Next weekend I’ll be at this festival in Hellertown, PA, just outside Bethlehem, PA. I’ve done it before and it’s a nice spot – compact and yet with plenty to do, in a garden-like setting. If you are in the area, I hope you will stop in! I’ll be showing my paintings.
This next weekend, Friday-Sunday, May 25-27, I’ll be at this show in Allentown, PA. It’s a revival of the long-running Mayfair Festival, now sponsored by Cedar Crest College, and to be held on the campus. I am really looking forward to the show and anticipate having a great time there.
Take a look at the website – Mayfair at Cedar Crest – to see the offerings – art, music, kids’ activities, arboretum tour. I hope to have some time to get around to some of these venues myself!
Art show hours are Noon to 8 PM (the overall show closes at 10 PM). Admission and parking are free. I’ll be showing my paintings here. Note – I’ll be in the indoor artists’ section.
Yes, it is time for this event once again – a whole show devoted only to tiles and tile work. It’s a favorite of mine, and I’ve posted about it over several years – if you search this blog (use the term tile festival) you’ll get a flavor of what it is about.
You can easily spend the whole day here – there is a wide variety of work to look at. And – the show is held under large tents, so weather is not a factor.
If you are in the neighborhood of Doylestown, PA, stop in and see me!
The last day to take in this holiday gift event at the Baum School of Art is December 21. On that day, you can attend the closing reception as well as the rest of Destination Arts: Third Thursday, when Downtown Allentown is filled with arts related events and there are restaurant specials, happy hours, live music, late retail shopping and the Allentown Art Museum is free and open until 8pm.
The Holiday Gift Gallery’s reception hours are 6-8 PM, December 21. Baum School of Art is located at 510 Linden Street, Allentown, PA.
Yesterday, I participated in the indiemade craft market in Allentown, PA, a long-time favorite show of mine. The event was founded by Ann and Teri ten years ago, and I’ve been in nine of them. It’s a holiday party for me, I always feel; I see many art friends there as exhibitors and I have been lucky to find customers who return to see me year after year and who have become art friends as well.
Ann and Teri are retiring from the show this year and turning it over to Ken and Ron, who have a studio/shop, Mercantile Home, in nearby Easton, PA, as well as a lot of other art ventures that reach out into the community (they explain it better than I can: look here.) There is a sadness about saying goodbye to the founders and the hope that we will be seeing them still (I think they ought to take over one of the DIY areas at indiemade, just saying), but also a welcome for the new guys. Best of luck to everyone, I say!
OK. Back to the show. We set off about 6:30 in the morning and made our usual stop at the gas station, this time in Colmar, PA.
It is about 7 AM on Saturday and look at how busy this place is. People need gas and coffee.
We arrived about 7:45 AM. You may remember this show gives out a swag bag, filled with contributions from the artists, to the first 50 people in the door. Three people were in line as we started to unload and upon asking, I learned that Person #1 had been there since 7:15 AM (the show opens at 10 AM). Now, I think that’s crazy, but plenty of people don’t agree. I have heard stories of how friends get together to wait in line and have made an occasion of it. I like that idea.
We unloaded – I have tiles only at this show today. Our table was upstairs – the show takes place on two levels, with the downstairs being the majority of the vendor locations, but I like upstairs. Both floors have music and people chattering and so on, but upstairs is toned down from the first floor, making it a more relaxing and easier to talk to customers, I think.
Here is upstairs – we are the first people to arrive.
Vendors came in and got things going.
The table down the middle is a DIY location – the show features two spots where guided art activities for all ages take place. Upstairs, we had paper flowers and origami (many kids were wearing paper crowns made at this location); downstairs was macrame.
I snapped a few pictures of my table before the show started. As a note, each person gets an 8-foot table provided by the show – you do the rest.
Now here is where my chronicle loses coherence. It was a really busy day for me and I was very happy about that. I didn’t get to make many more pictures, though. Here is a view of our floor not too long into the show.
And that is about it. I want to say thanks to Ann and Teri for so many good years and for their friendship. And here is a shout-out to John G and Missy M for stopping in to see me.
This being the last show for me in 2017, I also want to say thanks to all the people throughout this year have looked at my art, were interested enough to listen to me talk about it, who encouraged me or admired my work and told me so; who bought my art and want to live with a little bit of my vision of the world.
I am especially grateful for all the friends I have made in this art circuit I’ve been on for so many years.
And, thank you to my husband who has so faithfully and patiently and cheerfully supported all my doings for these past two decades that we’ve been participating in art shows. Here is to many more.
I wish everyone a happy 2018 in art and in all other things.
Once again I have tiles in this holiday event, taking place from November 30 to December 21 at the Baum School of Art, Allentown, PA. The Baum School is a wonderful art center in downtown Allentown (510 Linden Street) and sponsors exhibits, classes, and other art activities all year long.
There will be two receptions:
Opening Reception – November 30, 6-8 PM
Closing Reception – December 21, 6-8 PM. This reception coincides with Destination Arts: Third Thursday, when Downtown Allentown is the location for lots of arts-related events and there are restaurant specials, happy hours, live music, late retail shopping and the Allentown Art Museum is free and open until 8pm.
It’s December, and that means the indiemade craft market, Allentown, PA, is back. This show is dear to my heart for a lot of reasons, and especially so this year. Ann and Teri started this event 10 years ago to showcase quirky and original craft. They have done much more than that – they’ve created a welcoming place for artists and crafters to exhibit, they put on a show that is a party as well, and they have become friends I value highly.
This year is the last year they will run the show; they are turning it over to a capable successor and the show will go on. But it won’t be the same without them, and I for one will miss their involvement.
So this year is special.
Come and see the show. I’ll have tiles and other clay items for sale. Don’t forget, there is a swag bag for the first 50 adult attendees. I warn you, you will need to get in line a couple of hours early if you want to get in on this last bit!
1221 S. Front Street, Allentown, PA, is the location. Hours are 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, December 2, 2017.
