All right, everyone, first show of the 2017 season! This one is held along Easton Road in Glenside, PA (the Cheltenham Township section). I’ll be located in Booth 25 and I’ll be exhibiting my paintings.
Keep your fingers crossed for good weather, if you could…
The postcard gives you all the details – take a look.
Last show of the season for me – the indiemade craft market, and it all happened on Saturday, December 3.
This show is located in Allentown, PA, and is the creation of two women who wanted to showcase quirky, original, individual art and craft. There is nothing run-of-the-mill at this show, including patrons and vendors. This is my favorite show all year and I look forward to it – it’s a party and a reunion and a shopping opportunity and a selling event all in one. I just love it.
We leave home pretty early for this show, so we always need to stop and get coffee for my husband and gas for the car. This time we stopped in Colmar, PA, on Rte 309.
The show starts at 10 AM, but a swag bag is handed out to the first fifty adults in line. People wait up to two hours. So when the door opened, the line went around the building! Hooray!
At least that’s what I heard. I was inside setting things up along with everyone else.
I’ll tell you right now I got no shots of the actual show – I was really busy (Hooray again!). So here is what things looked like before the door opened – this is the main hall downstairs. The event is held at the Starlite Ballroom of the Fearless Fire Company and we use the main banquet hall as well as the smaller upstairs room.
You can see that everyone is totally focused on getting things set up, with very intent expressions in evidence everywhere.
My table was located upstairs – I like the quieter atmosphere and less hectic surroundings (the music downstairs is lively and loud!) This year we had an artist installation in the middle of the room. Here’s a photo of upstairs – my table with the white cover is on the right hand side. I have a display devoted to clay – I bring tiles and sculptures to this show each year.
Sales were great and I was able to catch up with some fellow artists. Usually I have time to visit the DIY events downstairs but this year I was too busy. Looking forward to next year’s event already. Thank you, Ann and Teri, for putting on this show once again!
I have tiles in this holiday show. These plus more!
The Baum School is a great spot for classes and exhibits and they encourage the creative side of life in a lot of ways. If you are in Allentown, PA, take a look here.
I’ll be showing clay – tiles, figurines, odds and ends…come and be surprised!
This event features quirky and very original crafts. You will find the kind of thing here that you’ve been looking for, but you didn’t know it until you saw it.
Not to mention music and DIY activities, and of course, a swag bag full of artist contributions for the first 50 adults who come in the door (I’ll warn you, people line up for these).
Look here for details and directions.
I love this show. It’s like a holiday party, in my book. If you come I guarantee you’ll have a good time.
My husband and I attended this event yesterday, and here I’ll tell you a little about it. It’s a fundraiser for art at the high school – all small works, affordable and appealing, done by students, alums, and interested artists for this Allentown high school.
You might ask why I contribute to this event when I don’t live in Allentown and have no connection to the school. I will answer you by saying that I’ve done a lot of shows and exhibits in the area, and people in this city have been very good to me. I’ve always gotten a lot of appreciation for my work here and I’ve built up relationships and friends over the years. I’m grateful and so I wanted to give back.
OK. So, the event was held on the 8th floor of a just-constructed office building in downtown Allentown. It’s so new that this floor hasn’t been finished out yet. It made a great space for an event like this one. Take a look at these views outside the windows, before I show you the art itself. Notice the helipad on the adjacent building. I would love to see a helicopter land on it from this close vantage point.
Now, here is the art itself. I took photos of the overall room view and some closer ones of tables with my contributions on them.
The William Allen HS Jazz band provided music – seasonal songs and jazz. I really enjoyed listening to them as well, since I played in the band myself in high school.
The event hopes to raise enough to match a grant. I did my part – we bought a set of three ceramic pears done by a 2016 graduate who happened to be in attendance – so we got to meet the artist! He is in college now, majoring in ceramic arts (having fallen in love with it in high school) and hoping to become a teacher himself. I was touched by his obvious enthusiasm for his art and his future, not to mention being impressed with the professionalism of his work after less than two years in the field.
I also talked to several other art people I know from the area. Lots of nice refreshments, too, including hot chocolate, something you get only in the winter, and so appropriate for the blustery November afternoon. While drinking it I listened to the band play and watched a small girl get out on the floor and dance to the music.
So I think you can see, it was a really nice day!
If you are in Allentown on Sunday, November, 20, why not stop by this event? I have some pieces in it, and I’m planning to go myself.
All the works are small in size – it makes an affordable way to add to an art collection. And, it helps out young artists.
Yesterday we spent the day at the Community Arts Center’s Fine Arts and Crafts Festival in Swarthmore, PA. It was the last outdoor show of my season for 2016, and the last time I will be showing paintings, unless I schedule something else later on this fall.
The show was held along Park Avenue in downtown Swarthmore. Swarthmore is a small borough located south of Philadelphia, about 45 minutes from my house. The town is centered on the commuter rail station and has a downtown full of shops and restaurants. Surrounding it is a neighborhood of large old homes on tree-lined streets. Swarthmore College is right on the other side of the train station and downtown from where we were located for the fair.
We arrived about 7:30 AM on a gray and cloudy morning and went to our spot. The show takes place in front of the Borough Hall/Library building, and we were in the middle of the lineup, right in front of the building. With the aid of some young volunteers, we unloaded the car. The kids went off to help others, and we put the display together.
As is usual, the street slowly filled up with vendors.
There were plenty of attractions associated with the event. A farmers’ market took place around the corner (it’s a regular weekly event.) The fair also had a raffle going and offered a children’s art tent.
There is a small amphitheater on the front lawn of Borough Hall, and it was the scene of musical performances all day. The first group included the mayor of Swarthmore, who played the ukulele.
The day brought plenty of shoppers and the weather cleared in the afternoon.
Once again I meant to take pictures of packing up, but – I forgot. Again. We are always thinking about getting things out of the way and getting ourselves on the road at the end of a show. Maybe next time…? Anyway, it was a nice day and a good way to end the outdoor season with this show.
