Serving up the best in local art and craft, the Lehigh Valley Chapter of Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen will hold their 25th annual Holiday Marketplace at the Swain School in Allentown, PA, on November 6-7, 2010. The show runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on November 6 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on November 7. Admission is $3.
Tapping into local artists with talents ranging from wood turners to photographers to jewelry makers, the LVPGC has hosted the Holiday Marketplace for the last 24 years, giving shoppers the opportunity to buy high-quality, handmade items created by artisans of the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas.
“Gone are the days of mass consumerism, where everyone has the same plastic Santa imported from overseas sitting in their window,” says Holiday Marketplace Chair Denise Wilz of Wilz Pottery in Green Lane, PA. “People want high-quality items and they want to know their origins: What kind of wood is that? How was that pottery is created? What inspired this necklace design?
“The Holiday Marketplace gives shoppers the opportunity to connect with people who carefully created each item displayed at our show. They can find out the story behind each piece,” says Wilz. The Holiday Marketplace requires that every item for sale be handmade by the artisans and that artisans be onsite staffing their booths so they can answer questions.
This year’s show has upwards of 25 local artists selling sterling silver jewelry, handmade dolls, nature photography, Redware pottery, hand-turned wood bowls, and hand-woven scarves, to name a few. “We have items to fit every interest and every budget,” says Wilz, who cites handmade cards starting at $5 to pieces of wood furniture that go for several hundred dollars. “Most artists also take custom orders as well,” she adds.
This year’s Marketplace will feature the following artists:
- Buffy Albright, Quilling, Macungie, PA, paperpetites
- Margaret Almon and Wayne Stratz, Mosaic and Stained Glass, Lansdale, PA, nutmegdesigns
- Jean Anthony, Fine Jewelry, Riegelsville, PA
- Loretta Belac, Pottery, Quakertown, PA
- Mary Coover, Porcelain, Ashfield, PA, cooverporcelain
- Carolee Fegley, Fiber, Zionsville, PA
- Dave Fegley, Shaker Boxes, Zionsville, PA, Shaker Boxes
- Mary Fritz, Polymer Clay Sculptures, Reading, PA
- Paul Grecian, Photography, Quakertown, Pa, www.paulgrecianphoto.com
- Kimberly Klein, Fused Glass, Bethlehem, PA
- E.J. Stephan Krall, Knitting, Catasauqua, PA
- Deborah Powell Kramer, Stained Glass, Kempton, PA, www.DPKStainedGlass.com
- Carolyn Lagler, Lampshades and Band Boxes, Zionsville, PA
- Julie Leland, Hand Painted Glass, Northampton, PA
- Diane Podolsky, Printmaker, Philadelphia, PA, www.anniepod.com
- Ralph Pritsch, Woodcarving, Coopersburg, PA
- Wilhelm Schmidt, Turned and Carved Wood, Allentown, PA
- Jan Schmoyer , Handwoven Wearables, Breinigsville, PA
- Debi Short, Serigraphy, Allentown, PA
- Joan Strong, Dollmaker, Coplay, PA
- Barbara Talijan, Off Loom Beadweaving, Bethlehem, PA, www.the-ornamental-lady.com
- Denise Wilz, Redware Pottery, Green Lane, PA, www.wilzpottery.com
- Bill Yoder, Wooden Pens and Desk Accessories, Souderton, PA
- Ed Youtz, Turned Wood, Emmaus, PA, www.edyoutz.com
The Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen is a nonprofit organization founded in 1944 to encourage the practice of and nurture excellence in heritage and contemporary crafts. The Lehigh Valley Chapter supports artisans in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas through monthly meetings in Emmaus, PA, and the annual Holiday Marketplace. For more information see www.lvcraftsguild.org and www.pacrafts.org .
[...] range up into the Lehigh Valley at the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen Holiday Market this coming [...]