Cut Paper Art by Angie Pickman

Angie Pickman, aka Rural Pearl, is an artist in cut paper. She began in 2003 after seeing “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” - a cut paper stop-motion silhouette animation from 1926 by Lotte Reiniger. Armed only with an x-acto knife, black paper and pencils, Pickman creates beautiful artworks from the simplest origins. Like Dolan, Angie art's also shows a particular affection for birds.
Visit the Rural Pearl Etsy shop for a wide range of art prints, greeting cards and more. On Monday, Angie will be a guest blogger on Daily Dolan Geiman for Music vs. Monday. Stop back here to read about Angie's musical leanings and a favorite band for autumn listening.

Art Fair Artist Spotlight: Ceramics

A little inspiration a la clay from some of our fellow artists on the circuit...

The barns and buildings of Texas-based artist Mary Fischer.

Art tiles by Todd Van Duren. See more tiles on Facebook: TVD Artworks.

Decal pots by Austin-based artist Keith Keeger. Also very exciting, his musical Tuesday blog posts. Hmmm...Music vs. Mondays guest blog post perhaps?

Tractor Girls by Signe & Genna Grushovenko

Oh my goodness do I want this Tractor Girls painting by Signe & Genna Grushovenko of LaGrange, Georgia. Signe & Genna are fellow art fair road warriors and art couple, each artwork a collaborative painting between Genna (first) and Signe (second). Back in May, we received an amazing horse-themed piece as a wedding present from Signe and Genna, a piece they both knew I was swooning for when we last saw them at the Bayou City Arts Festival. It was such an overwhelming kind gift that each and every morning, when I step into my office and see the piece, I reflect how amazing this family of art fair artists is and how we're so thankful to be part. You can view more work by Signe and Genna via their new website: grushovenko.com.

Summer Style Works at 57th Street Art Fair This Weekend

What better way to kick-off summer and the festival season than with bright, colorful works from artists showing at the 57th Street Art Fair this weekend? Show hours are Saturday from 11am-6pm and Sunday from 10am-5pm in Chicago's historic Hyde Park neighborhood. Look for us in booth 526 on Kimbark Avenue between 57th and 56th Street.

Mary Burke - booth 604



Hiroshi Ariyama - booth 34



Mary Beth Shaw - booth 33



Paul Eshelman - booth 28

15 Crafters We Love Coming to Austin

This month, we're devoting our 15 Handmade Items We Love post to artists & crafters coming to Austin this May 15-16 for the first-ever Renegade Craft Fair in Austin. The workshop & demo line-up alone is incredible so coupled with the amazing 200+ indie-craft talents descending on Austin, the Renegade Craft Fair is a must-do, free event coming up in just a few weeks! If anyone discovers a way to transport one's body to two different locations at the same time, please let us know. Our bodies (and artwork) will be at the the Broad Ripple Art Fair, but we'll be thinking of all our indie friends setting up shop in Austin!

OrangyPorangy

Circa Ceramics

Tiny Whales

Moxiedoll


a.wahl designs

Miss Natalie

McCheeks Mayhem

Lisa Crowder

Jon Smith

Letterpress Delicacies

Campfire Goods

ciuccio

Figs & Ginger

Blue Thimble

Lara Collins

5 Artists to See at artclectic

This week, Dolan and pal Chris Nightengale headed south to the Music City for the University School of Nashville's art show and fundraiser, artclectic. This is truly an event not to be missed and here's ten reasons why. Given all the amazing art on exhibit this weekend, it's difficult to limit our selections to just five artists but here's a list of must sees:

Justin Robinson:



Kem Alexander:


Harry Underwood:


Mr. Hooper:

Mark Bradley-Shoup:

Art Fair Artist Spotlight: Debbie Little Wilson

As we transition into fall and winter, we're excited to reactivate the blog and begin sharing more artists, creators, and sustainable businesses with our readers. Up first, we're pleased to introduce Texas printmaker Debbie Little-Wilson. Having recently moved into a spacious apartment worthy of decorating, we're finally spending money on something other than our business. Naturally, our first inclination is to expand our art collection as we did at the Bayou City Art Festival in Houston with two purchases from Debbie. Debbie was born in Rochester, New York and currently resides in Dripping Springs, Texas. She works in etching, monoprint, illustration, and mixed media. Her nostalgic images, Americana themes, and found imagery lured us into her booth and we're honored to have two of her works now hanging in our Tangier Island themed bedroom. I expect a few more of her works will be listed on our wedding registry down the road..

Enjoy these works by Debbie Little Wilson

>>>Posted by Ali<<<

Update on Summer & Fall Blog Format

Now that we're in the height of the art fair season, it becomes increasingly difficult to find the time to blog regularly. Therefore, we're going to postpone many of our regular blog columns until the winter months and just focus on using this blog to post regular news updates and event announcements in between fairs. It'll be like the Weekly Wrap Up posts, but broken down into individual posts. Perhaps you'll even like this temporary format better? As time permits, we'll continue to bring you inspirational artists, designers, and business professionals we discover in our travels across the country and on the web.

Speaking of inspirational artists, here's a quick pic of a piece we purchased from Northport, Alabama artist Justin Robinson at the Old Town Art Fair this past weekend. Our recently adopted cat, Racine, shares our enthusiasm for the painting and raced to be included in the photo the moment we began shooting. It's a (very) early wedding present to ourselves and our first offical major art purchase!

Justin is a studio artist at Kentuck in Northport. You can find Justin in his studio on the first Thursday of every month in honor of Kentuck's Art Night. Upcoming shows include Bayou City Art Festival Downtown (Houston, TX) and the Kentuck Festival of the Arts (Northport, AL).

Artists Discovered from the Art Fair Circuit

Traveling to so many winter and early spring shows this year, we've had the pleasure of meeting many new artists and crafters. Here are a few favorites, with more to follow in future posts.

• Marilyn Andrews - Plainfield, MA - ceramics
  
  
  
• Adam Smith - Philadelphia, PA - sculpture and jewelry
  
  
  Wake Up, O' Sleeper mixed media 2007Anhinga Pin
  
• Cali Hobgood-Lemme - photography
  
  
  
  The Blue Dress hand-colored black and white photography
  

Booklist hand-colord black and white photograph

• Mr. Hooper - Nashville, TN
  
  
  Porter Road Social Club acrylic on canvas
  
  
  Boombox acrylic on canvas
  

Images c/o (starting at top:) American Craft Council Baltimore exhibitor gallery, Adam Smith, Cali Hobgood-Lemme, Mr. Hooper