Arts & Crafts Heaven on Earth at the Philadelphia Buyer’s Market
of American Craft

Posted by Risa on February 22nd, 2010 — in New Products, Trade Shows | 2 Comments

Last weekend, February 13 & 14, 2010, was an amazing weekend for me. On Saturday morning, I left my husband and 3 boys behind, took off for Philadelphia, and headed for the Buyers Market of American Craft at the Philadelphia Convention Center. With traffic on the Belt Parkway, it took 1-1/2 hours to go 20 miles, but I didn’t care – I was on VACATION!!! And what an amazing vacation it was!!

By 2:30 pm, I checked into my beautiful hotel room at the Hilton Garden Inn, went next door to the super-cool Reading Terminal Market for a yogurt and chocolate milk made on the farm of an Amish family, then ran across the street to the Philadelphia Convention Center. And entered a world that was like a dream.

Imagine the most creative creations ever made. Imagine colors that you didn’t even know existed. Imagine glass creations that look like an iridescent solar system, or glass as small as a marble with colors of the world inside it, or wine glasses that would take your breath away. Imagine clay made into the most amazing, sparkling, glimmering bowls, and fabric made into the most glamorous scarves and bags. Imagine wood combined and carved into the most unusual spectacular pieces. Imagine metal twisted and welded and mixed into the most breathtaking sculptures, and the jewelry – OH MY GOD THE JEWELRY!!! Watermelon tourmaline, pink gold, green gold, iridescent glass, marbles, stones, clay, plastic, combined, molded, designed into the most incredible pieces of art!!

I would have no problem spending a million dollars at the Philly Buyers Market of American Craft because, if I could, I would probably buy from almost every vendor there. The creations that come from the imaginations of artists is just amazing.

It’s like stepping into Oz. Everything is beautiful. Everything is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. The lights are super-bright, and the colors are so bright and brilliant, blended, and mixed, and forming gradients of color combinations that could only come from a collection of the most creative minds around. Have you ever been to a high quality crafts fair where you walk up and down the aisles and gawk at the beautiful items? Imagine that times 1000. It’s larger than life.

I met my friend Jill there, and it was doubly fun because she has awesome taste and we love a lot of the same things. I think I caught her hyperventilating a few times looking at the art. Actually – I’m pretty sure of it.

I didn’t think we’d make it through the whole place in 3 hours, but we did. We walked up and down – I’d guess – about 40 aisles. There must have been about 800 artists there. The market was displayed with each medium grouped together, so it went like this (from right to left):

• Glass
• Ceramics
• Outdoors
• Kaleidoscopes
• Inspired Interiors
• Wood
• Metal
• Mixed Media
• Wearable Fiber
• Glass Jewelry
• Premier Jewelry
• Jewelry

WHAT A NIGHT IN PHILLY! A GREAT SHOW AND GREAT FOOD

Jill was only there for the day ( I returned the next day). We parted ways and my night of fun had just begun! I relaxed in my room for about 45 minutes, waited for a cab for 10 minutes, gave up, then walked in the beautiful, crisp, night air to South Broad Street, to the Merriam Theater.

Now, I’m not familiar with shows in Philly, so I wasn’t sure what kind of a production “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber” would be. I love all shows – High School, College, whatever (I used to want to be an actress), so I was up for anything. What a surprise! This was the national touring company with stars from the most prestigious theaters on earth. I’ve been lucky to see lots of Broadway shows – I live close to Manhattan, and I’ve never seen a national touring company before – but this show had talent as good as it gets.

I was shocked at the great seat I got for $27.50. Row L Center Row Orchestra. Too bad a tall guy sat in front of me, blocking about 1/3 of stage right. After 20 minutes I went back a few rows, but still, orchestra isn’t as great as it’s cracked up to be. (I’m used to the nose-bleed seats and I like it up there!) Even if a little bit of someone’s head is in your way, you can’t see everything. After intermission, I went back even farther, and had the best seat!

WHAT A SHOW!! What credentials! One of the stars of the show, Howard McGillan, was “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway a record setting 2,500+ times! The other stars were also Broadway stars, as well. Deone Zanotto was an amazing singer and dancer. It was awesome seeing the 30-piece orchestra on stage with 5 violins, a harp, which is an incredibly beautiful instrument, a cello, flutes, oboes, 2 sets of drums, and more.

I knew probably one-third of the songs from Joseph, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Starlight Express, Sunset Boulevard, and Evita, with popular tunes such as “Memories,” “ Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” and many more, which totaled 31 songs. I never saw Starlight Express, and I usually enjoy songs better when I’ve heard them before, but this show has awesome music.

It was just a a fabulous production and I think it might be worth returning to Philly, even staying the night with my family, just to see the Broadway quality shows and enjoy the town, which reminds me of a smaller Manhattan. Annie and the Lion King will be there next.

