at this time moved from being functional to more sculptural. She was only given 2 hours in the hot shop & the rest of the day she worked in her studio. She says, “I had not pulled cane [long strips of colored glass] before I got there. I loved color & I had intended on making functional glass objects in the same vain as making ceramic objects for the home. But it was just not as fun, or maybe I just was not as good at it. I also felt uncomfortable w/ all the judgment I was getting. When you blow glass, you fail a lot in public. Cane pulling wasn’t as hard for everybody & I could work w/ it. I could work w/ the scraps and build something out of it & make the color worth it. I could cut into it & fuze it back together & it could at least be interesting so [from there] I really just worked w/ pattern & color.”
She manipulated the pulled cane to create large color fields in a variety of forms. She states, “Color has a huge amount of information. If we look at red & green we think of Christmas; red and yellow -McDonalds. There are certain color combinations that have so much information, so I was thinking a lot about color combinations & what kind of information they conveyed. Conceptually I was thinking about things like lobster buoys, pharmaceuticals, etc. and how all those things are color coded so that they are instantly recognizable. I was playing w/ color combos & what I thought this combo would mean to me personally. So I made different fields of color, different forms of fields of color: some were flat, some were huge bundles, some were long troughs w/ scattered cane. Mostly what that was about for me was just having lots and lots of cane & being able to reassemble it and make something else out of it.” We asked if she was even thinking of making jewelry at the time. According to Penny, “I got requests for jewelry but I thought ‘how many crafts should I be making’. I was coming from an anti selling point at school & at the time, I bristled at the requests I got.”
Early Slice Necklace by Penelope Rakov
After graduating w/ her MFA, her thinking began to shift. In early 2004 we opened Art Star & Penny had recently finished up at Tyler & was beginning to sell her work. We consigned some small, brightly colored “pocket sculptures”, which were small circles of glass. Each piece was visually striking & unique. Each one was layered with circles & dots of different colored glass, some raised & bubbling from the surface. They were reminiscent of sea creatures or something you’d view under a microscope or find in a Petri dish. Customers were mesmerized by them & began to ask if the artist would make them into brooches or necklaces. We approached Penny about this & the seed for her soon to be small business, Spot On Designs, a production glass jewelry company, was planted. She recalls, “You said, ‘Penny, we’ll actually sell this & sell it for more money if you’d put a pin back on it.’ We watched as Penny’s glass pieces evolved from a chain passed through a hole in the glass sculpture to being professionally set in sterling silver. Today Spot On Designs creates not only necklaces, but also rings, earrings, & cuff links in a variety of styles, colors, patterns & settings. Because each piece is handmade, no two are alike.
Corey Dangle Earrings by Penelope Rakov
Penny’s studio is in the Crane building, an old plumbing warehouse that has been renovated to provide artist studio space & also houses the Icebox gallery space amongst others. Her walls & work tables are lined w/ hundreds of glass tubes in a vast array of colors. Her studio is where she starts to get creative with the glass canes that she has pulled & begins to play around w/ the colors to create patterns. She does this by bundling the glass strips together to see how they look. She says, “I will think of the colored canes that I’ve made & meditate on that, reacting to the stock that I have. I’ll mess around w/ the canes together & then bundle them. I’ll work w/ a specific color scheme that has been haunting me or that I think that I am missing from my collection or that I think will be popular with my customers”.
We were both amazed at how many steps were involved in the making of one piece (at least 7 steps) & were curious how she keeps her pricing so affordable. Penny reassured us that though it is a long, complicated process, she doesn’t make each piece one at a time. The canes that she pulls in the hot shop will be used for many finished pieces. She might not use them all right away, but she stores them in her studio until she can find a piece that they work w/. None of her materials are wasted. She states, “I couldn’t retail them for a price people couldn’t pay. If these prices get me to the next level [in my business] then it is okay – I can always raise them later. I love my customers, I really do & I want them to think that they bought something very special that will not disappoint them.” Plus, it will keep her customers coming back. Seeing her jewelry on a happy customer is her favorite part. She recalls,“There was this woman last year at Artstcape that purchased a piece that honestly, I didn’t like very much. Once she put it on I was like, that’s gorgeous!” This is when Penny feels her work is finally finished.
Penny Candy Necklace, glass & sterling silver
You can find Penny’s work in galleries & shops across the country. Visit her website for a complete list of shops that stock her work. Penny also does around 12 craft shows each year, including our own Art Star Craft Bazaar. And of course, you can find her work at Art Star year round!
