Best in Show at this juried event was awarded to Nicole Jurain from New Paltz, N.Y., who was doing the show for the first time. It’s been an incredible journey for this artist and educator, who witnessed a potter working on a wheel when she was 10 years old in Corning, N.Y. Later, as a senior in high school, she discovered two pottery wheels hidden away in the back of the art studio. “No one in the department knew how to use them, but I was determined to use what I remembered from years before and try it,” she recalls. She’s perfected her distinctive four-color clay technique, with the Jupiter Collection named for the color and pattern the marbled clay makes, which has become her most collected body of work.
Review & Photos by W.A. Demers
GREENWICH, CONN. — Once again, contemporary handmade crafts wound their way up and around the drive leading up to the expanded Bruce Museum as it hosted the 39th Outdoor Crafts Festival on May 18-19. It’s a juried show featuring 50 exhibitors each day from 10 am to 4 pm. Managed by Sue Brown Gordon, the show’s white tents line the museum’s drive and parking area. This year, unlike last, the two-day event enjoyed pleasant spring weather and exhibiting artists presented a dizzying variety of handcrafted items ranging from ceramics, jewelry, wood carvings, textiles and more.
The beauty of this show is that shoppers have the opportunity to talk with the featured artists, who are present and throughout the entire weekend, offering their works for sale. Some even demonstrate their craft a la plein air!
The show’s exhibitors have varied life experiences. Some have formally studied in their craft, some are self-taught but all have an appreciation for art history and a curiosity for trying new techniques or of harnessing technology to create something new and interesting. All seem to understand the importance of creating items at various price points so the variety of each category in each booth was substantial.
Ceramics and jewelry were plentiful. Austin Zimmer from Stonington, Conn., uses porcelain clay fired to a very high temperature, making his utilitarian pieces — cups, bowls, platters and more — very durable. They are advertised as microwave and dishwasher-safe, and all glazes are certified as food-safe.
From Stonington, Conn., Austin Zimmer leans toward the utilitarian pieces, including cups, bowls, platters and the like, which are microwave safe, dishwasher safe and employ glazes that are certified as food safe. On his website he states that his goal is “to create work that enriches not only the daily rituals of food preparation and presentation, but also the aesthetics of living.”
The Crafts Festival is a juried event and “Best in Show” was awarded to Nicole Jurain from New Paltz, N.Y., who was doing the show for the first time. On her website, she relates that her first attempts at throwing pottery were disastrous. “I started with a lump of clay the size of my head and ended up with nothing for weeks, she writes. Finally, after ending up with nothing and about to give up, I created a tiny thumb-sized mess of a vase that I deemed a success, and I was hooked.”
Later, as a senior in high school, she discovered two pottery wheels hidden away in the back of the art studio. “No one in the department knew how to use them, but I was determined to use what I remembered from years before and try it,” she recalls. She’s perfected her distinctive four-color clay technique, with the Jupiter Collection named for the color and pattern the marbled clay makes, which has become her most collected body of work.
First Prize went to Liliana Castillo in the jewelry category; Vince Pompei won Second Prize for his found objects and clocks, and Kathleen Tesnakis, who creates wearable art, came away with Third Prize.
Returning exhibitor James Brunelle from New Britain, Conn., specializes in raku pottery, a low-fire technique that often uses out-of-kiln reduction for the forms. In addition to being an active artist, Brunelle demonstrates hands-on clay wheel throwing and/or hand-building sessions, including demonstrations in centering and creating pottery on the wheel, or working with slabs, pinching and coils for sculptural forms in clay.
James Brunelle is a returning exhibitor. From New Britain, Conn., he specializes in raku pottery and in addition to selling his merchandise he demonstrates hands-on clay wheel throwing and/or hand-building sessions, including demonstrations in centering and creating pottery on the wheel, or working with slabs, pinching and coils for sculptural forms in clay.
Walking by Melanie Wulforst’s stand, we were rewarded by seeing the Middletown, Conn., artist applying a design to a small vase. Her work is all handmade from durable porcelain using food safe glazes, high fired in a kiln. Employing a variety of techniques to produce vases, bowls, cups, card holders and key rings, her objects made from humble clay is meant to bring joy and inspiration to those who use it.
Sally Rothschild from Mount Tremper, N.Y., is a ceramist that favors motifs of birds and circles, and they appear in some of her items like berry bowls, large serving bowls, salt cellars and mugs.
