Tag: artstarphilly

Meet the Maker: Erin Draper

Hi, I’m Erin Draper. I design luxuriously soft clothing for women that is perfect for work or special occasions, but as comfortable as yoga wear.

A graduate of Parsons’ fashion program with a strong art background, I use athletic-inspired seaming, color blocking and drape to create garments that are striking, unique and very, very comfortable.

I make my clothing from fabrics that feel wonderful to the touch – high quality jerseys and sweater knits, silks and tencels, including many that are made or dyed in the US and sustainably produced.

My clothes are statement-making fashion, but as comfortable as pajamas. They transition well from work to dinner to a casual gathering of friends so you can move through your day in total comfort.

I design and make my clothing at my studio in Baltimore near beautiful Patterson Park. I create my patterns using a fashion CAD software which saves time, especially with grading the patterns to different sizes. (Most of my clothes are available in sizes XS to 2X.) I made my own cork-covered cutting tables and have three industrial sewing machines, each of which can do a different type of stitch.

In addition to studying fashion in school, I also studied photography so I take my own product photographs using friends as models.

I sell my clothing at arts & crafts shows, at an artist/artisan collective in Ellicott City, Maryland, and online at www.erindraper.com. I’m excited to be participating in the Holiday Art Star Craft Bazaar for the first time. I hope you’ll stop by and say Hi!

October 30, 2017
Meet The Maker: Jera Lodge Jewelry

Making jewelry was always in my sightlines, but it wasn’t until my early 20s that I discovered metalsmithing as a primary method with which to bring my designs to life. I love connecting to others through jewelry and adornment, creating exciting modern pieces for everyday wear. My focus is to create pattern-based jewelry that has the illusion of volume while staying very light-weight. I assemble architecturally inspired shapes with unique connections, resulting in playful, kinetic, and interactive jewelry.

All of my jewelry is created from start to finish in my studio, located in the Crane Arts building in Old Kensington. The process for each piece varies – some start as a sketch on paper, others I design as I build, so that the sketch is also the final product.

Many of the jewelry designs I made are comprised of many individual pieces, so my desk is a covered in parts and pieces that I’ll arrange and rearrange until a final design becomes clear.

I use a variety of materials in my jewelry. The voluminous wire forms are made of sterling silver. Keum-boo gold surfaces are achieved using 24K gold foil that has been bonded to silver sheet, and the color ombré effect is created with a spray-painting process. Further distressing is done by hand, resulting in a unique color application for each piece of jewelry. All of the steel jewelry has been sealed with wax or a clear top.

As a full time studio artist, I earn a living through a combination of gallery sales, online sales, and traveling to exhibit and sell at craft shows. Working in my studio is a constant balancing act between making the work and doing all the less fun parts of running a business; photographing work, submitting applications, ordering supplies, and doing web and postcard design are just a fraction of the many jobs a studio artists must attend to.

Since graduating from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with a BFA in 2012, I have moved more than a dozen times. While building my business, I spent time living in New Jersey, Maine, Houston, and North Carolina, working at craft schools and doing residencies. All of the moving was both exhilarating and exhausting! I’m happy to have finally found a place to settle in to and put down some roots here in Philadelphia in the summer of 2016.

This will be my second year exhibiting at Art Star’s Holiday Craft Bazaar, and I’m very excited be participating in such a well-run show! If you’d like to stay up to date on what I’m making and where I’ll be next, you can sign up for mailing list at website www.jeralodge.com – or follow me on instagram @jerarosepetal

October 26, 2017
Meet The Maker: Lauren Quinn Ward of Felicette

Felicette® is all about bringing more fun, creativity and delight into the world.

If you:

feel compelled to put a cat on everything you own,
are looking for the perfect personalized stamp,
or think it’s time to switch up the pins on your tote bag*,

then Felicette is perfect for you!

I’m Lauren, the maker behind this one-woman shop. Growing up, I didn’t dress as a “stamp maker” for career day. And no, I’m still not sure what that would’ve looked like. But in 2008, I hand-carved my very first rubber stamp and within a few months, I found myself with a business!

I’ve since graduated to a laser engraver, which makes those oh-so-clean lines, but I still create all of the stamps in-house, from sketching concepts to cutting blocks.

Most days you can find me working at my studio in Rockville, Maryland or sitting quietly on the couch watching Golden Girls with my husband and pets. It’s likely no surprise that we have not one, but two cats, Gidget and Wendy. Plus one big pup, Suki – who is fairly certain she is a cat, too. (The cats are 100% confident that Suki is not, in fact, a cat.) I am very excited about participating in Art Star Holiday Craft Bazaar, where I promise to say hi and will encourage you to stamp a postcard to take with you!

