Columbus Avant-Garde Art & Craft Shows: May 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Meet These Multi-Talented Artists!

Meet Karen Buoncristiano from Crafty By Nature...

I can't stop making my own ceramics, lotions, and soaps. After I got married and no longer had a wedding to plan, I became stir crazy and needed a new challenge. Most years for Christmas, I began making gifts by hand for at least a good portion of our gift giving. About 10 years of dabbling in all sorts of various arts and crafts, I narrowed it down to two categories I truly loved: ceramics and handmade bath & body goods.

I am married to a wonderful husband who also loves making pottery on the potter's wheel and he is doing great, picking up lots of skill. We spend a lot of time with our two loving dogs, hiking around for some fresh air and to immerse ourselves in nature.

I have been a potter for about 8 years. I have been a lotion & soap maker since 2009. I have been creating a wide variety of art as well as crafts since about 1992. Before that, I spent my entire childhood drawing, sculpting things, and painting.

My creativity is such a huge part of me, that I think it has always been there. My parents were both artists and showed me a lot of encouragement for doing art. I was definitely raised with the idea that art has a lot of value and appeal. I thank my parents for that.

I started making ceramics in the early 1990s and have always loved it. There is only so much of your own handmade pottery you can fit in your house, so I began selling my work. The reason I got into making my own lotions & soaps was curiosity. I wanted to see if I could make lotions & soaps, and I found out I can!

How I got into selling my craft.. One year for Christmas gifts, I decided to make up my own recipe for gardener's hand salve and include it in a garden themed gift basket. People LOVED this hand salve and insisted I make more, and asked me if I would begin selling it. I said yes and the rest is history!

My creative process.. Sometimes I just make something on the potter's wheel and I feel like "it" decides what it is going to end up as. Other times I plan ahead. For lotions and soaps, I try to think what would smell really great and yet be very moisturizing at the same time. Sometimes it takes several attempts at a soap or lotion recipe before I get it good enough for my standards.

I think my most favorite item so far would be my "little bird" teapot. I really love how that turned out and it makes a great cup of tea!

I am hope is to one day be able to leave my full-time job and do Crafty by Nature full-time. I'd love to be in many more retail stores, do more craft shows, and make much more ceramics. Time is sometimes a constraint for me at the moment, but nothing will hold me back from creating!

Lastly, I'd like to thank my husband for the faith he has had in me and especially the patience he has displayed when I said "I just bought a potter's wheel," and "I just bought a seven cubic foot kiln that weighs 280 pounds!" He has been very patient with me living my dreams, and he has even become a potter himself too! Thanks Nick!

Meet Jennifer Maille from JM Photography...

My name is Jennifer Maille and I have been an elementary art teacher for 11 years (and counting). I have 2 beautiful girls, McKenna who is almost 9 and Eme who just turned 3. My husband and I have been married for 10 years. We also have 2 dogs and a crazy rabbit named Cookie.

How I got into my craft... When I had my second child, I crocheted her a little hat and jacket. From that, I began to get more interested in crocheting. Last summer, I photographed my brother’s wedding and became even more interested in getting more serious about photography. While developing both of those interests, they began to merge into what I do today. I create beautiful hats and other props intended for newborn and toddler photography.

What inspires me... I am often inspired by materials such as beautiful yarns, buttons, ribbon, etc. I also love to look at the work of other artists.

Usually whatever I am currently working on becomes my favorite item I’ve made. I absolutely love to create newborn hats and am hoping to begin creating sewn bonnets for newborn photography.

Overall, my goal is that I would love to spend more of my time taking beautiful photos and making my clients happy. It is so neat to see my hats in other photographer’s photos and know that they love my hats as much as I do. Selling my hats also allows me to go back to the craft store to look for more beautiful materials!

For more photos of my crochet as well as photography, visit my facebook page, JM Photography or my websitewww.jmphotoandprop.com.

Check out these featured vendors at the 2012 Columbus Summer Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show. This eclectic show will feature over 125 of the area's most talented artisans and crafters. A portion of the show's proceeds will be donated to Columbus Ohio's Local Matters, a non-profit that teaches kids and families about healthy Ohio-grown foods, provides access to wholesome foods in local area communities, and advocates for fair food policies.

2012 Columbus Summer Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Sunday, August 19, 2012, 1:30pm-6:30pm

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral

555 N. High St

Columbus, OH 43215

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardes hows.co m

Visit us on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Making Fabric Functional!

Meet Katie Lindsey from Katie's No Sew...

My name is Katie Lindsey and I am 25 years old. I grew up in North West Indiana, and just recently moved to Dublin, OH in July of 2011. I graduated from Ball State University in 2009 with my bachelor's of Fine Art Photography. With my degree, I have shot weddings, families, and senior photos.