A delightful hostess from Pittsford, Vt., Susan Shannon, displayed handmade pottery designed to soothe the soul and please the senses. Her artistic North Star is creating everyday items for the kitchen — from large batter bowls to dinnerware sets and vases that can survive the dishwasher and microwave and use this ware for years to come and look good while doing so. She adopted Su Chi Pottery as her business name because, at it for 35 years, she creates a Zen concentration in making the simple dots and spirals, repeating them with a precision that approaches a meditative state.
Which brings us to Sumiyo Toribe from Millbury, Mass., whose booth was teeming with ceramic meditating Buddhas of various sizes to celebrate the summer. Some of the figures wore red bibs, representing children and the qualities of security and honesty. Active on social media, Toribe uses YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and others to market her work.
From Millbury, Mass., Sumiyo Toribe makes little Buddhas to celebrate the summer, the figures representing children and the qualities of security and honesty.
Among jewelry artists, a standout was Dawn Lombard of Milford, Penn. Initially following a safe path in business administration, earning an MBA, Lombard decided to find a hobby to distract her from the tough days in the corporate world. That turned out to be the ancient art of glass enameling on copper. Mostly self-taught, Lombard said she is proud of her work today. She participates in juried shows in New England and Mid-Atlantic region.
EatMetal Inc. is not a new company promoting a challenging diet regimen. The initials E.A.T. are those of Elizabeth Ann Tokoly, an art jeweler from Hoboken, N.J., Tokoly finds her inspiration in nature, translating its geometry into bold, simple art jewelry and objects.
First Prize winner Liliana Castillo, a jewelry artist from Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., was showing for the second year. Her jewelry creations are intriguing because they are made with sustainable materials, such as nuts, seeds and citrus rinds in what she calls “organic jewelry.” Lula, as she calls herself, collects the seeds and nuts in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. Citrus peels are recycled from local juice bars and personal use.
It was just the second time showing here for Liliana Castillo, a jewelry artist from Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. But she won the First Place award in the juried show for her one-of-a-kind jewelry made with sustainable material such as nuts, seeds and citrus rinds. These, she says, will empower and enhance women’s beauty by wearing a colorful, versatile and lightweight, eco-friendly accessory.
Wearable art is a small but staple part of crafts festivals and Vilma Mare of Copake, N.Y., is a practitioner that stitches into her wearables come with the iconography of Indigenous peoples of Baltic Russia. She said her artistic goal is to recover a form of folk art.
Then there is a category we’ll call eclectic. These are artists with unique craft ideas, ones that don’t hold floral arrangements or food, enhance a wearer’s neck, ears, hands or body.
Kathleen Scranton of Coventry, Conn., embodies this craft. She repurposes vintage books and fashions them into one-of-a-kind purses. And they are not empty shells; each comes complete with the original book pages rebound as a paperback unless it is missing pages. Scranton finds the books before they are tossed away, recycled or simply forgotten. From The Great Gatsby to Stuart Little to Star Wars, it’s likely that Scranton has transformed your favorite literary tome into an individually created purse with the integrity of the vintage book in mind.
Kathleen Scranton of Coventry, Conn., repurposes vintage books and fashions them into one-of-a kind purses. And they are not empty “shells”; each comes complete with the original book pages rebound as a paperback unless it is missing pages. From The Great Gatsby to Stuart Little and more, like a speed reader, Scranton is busy creating fresh inventory daily.
“Please Touch The Fine Art” exhorts a sign at the stand of Tuckerton, N.J., artist Joseph Tobia. His wall art is bright and dimensional, ruggedly portraying mountains, sailboats, waterfalls, moonlit landscapes and more. It’s likely that Tobia will hand you a card or sticker with one of his images on it to take with you.
Many shoreline residents collect driftwood as they walk the beach. Melissa Abbazia of Cos Cob, Conn., takes it a step further and creates sculpture designs from driftwood that floats up to the beach at nearby Tod’s Point. What started out as a hobby making personalized holiday gifts for family members has morphed into a home business, Catch My Drift, in which, Abbazia, imbued with the essence of the coast, creates unique pieces — a starfish, a lobster a seahorse, a whale — that reflect one’s love for the sea. A percentage of profit is donated to the Greenwich Point Conservancy for shoreline restoration projects.
The festival celebrates its 40th year in 2025; dates are the weekend before Memorial Day, May 17-18. Sooner is an arts festival planned for Ridgefield, Conn.’s Ballard Park on June 29-30. For information, www.gordonfinearts.org or 518-852-6478.