I hope the things I create inspire you to share your one-of-a-kind personality with the world. And, of course, have some fun doing it.

*Sometimes the soft pretzel wins over the typewriter, you know?

Find Felicette at our November 18th and 19th Art Star Craft Bazaar or at
Web / Instagram / Facebook

October 23, 2017
Upcoming Exhibition with Casey Lynch

We are really excited to announce a solo exhibition with NJ based papercut artist, Casey Lynch of Squirrel Tacos. You may already be familiar with Casey’s work from the shop and all of our various craft bazaars and pop ups. I found her and her work at Inliquid’s Art For the Cash Poor a year ago and was enchanted. I immediately invited her to be a part of our Art Star family. Her new papercuts will be taking over the walls of our gallery from September 23rd through November 12th. The show is aptly titled, Joy Follows Like a Shadow. We will be hosting an opening reception with the artist on Saturday, Sept 23rd from 6-8pm. We hope to see you there.

Artist Statement
I often feel like a 3D artist working in a 2D medium. There is a drive to add more dimension, to make it more vocal. This show allows the paper cutter in me to live, very happily, with my sculptural heart. The portraits are up to 8 handcut layers of paper, each layer meticulously cut and assembled to build up depth that from a distance, can appear as a pencil drawing and up close seem to be a sea of chaos.

Meanwhile, the glass on glass frames and the shadow boxes of my single sheet papercuts let the work cast a shadow behind itself. I am intrigued with shadowplay, the themes of shadows in literature, and its failure to exist without light. Shadows allow me to add depth without compromising the clean lines and content created with my knife.

I make my work with a city dweller in mind, someone who loves the hive of activity but has a need to get lost in the woods to recharge and reanimate. I understand that desire to escape and keep a little wild and wonder in a concrete landscape. I am thrilled to create campers, forests, woodland creatures and mountain tops for this show. A lifetime of sleeping in tents and patiently waiting for owls to respond to my hoots is present in each piece.

BIO
Casey Lynch was born into a large family in Philadelphia. Childhood summers were filled with camping trips and exploring the woods. This continued into college where she traveled with the Penn State woodsman team, became a champion axe thrower, and later moved to Teton valley, Idaho. After returning to Philadelphia and experimenting with many craft and art forms she was star struck by papercutting. She started Squirrel Tacos, named for a corn tortilla loving squirrel that begs at the kitchen window, in 2012. Currently she lives in New Jersey, surrounded by woods and water and focuses her work on National Parks, camping, and lighthouses.
www.squirreltacos.com

August 9, 2017
Meet The Maker: Half and a Third

We are a couple who started our creative business together in early 2016. After much discussion & coaxing, Ian finally convinced Katey to quit the corporate rat race, and Half and a Third was born. Together, we make quality housewares and paper goods.

Half and a Third is the brain child of Ian Stafford and Katey Mangels. Ian, a woodworker, with a BFA from Tyler School of Art, where he majored in Glass and Sculpture; and Katey, a graphic wiz, with a MFA in Graphic and Interactive Design from Tyler School of Art. We make all of our products out of our shared studio in the Historic Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia. The studio is located in a former textile loom factory that overlooks downtown Philadelphia. We have a full woodshop, screen printing room, and loft office – where our shop dog Sofie supervises us.

Working together we have found a creative rhythm. Having a shared aesthetic, we start working independently – Katey on graphics, and Ian on wood forms. We then come together with our ideas & sketches and find a way to combine the two. One of our signature products, our coasters, is a combination of both our disciplines. The coaster designs are inspired by Katey’s world travels and love for modern design. They are screen printed by hand on wood panels by Katey, then they are finished and cut to size by Ian. This is the process we use for many of our products.

You can find our products at the Art Star store, online at halfandathird.com, as well as the upcoming Art Star Craft Bazaar in Asbury Park – which we are very excited about! We are constantly making new products, so keep an eye out. Follow us on instagram @halfandathird to keep up to date on what we are up to next!

July 14, 2017
Meet The Maker: Aimee Petkus

Jewelry design and metalsmithing is not my first career. For many years I worked in the world of contaminated soil as an environmental geologist. I worked first for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and then for a private consultant in Manhattan. I handled soil from the testing phase, to the monitoring during digging or dredging, to its disposal. It’s not really what I imagined for myself when I was studying geology, but I thought if I could do some good in the world, then maybe it was worth it. However, after 6 years, it felt like it was killing me. I spent the last 2 years of that career scheming new ways to make a living. I was going to open a grocery store in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, because there wasn’t anything nearby. I tried creating a line of screenprinted linens. I posted ads on craisglist as artisanal gardener. I made canvas wall planters. I partnered with a friend to start a handbag company. I had to do something else. Anything else. Finally, I convinced my boyfriend (now husband) that we should save up enough money to fully quit our jobs and do a cross country rock hunting trip.