The lovely lady behind Dahling Accessories (formerly known as Lolo & Gretch when we first started), Gretchen Seel, reports on the early days of the Art Star Craft Bazaar & how far the show has come since then. Visit Dahling Accessories at booth #47 at this year’s ASCB.
The Art Star Craft Bazaar would not be possible without the AMAZING Lisa Castellano. We met her back in the early days of the ASCB when she asked to volunteer at the show, along with her then boyfriend Rich Molina. The two of them literally saved our butts the first year we had the show along Germantown Avenue, up by our old shop on the Liberties Walk. We didn’t realize how heavy the rented tables were & they saved the day by letting us use their truck. They also helped us break down the show during a massive rain storm. They did such a good job that the following years we asked them back as paid staff. Lisa is friendly, outgoing, & incredibly smart, but best of all, she is assertive & has initiative. We don’t have to tell her what to do – she knows what to do. In fact, many times she tells US what to do. Over the years we have become close friends with Lisa & consider her a part of our Art Star family. Here are her insider tips & picks from this year’s lineup of Art Star Craft Bazaar vendors.
– Megan
Hello Attendees of the 2011 Art Star Craft Bazaar –
My name is Lisa, and I am an employee of the Craft Bazaar annually. You can always see me running around from booth to booth checking in with vendors, taking care of business on my walkie talkie, & taking care of sales behind the Art Star tent. I LOVE this event & I am super excited that I get to come back & help facilitate it from year to year.
There are a few things I recommend about the Bazaar – so here are my insider notes:
Definitely get there early!! Really enjoy the day at the ASCB – take your time visiting all the various vendor booths! Leaving yourself time will definitely make your shopping experience more enjoyable.
Also, get some of the yummy organic & vegan grub by the Soy Cafe & A Full Plate, which are both regulary represented. Whether it is awesome wraps, home brewed green tea, or some awesome vegetarian pulled pork with a whoopie pie – there is plenty to eat for everyone! While you are eating, sit by the stage & listen to the variety of tunes played by some local musicians!
Finally, check out the vendor page and plan to spend some time with a few key vendors. Here are some of my regular favorites:
1. For fun & funky clothes, you definitely cannot beat Holly Hue! These crafty threads will keep you warm and/or fashion forward. They also have an awesome selection of handbags that I cannot resist! They also always have a great one-of-a-kind selection. (It is a helpful bonus that they are some of my favorite people to visit at the ASCB!)
2. Whether it is nostalgia you are looking for, a bit of history, or just something really different, Peg & Awl has it all. Check out the variety of interesting goods they have & pay attention to my personal favorite – the little book necklaces. I absolutely love mine & plan to buy another this year! I also plan on spending money at Fisticuffs. These one of a kind recycled belt wrist cuffs are only sold in person, so bring your $$ b/c you can’t get them online later!! (Ok, so these are some of my favorite people too!)
3. Guess what? BUNNY BUTThas all you could want in soaps, scents, & lips! Their mojito soap smells like a party in the shower, & their mineral tint balms leave your lips soft with the perfect amount of color. Plus, they are some of the most fun people to visit & spend some time chatting with! (noticing a trend?)
A few honorable mentions on my “frequently spending my money @ the ASCB” list include Recycle My Dress (to see those terrible old prom & bridesmaid dresses become rockin’ frocks), John Murphy (for amazingly gorgeous art in beautiful frames), The Broken Plate Pendant Company (for the best jewelry you will ever see made from dinner ware!), Girlscantell (an old high school friend who can tell you the parts of anything screen printed on everything imaginable from towels to coasters), & Yellowcake (for unique fashions from a former Project Runway contestant). The purchase possibilities are almost as endless as all of the hats by the wonderful vendor, Endless Hats!
Faceted Gold Cube Earrings by Knock Knock Studio
Some of the vendors I am excited about seeing for the first time include Peppersprouts*, because my kitchen could certainly use some jazzing up with new, fun accessories (& I could always use some for me too!). Speaking of accessories for me, some delicate little cube earrings would be fun from Knock Knock Studio. Back to my kitchen & throwing in my love of penguins brings me to SKT Ceramics, because relaxing with a warm mug with a fuzzy penguin on it is just the cutest thing ever!
Penguin Cup by SKT Ceramics
*Peppersprouts was at last year’s ASCB – Lisa must have missed them!
