This Friday marks one week of Artomatic in action, and it also happens to be the official Meet the Artists Night.

You can plan your visit ahead of time by checking out the Artist Catalog. Need a place to start? Here is a list of some Crafty Bastards who have artwork on display. I’ve included Artomatic coordinates and links to their catalog pages:

7th Floor:
Rania Hassan: 7 SE C5
Sean Hennessey: 7 SE C5
Dale Hunt: 7 SE D7

8th Floor:
Tigerflight: 8 NE D4
Tina Seamonster: 8 SW B7

11th Floor:
Matt Hollis: 11 NW B2

12th Floor:
Caitlin Phillips: 12 SE D6

[If I’ve left any of you off, please add your info in the comments!]

With 10 floors and over 1000 artists, you’ll be sure to find something or someone you love. Be prepared to ask questions, and do a lot of walking! There are 10 floors to cover, and the easiest way to get around is via the stairways, so wear comfy shoes. Oh, and ride the metro to get there. With the money you save on gas, you can buy some art.

So come out and meet the artists at Artomatic: tomorrow, Friday, May 16th, 7-10pm. Need more details? Visit this link.

Rania Hassan once coated herself in baby oil and rolled in cheeto dust. Imagine if she’d lost the bet! See the results at goshdarnknit.com.

The rumors are true and it’s finally official. There will indeed be an Artomatic in 2008.

May 9–June 15, 2008, right in the middle of DC, steps away from the New York Avenue metro, and in a brand new building. With 800 artists on eight floors of the Capitol Plaza 1 building at 1st and M Streets, NE, this year’s event promises to be bigger than ever before.

So, what is Artomatic? Artomatic is a five week non-juried event that brings together artists, musicians, performers, and an audience of over 50,000 people. From the artomatic web site: Artomatic provides a forum for all of our area’s artists to convene, perform and exhibit, strengthening the visibility, cohesion, and marketplace of Washington’s arts community.

The event opens in just seven weeks! And registration is moments away. But what do you do now?

1. Visit artomatic.org and sign up for email updates!
2. Start making stuff!
3. Want to help organize the event? Join a committee!

And of course, watch the Artomatic web site for details on registration.

Like any unjuried event, there’s good, there’s bad, and there’s downright creepy. But I’m not here to judge. Here are some pics from the last event in 2007, I hope you’ll decide to participate this year!

Photos by Sean Hennessey. See more at his Artomatic 2007 set on flickr.

Rania Hassan once coated herself in baby oil and rolled in cheeto dust. Imagine if she’d lost the bet! See the results at goshdarnknit.com.

A few weeks ago, Sean Hennessey and I drove out to Baltimore to visit the The American Craft Show in Baltimore. This is an annual show put on by the American Craft Council (ACC) whose mission statement is: to promote understanding and appreciation of contemporary American craft. Sean and I were on a mission to meet CircaCeramics and Margaux Lange, both in a section labeled as ‘New Wave.’

Lacey Jane Roberts

Walking over to the ticket line, I was hopeful as I spotted Lacey Jane Robert’s hot pink knit fence. But as I stood in line reviewing the exhibit map, planning my strategy, I was shocked to find how little space the New Wave artists were given. But I was determined. I walked past booth after booth of the same sea of scarves, jackets, bags, scarves, all reminders of why I don’t usually visit this show, and found the New Wave corner.

So what does ‘New Wave’ mean? Well, according to a press release dated January 14, 2008, the American Craft Council describes them as: artists typically labeled ‘indie’ as they usually exhibit and sell their work at small local craft shows.

Small local craft shows? Seriously? Is that why they were given so little space at this event?

The press release goes on to explain: The New Wave Craft section which will feature the 15 artists together will be positioned among the 700 booths of professional craft artists who will present their high-quality, handmade jewelry, furniture…

The New Wave artists were all crammed together in a fenced off area and barely had three feet of space each. Sadly, this section, the only reason I wanted to visit this show, seemed like it was all thrown together as an afterthought.

I’ve been a big fan of Chicago based Andy Witt & Nancy Pizarro, aka CircaCeramics, for a very long time: Gocco and ceramics, genius! Andy makes the 3D objects and Nancy does the surface decoration, and I frequently covet their work on Etsy where they’ve also had some fabulous articles written about them in the Storque.



CircaCeramics

At Crafty Bastards 2007 I had wanted to sneak away from my booth to see Margaux Lange’s work but I didn’t have a second to spare, so a few weeks later I bought this necklace as a little gift to myself when I reached a milestone on Etsy. Getting to meet Margaux in person and see more of her work was awesome, and I hope to cross paths with her at some point again in the future. Be sure to visit her blog where she writes more about her work.



Margaux Lange

There were 13 other artists featured in this section including artwork by Dolan Geiman, letterpress by Yee-Haw Industries, and clay work by SODA.

When I wasn’t talking to Nancy, Margaux, or Andy, I did a little exploring and ended up finding some familiar faces and new favorites.

Caitlin of Rebound Designs is a member of Craft Mutiny and this was one of her biggest shows ever. She had a full size booth among all the regulars, and her display looked fabulous! Caitlin’s booth was a perfect example to show that ‘indie’ and ‘professional’ can be used in the same sentence.

Rebound Designs

Not far from Caitlin was the ‘Searchlight’ section. It was obvious that the organizers put a lot more thought into the way their space was designed and presented. Even though they were hidden at one end of the show, it was set up to look like a spacious gallery that was designed for the space, rather than an afterthought. Here are some of the amazing talents in that section:

Jung Yeon Choi

Haley Reneé Bates

Also notable in the section was jewelry by former Crafty Bastard Megan Auman, works in string by Maggie Casey, and glass sculpture by Andy Paiko.

But one of my very favorite finds at the show was the work of Elizabeth Perkins. What struck me most about her work was the combination of fiber arts and glass, materials and techniques. Is it even possible to make lace more delicate than lace? Described on her website as: cast glass using the pate de verre method. They are replicas of tatting, lace, and doilies made by my great-grandmother and her sister. The colors are inspired by 1940’s lingerie.



Elizabeth Perkins

It’s admirable that the American Craft Council is finally acknowledging a new generation of crafters, but overall it seems like this event isn’t quite caught up with the current revolution of hand made. From the look of the majority of the booths, the ‘professional craft’ style represented seems to be a little bit stuck in the 80s. And quite possibly the same people that named the area ‘New Wave’ were the ones listening to new wave music in the 70s and 80s.

Rania Hassan once coated herself in baby oil and rolled in cheeto dust. Imagine if she’d lost the bet? See the results on her blog,
goshdarnknit.com.