We bought a 1983 Mercedes Diesel Benz for $1400 from a guy in Jersey City. We set out on an adventure. I figured if I followed a path doing things I love, then all the pieces would fall in place. Along the way the pieces came together, and I decided I needed to get a second bachelor’s degree in metalsmithing.

I moved to Philadelphia 2 months ago. I rent studio space in Sharktown Studios, owned by a jewelry artist duo, Ford Forlano.

My process begins with my first love, the stones. I have to see all my stones at all times. I love all forms of stones. I have gems, huge mineral specimens, cabochons, and everything in-between.

I cut, shape, and drill a lot of the stones that I end up using.

Stones need to be done with diamond coated tools and have to be wet. They heat up very quickly and it can damage that stone. I do most of my work at my bench with a flexshaft. But I also have a trim saw that I use to break down large chunks of rock and to cut away the parts that I don’t want to use.

I create 3 different collections, so that I can diversify the different shows I do. My wire collection is my most affordable. I use a lot of crystals and drilled rough stones to create simple, lightweight, wearable pieces while still keeping the design elements that are important to me.

Many of the forms that I create are inspired by crystal geometries. In general my work is geometric, but with an organic twist. In nature, crystals have an orderly makeup, and therefore have geometric forms, but nature being nature, they’re usually imperfect.

My second collection is limited production which I can produce quickly for stores. I create the pieces through lost wax casting. For this collection I predominantly use traditionally cut gemstones to contrast with the forms that are created in wax.

I cast the components into sterling silver and gold and can play around with them to get different variations.

I set the stones in an organic crystal form that I have developed over the years.

I often do varying finishes for an additional layer of natural affect.

My third collection is what I produce for galleries and high end indoor shows. I’m currently creating a body of work for a solo show at Gravers Lane Gallery in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia. It is very different from what you would see at the outdoor shows that I do, but looking at it you would still know that it’s me.

It’s all fabricated by hand, and I’m using sterling silver, with 18k gold solder to give a feeling of connection to how it was made.

Fabrication takes time, but it creates a finely handcrafted piece of wearable art. I use an acetylene torch to melt slightly lower temperature silver or gold, into a join to bond 2 pieces of metal.

You can check out more finished pieces on my website at www.aimeepetkus.com and follow me on instagram @aimeepetkus. I’ll be at Spruce Street Harbor Park Pop-up’s July 15, August 5, 12, 19th, and at Asbury Park July 29-30 and 2nd Street Festival August 6. My opening reception at Gravers Lane Gallery is July 13, 5-8pm and will be up until August 20. Hope to see you at one of the events!

July 3, 2017
Meet The Maker: Sherry Insley

My name is Sherry Insley of Sherry Insley Designs out of Baltimore, MD. I am an artist, metalsmith, teacher, and maker of things and people. I currently work mainly in jewelry, but do also dabble in small sculptural objects, wall pieces, and photography. I come from a background in photography, and while working on my MFA thesis, I taught myself how to weld to make frames for my photography work. My curiosity about metalsmithing was sparked and I dove into metal work.

My current work is called the “Crescent Series” and is comprised of welded steel, sterling silver, brass and powder coating. I was influenced by Japanese textile design, the repetitive waves and cloud shapes, and the way positive and negative space is defined. I am also inspired by modern architecture and graphics, as well as more minimalist bold use of line and space. Materially speaking, my interests are in the industrial look and feel of steel, its hardness and durability, vs. the rounded shapes I am forming it into. The steel’s inherent “masculine” qualities contrasting with my design’s softer “feminine” curves. Steel is most commonly associated with building, strengthening, and manufacturing- here through traditionally industrial processes, I am transforming it into objects for adornment.

My process begins with mild carbon steel in wire, sheet and rod. I cut it and form with hammers and stakes into the shapes that I want. Then I weld with a very tiny, very hot oxyacetylene torch. I wear the dark glasses because the flame is so bright it can damage your eyes. Next I grind all the welded joins for a smooth appearance. Filing and sanding is next, then it’s off to the powder coating booth! Powder coating is another industrial process I enjoy, it is generally used in the automotive industry. It protects the metal from oxidizing and rust, and the color options are fantastic. How powder coating works is an electrical current is run through the metal to be coated, then you spray the pigment with a powder coating gun. Lastly the piece is cured by heating in an oven at 400 degrees. Powder coating is very durable and provides a lovely smooth finish. My current color pallet, is Ruby Red, Chrome, and Satin Black.

