I’ve been a lover of art fairs since I was a 17-year-old brooding would-be ceramic artist, undiscovered, unimpressed, oh so unhappy. I like to think I spent the best days of my youth attending the art fairs in Lancaster County, Mt. Gretna, PA, and later in Des Moines, dreaming of a life of traveling from fair to fair, hawking my wares to support my process.
Later, after interviewing quite a few major American craft artists, it became clear to me that I never would have survived the schedule of producing and selling, producing and selling.
These days I’m more of a watcher than a judger. And I can’t wait for the chance to take in all of the stands at the Salem Art Fair and Festival, which is happening this weekend. When we moved to Salem, any mention of this event was like a happy little footnote to all of our conversations:
“Well, we do have a great art fair…”
I’ll be the judge of that.
I mean, I’ll keep my eyes open.
What I’m looking forward to most:
Ken Peterson’s cheeky sculptures
Figuring out the genre distinctions of “cottage crafts”
Marina Teraud’s fantasy prints
Melanie Habets femme-tastic fashions
The sensuous lines of La Chaussee blown glass
And of course, discovery, discovery, DISCOVERY!
Maybe you should just keep one eye open.
I’m hoping they have cajon drums this time. Those are fun to check out and play.
Oh, and check out the Kettle Chips booth. Yum!
Last time I got attacked by a PGE guy trying to get me to sign up for Green Energy or Wind Power or something like that. Hoping to avoid that guy this time.
One eye will remain open. Because I came down with pinkeye this morning. See you all there!
Haven’t you learned not to share mascara!? =-)