Friday, December 4, 2015

Wrapped Up in the Holidays



WORCESTER - Karen Baker, left, of Marlboro, looks at the hand-dyed silk scarves made by Brooke Stanton of Pembroke during the Holiday Festival of Crafts Sunday. The Worcester Center for Crafts hosted the event, which included 60 artists and craftspeople selling their creations. T&G Staff/Rick Cinclair

Thanks Worcester Telegram Gazette!

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Transformation to Occur At Crafts Center: Holiday Festival of Crafts Over 60 Artists Featured Including many with Worcester Roots

WORCESTER, MA- The Worcester Center for Crafts in Worcester announces that their annual Holiday Festival of Crafts will be held at their 25 Sagamore Road facility on Friday, November 27, Saturday, November 28, and Sunday, November 29, 2015.  Featuring over sixty fine craft artists and their work, the Festival is held indoors and includes free parking and an on-site cafe provided by Bushel N Peck.  The Festival is open on Friday and Saturday from 10 AM - 5 PM, and on Sunday 11 AM - 4 PM.  Admission is a $5 donation to the Crafts Center with children 12 and under free.
On Saturday of the Festival, attendees will be seasonally entertained as well by Greg Robertson of the Worcester Kiltie Band.  The band, founded in 1916 is one of the oldest pipe bands in the country and it is the first band from the United States to win a grade 1 (premier level of playing) in official competition in Scotland. 
The Holiday Festival is a true alternative and antidote to the Black Friday shopping madness that invades malls and big box stores the weekend after Thanksgiving: it features hand-made work in an environment where you can meet the maker.  It is part of the Craft Center's mission to sustain craft as an important part of the community showcasing craft and artisan gifts for purchase - ceramics, wearable art (including scarves, shawls, and hats), photography, hand-printed stationery, glass work, jewelry and metalwork, work by woodworkers, and much more.   Twenty percent of the artists are new to the Festival this year (see attached list).
Sponsored by UniBank, the Festival continues the tradition of the Worcester Center for Crafts as an economic engine for artists.  Additional support is provided by the Worcester Regional Transit Authority.

"This Festival follows the European tradition of focusing on craft and art for holiday shopping," said Candace Casey, the organizer of the show.  "We literally empty the Craft Center's 25 Sagamore Road building and transform it into a European-like Holiday Marketplace, filled to the brim with quality work at a range of prices.  We like to say 'hand-made, heart-felt.'  And this year we'll have bagpipes to boot!"

The Holiday Festival also features artists with a connection to the Worcester Center for Crafts.  Lauren Beaudoin, who teaches classes in jewelry making at the Center, grew up in Worcester and was part of the Center's TAP (Teen Apprentice Program) before studying and honing the skills needed to be a fine art craftsperson.  Similarly, Katey Curtis, originally from Worcester, was part of the Center's Professional Certificate Program and is now a jewelry designer and maker of note.

The Worcester Center for Crafts Gallery Store will also be open during the Festival making available work by artisans from all over the country including fine glass work by Simon Pearce and over 200 other artisans.  Festival goers will also be able to sign up for a variety of classes and workshops while at the Craft Center, including one evening workshops where you produce glass, metal and clay objects for giving.  
Even the artists have a good time at the Festival.  "It is a lively and colorful event that annually brings master artisans together with patrons in support of the arts, education and culture," said glass artist Tony Faith, and the result is hand-made gifts for family and friends. The Festival coincides with Shop Local Saturday and accentuates the "Buy American/Buy Local" theme of hand crafts.  

Artists Participating 



Friday, October 23, 2015

Worcester's architectural past and present on display at craft center

Preservation Worcester's education director, Susan Ceccacci, right, and volunteer Jennifer Doherty hang photographs Wednesday in the Krikorian Gallery at the Worcester Center for Crafts for the show "Worcester Architecture: Lost & Found." T&G Staff/Paul Kapteyn


Click here for the Full article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette

News You Can Use- Late Fall Edition

LOST & FOUND COLLABORATION
An exhibit of vintage and contemporary architectural photographs opens in the Krikorian Gallery with a free reception on Thursday, October 22.  The show is on view through November 21.  Sponsored by Preservation Worcester, WORCESTER ARCHITECTURE:  Lost & Found, documents well-known city landmarks extant in the 1930s and some of those same landmarks today.  See what is missing!  Historic photographs, from the Special Collections of the Worcester Public Library, are juxtaposed with contemporary architectural photographs by Thomas A. Lingner and images of architectural details and street life today by Randle Rae Stock.  Sponsored in part by a grant to Preservation Worcester from the Worcester Arts Council.


NOW CALL FOR ART
Calling all artists born since 1975!  We want to highlight your generation's work.  The Worcester Center for Crafts is joining forces with ArtsWorcester in organizing a juried exhibition entitled NOW: New Work, New Artists which will be on view at the Crafts Center and Arts Worcester simultaneously from March 18 through April, 2016.  Submission and guidelines are online; click here for all forms and guidelines .  Deadline is January 15 so don't delay in making your plans and submitting your work.  Juror: Roger Hankins, Director of the Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross.  All artistic and craft media welcome.  Come on craft artists!  Let's make a showing.  Sponsored in part by Worcester Business Journal.

CINDERELLA, WE FOUND YOUR PUMPKIN!

Handcrafted in the glass studio on New Street, the Crafts Center pumpkin patch is 'ripe' for the picking.  All sizes, shapes and colors.  Proceeds benefit the Glass Program and studio.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Resilient Enamel


Click here to read the entire article featured in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. 




Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Worcester Architecture: Lost & Found

Worcester, MA -- An exhibit of vintage and contemporary architectural photographs will be on view from October 22 through November 21, 2015 at the Krikorian Gallery of the Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore Road, Worcester.   Sponsored by Preservation Worcester, WORCESTER ARCHITECTURE: Lost & Found, documents well-known city landmarks past and present.  Historic photographs from the Special Collections of the Worcester Public Library are juxtaposed with contemporary architectural photographs by Thomas A. Lingner and images of architectural details and street life today by Randle Rae Stock.

The exhibit opens with a reception on Thursday, October 22 from 5:30-7:30 pm at the Worcester Center for Crafts that is free and open to the public.  "This is an important show," says organizer Susan Ceccacci, Education Director, Preservation Worcester.  "It shows us what we have, and what we have to lose when it comes to the Worcester's outstanding built environment."

The historical photographs originally appeared in an exhibit, entitled "Worcester Architecture," held at the Worcester Art Museum in 1937 and organized by the "dean" of American architectural historians, Henry-Russell Hitchcock.  Contemporary photographs update this collection of historical images of Worcester landmarks with views of the buildings and the people who animate them today.

"We're proud to partner with Preservation Worcester and the Worcester Public Library on this exhibit as its purpose is to show us the rich resources that still exist while photographically alluding to what we have already lost," said Krikorian Gallery Director Candace Casey.  The exhibit is underwritten in part by the Worcester Arts Council, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and a generous framing gift from the Worcester Public Library.

Related programming includes:
  • An illustrated talk on Tuesday, November 10 at 5:30 entitled, "Rediscovering Jenne Magafan's Worcester East Middle School Murals," given by College of the Holy Cross researchers Sarah Valente and Nicole Landry and organized by Worcester Art Museum Director Emeritus, James A. Welu.  The talk is free and open to the public. 
The Krikorian Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is free.


Two Minutes With … Honee Hess

Click here to read the article featured in Worcester Magazine.