I work mostly out of my home studio in Baltimore, where I live with my very patient husband, super creative 7 year old son, 2 cranky elderly cats, and 1 rescue Boxer in a wheelchair. I do my welding and powder coating at The Baltimore Jewelry Center, where I rent studio time and space, and also take classes. It is a wonderful community of artists and makers, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without it.

I am looking forward to showing at Art Star Craft Bazaar! Please stop by and say hi!

November 14, 2016
Meet The Maker: Lauren Herzak-Bauman of Lauren H-B Studio

Hi! My name is Lauren and I make functional ceramics under the name Lauren H-B Studio. I grew up in a suburb near Cleveland, Ohio and always loved when my dad took me to the city. I loved visiting the Old Arcade with its beautiful wrought iron architecture and glass ceiling and window-shopping at all the small businesses that called this place home. My love of Cleveland and its architecture grew to include the century-old warehouses and factories that are found all over the city. My studio is housed in one of these old buildings, one that used to make electric cars at the turn of the century.

Clay has always been my go-to material. My mother started a community art center when I was young and I learned to throw on a pottery wheel before I could drive. But I did not always make pots. While I started my college education making functional work, I went to graduate school in Minnesota to study ceramic sculpture (you can see that work at laurenhb.com). I moved back to Cleveland from Minneapolis about four years ago and started making pots to support myself until I could find a full-time job. I discovered a lot of support for my work in my hometown and now I am happily self-employed as an artist, working on both my sculpture and my functional work.

Drawing on my background in sculpture, my forms take inspiration from abstract art and architecture. For surface inspiration, I look to natural phenomenon, such as moving water, rock striations, and star clusters. I love making things that can be both beautiful and useful. I design pots that have multiple uses. My serving bowls serve as tabletop artwork when not in use, but are also food safe and great for passing food around the table.

Making ceramics is a multi-step process. I work with plaster molds made from original designs to create my forms. This allows me to make geometric shapes and to repeat the same shape with consistency. I pour a porcelain casting slip inside each plaster mold. The plaster absorbs the water from the slip and leaves a skin. After some time passes, I pour out the remaining slip. The remaining ‘skin’ becomes the ceramic object.

After each piece comes out of the mold, I refine the surface and add any necessary slip details prior to the first firing. After the first firing, I spend a lot of time working on the surfaces of each pot. I really love the glaze process! I enjoy layering colors and finding new ways to add surface to my pieces. After I finish glazing, the pieces go back in the electric kiln for a glaze firing. Some pieces will go in the kiln one more time, this time for a luster firing, which allows me to add a low temperature metallic surface to the pieces.

This is my first year traveling to Philly for Art Star Craft Bazaar and I couldn’t be more excited to share my work with a new audience. I’m bringing lots of new pieces and a new color palette to the show. Please stop by Booth #55! And thank you for shopping small business and handmade!

November 10, 2016
Meet The Maker: Chris Elsasser of Munstre

Munstre (mun-stir) began as a happy accident back in 2008, I used to make buttons for bands and events in the Boston area, and I’d do all of the layout and printing before finally running each piece through the button press. If the order was large enough I’d tape a few sheets of paper together in order to save time during the circle cutting stage – but in order to be sure everything lined up correctly on each sheet I’d hold the group of them up to a bright light. I’d hold them up, think “goddamnit the registration’s off again but hmm that’s a nice looking thing”, fix the registration and move on. It’s kind of a minimal moment, but one day after wrapping up an order I decided to print out one of my own simple designs onto some aged paper, I didn’t have a frame or anything built yet, but against the light that particular artwork came to life in a way that just didn’t quite work sitting on a computer screen… and I immediately felt like this thing had some potential. I at least wanted one for myself.

The problem then was I had very, very little experience with woodworking and no knowledge whatsoever of electrical wiring (although I DID mount a battery powered 3v fan motor to a slab of wood when I was in 3rd grade) so I had to kind of find my way. Fortunately my dad had all of the equipment I’d need to start, and he helped me make the first frame for these lightboxes while also showing me how to not explode myself or his garage. Every step since then has basically just been learning, practicing, refining, testing new ideas, refining those etc…

The style for Munstre has always reflected what I’m into in my own life, which tends to be antique or historic items with an ‘oddities’ edge to them, particularly medical ephemera. For years I’ve collected old photographs, books, clocks, 8mm films – all sorts of items that inform my decisions when it comes to design. Though each image is a product of a massive amount of photoshopping & digital painting, I try to impart enough real textures and layers around the focal point, and on some level keep the images grounded, so the viewer feels some connection to the piece while maintaining their curiosity.