I also have a love of music and have played the piano for several years, and also picked up a little on the guitar. I am an animal lover and someday when I have a yard, I would love to adopt a dog! I love to design websites, logos, play in Photoshop, and just create in general! I am currently working on my t-shirt scarf designs and also some other fun little gifts as well.

I believe I get my creativity from my uncle Doug and aunt Joanne who live in Chicago. It’s been my dream since I was a kid to live in Chicago and work with them on their graphic design projects. They both work in the design field.

I got started in selling my craft when I showed some people what I made and they loved it so much they told me I should try and sell them. So I did!

I've always loved to make jewelry and just be creative in general. I love scrap booking as well. My creative process is through research! You can't learn or gain any new ideas without research. Also, I keep the mentality to try and try again. I believe as an artists and crafter you need to keep practicing till you have perfected your technique.

My hope is to one day have a small business of my own, or maybe a gallery, antique shop with crafts I have made, or a photo studio!

Meet Shannon Gross from Shanny Ann...

My name is Shannon Gross. I've been crafting since I was old enough to hold a glue stick! My grandmother was a 4-H advisor for 25yrs and she always had a room full of odds and ends to cut, paste, color, and paint. I spent every summer at her house working on my 4-H projects. I went on to college and received a degree in Graphic Design. Although I enjoyed it, it didn't give me that "hands-on" experience that creating things from scratch did. That need, and the dream of working my job around my family and not the other way around, allowed me to come to the simple conclusion to use those skills I had (and loved) to achieve that dream and fulfill that need.

I started making bags for myself in 2007, and started my Etsy shop in 2008.

People do a variety of things for relaxation. Some read, some walk, others meditate. I......craft! For as long as I can remember, creating things has been my therapy, my escape.

Most of my ideas come to me when I'm not trying to find an idea so I'm always carrying a small sketchpad with me. Then I go home and cut out a pattern. Sometimes my ideas don't turn out the way I pictured them, so I've learned not to use the "good" fabric on my first try!

My favorite bag that I made was one of the first ones. It was an Ohio State Univ. tote made out of my t-shirt and some scraps. When I compare it to the bags I make now, it's really rough looking, but it was a building block to getting to the sewing skills I have today and I cherish it.

I got started selling my work when I started bringing the bags I made to work to get opinions and some of my co-workers started requesting custom orders. Someone had mentioned Etsy to me so I did some research and decided that was a good starting point to get my work out there.

My goal is to build this business and continue to work from my shop at home. It's very important for me to be able to set my own hours around my kids and their activities.

2012 Columbus Summer Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Sunday, August 19, 2012, 1:30pm-6:30pm

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral

555 N. High St

Columbus, OH 43215

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardes hows.co m

Visit us on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Meet Some of our Columbus Jewelers!

Meet Ally McCarley from MC Jewelry...
I am Columbus born and raised. I went to O.U. for Commercial Photography and have always been into creating things. I am 24 and still have no idea what I want to do when I "grow up" but for now I'm enjoying life and happy to be making a living doing things that I love! I have been doing my craft for over a year now.

Full time, I work for a local Columbus magazine taking pictures of food and events, I bartend, and I also love to exercise, be outdoors, and snowboard. I enjoy going out and being around people, and spending time with my friends and family. Most of all, as long as I am out and about, being creative and at least sometimes getting paid for it, I'm happy!

I'm not really sure where I get my creativity from. It's just kind of always been there. I have always loved making things but have never really been into the "art" scene. I could always appreciate the meaning and thoughts behind people's artwork, but I chose photography and jewelry making because they are both things that can just kind of happen and be beautiful without having to have any other meaning then to just be nice to look at. I think about things way too much most of the time and for me, art and the things I create are a way for me to let go and stop thinking and just enjoy something beautiful

How I got into my craft.. My friend and I were bored one day and decided to have a "craft day". Like I said earlier, I have always enjoyed creating things but had not felt inspired in a long time. We went to Michael's (craft store) and bought a bunch of chains and beads, and I just started making jewelry. At first, I simply started making it for myself because it was fun, and it was something to be proud of, and I began getting requests from friends and strangers alike to create pieces for them as well.

My creative process varies. Sometimes I will see something in a store or that someone else has on and use that for inspiration. My favorite thing to do however is go to thrift or antique stores and buy random items that seem interesting to me. I usually don't know what to do with them until I'm in the middle of a piece and it all just comes together!

One of my favorites that I wear all the time was the first necklace I made- it's am asymmetrical gold layered chain necklace. It is so much fun and it goes with almost everything!

My overall goal is to enjoy myself and create pieces I can be proud of and that others are excited to wear. Of course, it would be nice to make some extra money off it all, but that's just icing on the cake!

I always want to keep my pieces affordable and I love to reuse old things (keeps my pieces unique, it's fun, and it's always helpful for our environment to reuse things that have already been made!) And like I said earlier, for me, creating these pieces is kind of a "time-out" from thinking about all the messages and things that we have to constantly think about and just enjoy something beautiful.