I was going to eat before the show, and figured 45 minutes would be enough but WRONG! It was the Saturday night before Valentine’s Day and each restaurant I went into was packed. So after the show I went to Italian Bistro, and for $20, I had the most awesome 4-course meal (in case you’re wondering – bruschetta, salad, tilapia with a white wine chive-butter sauce, served with grilled zucchini & mashed potato, and tiramisu – MMMMMmmm!!!) And I enjoyed the rest of my night strolling back to the hotel, reading a book, and watching part of “17 Again.”

DAY 2 IN PHILLY

In the morning, I kept to my New Year’s resolution of exercising, and rode a stationary bike in the fitness center for a ½ hour. I felt a little lame about it, peacefully pedaling away while the 3 women next to me were running on a treadmill huffing and puffing for a ½ hour.  (Maybe I should have turned up the resistance?)

After burning off those few calories, I had a great breakfast at the hotel (included in the hotel fee) then I went back to the Buyer’s Market. I thought for sure I’d be there only about an hour – after all, I’d seen in all. But I was very wrong. There were pieces I was seeing for the very first time, and I’m sure if I walked those same exact aisles five more times, I’d be seeing things I’d never seen before. There’s just so much to see and ponder and stare at.

It was on Sunday that I bought things from new vendors that I’m excited to share with you.

WATCH FOR NEW ARTISTS AT JEWISH GIFT PLACE

Sandy Katz – Sandy makes the most incredible mezuzahs made out of iridescent glass. The colors are unbelievable and I’m sure, even if brilliant, sparkly and, bright colors are not your style for your home, you will enjoy just looking at these amazing mezuzahs.

Naturally Wood Creations – Gary Markow makes beautiful and clever wooden menorahs out of different types of wood that can be configured to make your own creative menorah design. He also makes personalized menorahs out of children’s blocks. These are a great gift for kids and even as an engagement and wedding gift. And he makes beautiful Challah boards with the prayer laser etched into the wood. I have a good feeling about all of these items.

Tamara Baskin – I have been admiring her pieces for years. She makes the most beautiful Passover Seder Plates, mezuzahs, menorahs and other incredible Judaica. I look forward to adding her pieces to the site.

MudWorks & Friends– On the fun side, JoAnn Stratakos makes the most clever pottery mugs. Now, I’m biased towards all things pottery. I used to make pottery. Her mugs are very very cool with Yiddish and Hebrew phrases on them, such as Chai Maintenance (with the Hebrew letter), Shalom, Oy Vey, Bubbie, and more. She’ll even stamp whatever name you want on the mugs. These substantial mugs will sell for $25 and will make the perfect gift for a Hebrew school teacher, friend, or anyone. You can’t go wrong with a handmade pottery mug!

M.O. Judaica – Moshe Ozery makes beautiful personalized Hebrew name necklaces and wedding bands that include the standard sayings or create your own.

I met up with many vendors whose works I already sell, such as Gary Rosenthal (the very first vendor I ever bought from), Eduardo Milieris, Steven Bronstein of Blackthorne Forge, Emily Rosenfeld, Gloria and George Gabriel of Infinity Art in Metal, Jan Lanier of Silk Bijoux, Beatriz Kelemen of K4 Glassart, and Michal Golan. They have all added the most creative new pieces to their collections, which I hope to get on the website soon, as well.

REFLECTIONS OF ARTS & CRAFTS IN MY LIFE

For two days I was in Arts & Crafts heaven. Arts & Crafts was my first passion and is a continuing passion in my life. I remember being so excited in the first grade when my painting was chosen to hang in the local bank on Kings Highway in Brooklyn.  Throughout the years, I made beaded jewelry, hats, and woven baskets. In my last year of high school, I did a 6 month internship at New Youth Connections where I was the Arts Editor. During the summers of high school, I was the Arts & Crafts counselor in a day camp. After college, I took classes in oil, acrylic, and water color painting. I took pottery classes, calligraphy, and still enjoy any arts & crafts project. I was thrilled to discover web design 10 years ago, and I have designed over 30 websites.

Now, I think I’ve found my ultimate passion – getting to travel and buy these incredible crafts and sell them to you. This is coupled with another passion – web design and SEO (designing my website and getting it found in the search engines). Every time I add a new artist to the site, or a new piece, and someone buys it – it’s affirmation that someone out there loves and appreciates these beautiful pieces as much as I do.

In a world where it seems like almost everything is mass-produced and attention to detail is overlooked in order to produce a product faster – immersing myself in the world of handmade crafts, where I got to meet and talk with the artists who are so passionate about their crafts – was a wonderful collective meeting of the souls where handmade crafts are not only treasured, but a way of life for these artists.

GOING HOME

Four hours later, I walked the last aisle in the Philly Convention Center, grabbed a sandwich at the Reading Terminal Market, some flowers for my hubby, some homemade chocolate chip cookies for the family, and headed back home to Long Island in no traffic to my wonderful family to celebrate Valentine’s Day together.