Over time these lightboxes showed up in stores, articles, a couple movies & tv shows. The support was very exciting, but it also became extremely exhausting. I had made so many little adjustments to my own construction & ideas along the way, I knew the process was probably far from efficient, and the idea of getting someone to help felt at once very needed & very daunting.

Eventually I was offered a FT Design job which of course ate up the majority of my production time, and I kept Munstre around as a minimal side project, thinking I’d return to it in a more dedicated way at another time. 6 months became a year, which became two. Then life made some adjustments for me, because somewhere in there I ended up meeting my now fiancee while she was in Medical school at Brown, and upon graduating she matched in Philadelphia for residency, so we picked up and moved down here without really knowing anyone. In the process of the move I decided to deactivate Munstre. Philly was a big reset button for me, and being the partner of a resident Physician I found myself with lots, and lots, and lots of alone time. I began using this time to refocus some creative energy, building a new workspace, re-discovering a love for music, and very slowly building a small recording studio as my interests grew. I started a music project called “Colurer”, and while I’m still writing and recording a full album (out in 2017) this process really helped wake me back up creatively. I’ve put out a handful of tracks, and am currently finalizing discussions to license some music for a movie coming out next year.

This summer I was hit with a drive to reinvigorate Munstre. Working with some new materials, like textured stained glass, more interesting frames, and some great options with LED’s I am probably more excited than I was at its first inception. This time around I am also more inspired by the things I’ve come to appreciate through my fiancee: cooking, gardening, a connection to nature, and a generally more positive outlook on life. If you’d told me in 2008 I would one day find inspiration from green beans I would’ve questioned the course my life was taking.

On a whim I sent a vendor application into Art Star and used that as the catalyst to get the project back in full operation. I’ve since carved out space in our apartment, working partly on our deck, and the other in the back half of my studio. In here I’m designing, assembling the boxes, printing films from modified wide-format printers, painting, wiring, and photographing everything in a much more streamlined way than I’d ever done previously.

The following 6 photos by Kristine Eng http://kristineeng.com/

Thank you Art Star for accepting Munstre as a vendor, while I’m very busy designing & building a new collection of images for the bazaar, I will be continuing to add new products on http://munstre.com & my recently opened Etsy account (linked through my website). Looking forward to meeting everyone!

www.munstre.com

Munstre is on instagram as MunstreGlow: https://www.instagram.com/munstreglow/

If you’re curious about my music project Colurer check out https://colurer.bandcamp.com/music

& instagram at Colurer https://www.instagram.com/colurer/

October 27, 2016
Meet The Maker: Jen Gubicza of Zooguu

Hello, I’m Jen, and my business is called Zooguu. I live outside of Boston, MA and making things has always been a part of who I am. I have a background in graphic design for the audience of kids and families. For ten years, I worked alongside a creative team designing logos, websites, product design and toy packaging. Translating an object from 2D to 3D is a challenge I enjoy very much. I started hand sewing little creatures as a hobby in the early 2000s, bought my first sewing machine in 2008, and left my full-time design job six months after that to start Zooguu.

Zooguu’s original product offering was handmade toys, but in the last few years the focus has moved onto home decor. The faux taxidermy pieces appeal to a wide range of ages and I sell to people decorating kids’ rooms, students outfitting their college dorms, and adults sprucing up their offices with a bit of humor. I love doing craft shows, and meeting all of the people who will be taking our work home. We spend all week sewing, cutting, painting and stuffing, so it’s always a treat to see people react to the work. We get a lot of smiles and laughter in our booth, and it’s a great feeling.

The Zooguu studio is located in Nahant, MA, in a historic schoolhouse on an island just north of Boston. I have to say, working every day on a beautiful island isn’t so bad. I used to have a studio at home, but as the business grew, it became important to separate work and home life. I now have a couple of wonderful studio assistants that come and help with various stages of production work, but I still have my hands on every piece. Hiring help has allowed me to get better sleep, meet the growing demand for the work, and have time to dream up new designs.

I am inspired by animals, textures in nature, street fashion, pop culture, and the wonderfully supportive community of creative small business owners I have been lucky enough to know over the years. One of the best things about owning a tiny business has been meeting others that are doing the same thing and sharing knowledge and support.

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Find Zooguu at our upcoming November 19th and 20th Art Star Craft Bazaar or at http://zooguu.com/

October 25, 2016