Meet Nancy Lacke from Adore Jules...

I was born and raised in the City of Chicago moved out to the burbs when I was in High School. I've always been interested in fashion, design, and interior decorating. I went to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater graduated with a degree in Education. I've taught school. I also went to school for Esthetics in 2005. I'm a licensed esthetician in Ohio, but I do not currently work in the field. I'm the mother of two grown sons, one a graphic designer the other a storyboard artist. I loved being a mom and being able to bring to my kids all kinds of experiences in art, music, life, entertainment. I'm the most proud of that.

I believe I get my creativity from my father. Outside of his job he was always doing something creative; painting on canvas, metal work, jewelry, building things, etc., he's very talented.

I LOVE jewelry and have been collecting it (whether as a gift or purchases) since I was a little girl. This isn't the only craft I've done, but it's what I'm doing now and I am passionate about it. In 2003 I took my first class in the art of jewelry. I began making jewelry as gifts for friends and family. I went to school in Esthetics and shelved the jewelry since I could not do both successfully. I began taking classes again in 2008.

My business took off when my niece saw my jewelry photos on Facebook and told me about Etsy. She suggested I open a shop. From there I began to set new goals each year for my business. It all started with posting photos of my work on Facebook and getting request to make jewelry, from there the rest is history!

As a jewelry artist, I'm inspired by the materials I find. I love gemstones and unique findings and am inspired to bring them together in a piece of jewelry. Everything I make is something I would wear and/or love to own!

As for goals, I would love for my jewelry business to grow so that it is self-sustaining and I would not need my day job. I also want to continue to take classes to grow in this medium. It is very important to me.

My jewelry is all about wearablity and it's about feeling good when you wear it. My tagline is "it goes with anything and everything." I own fine pieces of jewelry and whether it's fine or for every day wear, the mark up in stores are huge. I want to offer a product at a fair price.

2012 Columbus Summer Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Sunday, August 19, 2012, 1:30pm-6:30pm

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral

555 N. High St

Columbus, OH 43215

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardes hows.co m

Visit us on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Apparel and Home Decor Art!

Meet Mary and Sue from Posey Patch...
We are two sisters that enjoy spending time together and creating unique handbags and accessories. We've been selling our bags to friends and at craft shows for eight years. We've also been selling online via our Etsy shop for the past 5 1/2 years. Apart from creating things, one of us is a hospice nurse and the other a controller at an insurance company.

Our creativity comes from our grandmother, who instilled our creative spirit. She taught us to sew, knit and crochet when we were very young!

We got into our hobby as a result of being empty nesters with too much time on our hands! :) We also had so many items on-hand (and face it, girls need a lot of bags, but you can only have so many). Our other sister suggested we start selling then, and since then we have never looked back!

When it comes to our creative process, Sue can see fabrics together in a unique way and then she comes up with an idea on how to use them. She flies by the seat of her pants, whereas I (Mary) am the methodical one.. I'm always precise, my sister Sue says it could be the accountant in me! :)

When it comes to our favorite items, we love all of our things. The current item on we're working on always become our next favorite! Each one is better then the one before!

Our goal is to continue to produce a product we can be proud of and spend time together and feed our fabric addiction!

The message behind our work is carry a fun, one-of-a-kind unique bag, carry it often, and carry it proud!

Meet Quinn Kellogg from Art By Quinn...

My name is Quinn Kellogg, I grew up just outside of Rochester, NY. I was lucky enough to have amazing parents who encouraged art throughout my life and helped me every step along the way. I came to Ohio to learn at the Columbus College of Art & Design, where I got my BFA with a major in Illustration and a minor in Fine Art.

Since graduating in 2012, I have been participating in art festivals and shows all along the East coast including, CCAD's annual spring and winter sales, Park Ave Fest, Artists Row (where I won Best in Show), and many more. Right now you can find my work up at 83 Gallery, in the Short North in Columbus, OH.

Outside of painting and creating art, I avidly pursue great rock climbing. Much of my inspiration to paint landscapes comes from frequent trips to climb in North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, New York, and as far West as Arizona and California. Climbing and being outdoors helps me to keep a connection with nature that constantly challenges me and inspires everything I do.

I hope to be able to travel and lead a very unique life with the selling of my work. I want to experience and paint as much of the world as I can, waking up to a new place and new adventures every day.

The main message behind my work is enjoy the landscape and everything in it. Take time to sit underneath the clouds and guess at what their shapes could be. Don't be afraid to slow down every once in a while and look around you to remind yourself of how much natural beauty this world has. Most importantly, live simply.

2012 Columbus Summer Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Sunday, August 19, 2012, 1:30pm-6:30pm

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral

555 N. High St

Columbus, OH 43215

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardes hows.co m

Visit us on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER