Craft designer market showcases regional artisans
New and returning vendors showcase their wares in time for Christmas shopping
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Big and small names alike featured at this year's winter Designer Craft Show at Pavilion 22 in Halifax.Maritime artisans did their bit over the weekend to jump-start Christmas shopping among Haligonians.
The artisans were in Halifax for the winter Designer Craft Show, organized by Craft Nova Scotia, a nonprofit organization that promotes the craft movement in Nova Scotia.
The event, held in Seaport Halifax’s Pavilion 22, ran from Friday to Sunday and featured the work of 96 vendors. Event staff circulated $5 Nova Scotia Loyal vouchers to encourage event-goers to support provincial vendors.
Exhibitors ranged from artisans producing handicrafts to purely visual artists, and everything in between.
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Andrew Tubman is a woodcarver working out of Cape Breton.Andrew Tubman carves wooden bowls, utensils, and sculptures in his studio in Cape Breton.
He says bowls, some functional and others decorative, take about a week to produce while his utensils only take a couple of days. He also designs wall hanging art that he designs following “organic shapes, trying to get motion and because they’re on the wall they show shadows.”
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Tubman’s wall pieces are inspired by “the wave action that happens in the sand on the beach when you look down the water.”
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Some artists were happy to sell their products in person. “The interaction with people, rather than being in the studio by yourself. It’s amazing,” says artist Jose Urbay.Jose Urbay is a painter from Kentville, where he spends a lot of his time studying the Queen Anne’s lace flower.
“I’m obsessed with Queen Anne’s lace,” he says. “They are so dramatic … (the) specific shape they take every season.”
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About her Beach Baby soaps Jessica Scott says “there’s a variety of scents so if you like unscented for skin issues, if you like your patchouli, if you like your lavender, if you like your citruses or something for everybody.”Jessica Scott was selling her handmade soaps from her company Beach Baby. She started making soap after she found her young son was having reactions to store-bought laundry detergent and shampoos.
Beach Baby has a full line of hygiene products including beard oils, bath bombs, as well as her soaps. “I make a distinctive soap,” says Scott. “The chunky bars have people thinking like it’s fudge.”
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Jessica Scott says all her soap is “made by me, tested on all my family.”
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“I think I’ll probably do this until I drop,” says artist Brian Reid of his painted wood carvings.Brian Reid lives in Chester Basin and produces wood carvings that he then paints.
Prior to carving and painting full-time, Reid was a teacher. He says that he is heavily influenced by famous Canadian artists. After returning from hitchhiking around Europe as a youth, he returned home and started painting.
“As a self-taught artist I read everything.” He studied the Group of Seven and Lawren Harris, which reflects in his work today.
About the author
Joe van Wonderen
Joe van Wonderen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dalhousie University with a focus in Political Science and English. His interests include...
