New Hampshire Craftsmen's Fair

Stalkers, pay attention! Every November, like clockwork, we travel to the City of Brotherly Love to attend the Philadelphia Museum Craft Show. We also like to seek out other craft venues to check out  their interesting designs and creations. When Jean was in New Hampshire earlier this week, she was thrilled to find out about the 81st Annual Craftsmen's Fair sponsored by the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen at Mount Sunapee Resort in Newbury, a hop, skip and a jump from New London where she was staying. It didn't take much persuading for her to coax her sister-in-law Maureen and niece Teresa to join her. She took lots of photos in order to report back to Valerie and to you, dear readers.  Please do click on the names of the exhibitors to link to their websites to see more of their handiwork.

Just inside the entrance, visitors were treated to a show by puppeteer Dan Butterworth. His intricately hand-carved puppets dance and whirl from the stage into the air. He masterfully manipulated this little clown to ride a unicycle around the stage.

Since it would be impossible to cover the glorious work of the hundreds of craftspeople, with the exception of a couple glass works, Jean focused on those exhibitors showing clothing and jewelry. Sally Bags by Janet Durkee-Prescott and Siiri Grubb are colorful and functional and come in a variety of styles and prints.

Julia Brandis' Glassworks from Westminster, Vermont featured desk and table lamps as well as illuminated stained glass panels.

Jean was delighted to run into one of our favorite exhibitors from Philly, Joy Raskin Metal Ornaments from Concord, New Hampshire, was participating in the show.  Joy does metal work and tablewear, but her jewelry rings our bell.  This amazing woven metal collar caught Jean's eye.

Another jeweler who shows at Philly, Kathleen Dustin from Contoocook, New Hampshire, was in the same tent.  Although we love her necklaces, like the one pictured below, she also does amazing purses in alternative materials.

Nathan Macomber of Macomber Glass in Conway, New Hampshire, displayed beautiful glassworks in his booth. On the outside, he had hung this demonstration of the process of the making of a striped glass marble.

The booth of Marcia Hammond of Brookfield, Vermont, was filled with scarves, handmade wearables and beautiful pastel knit tops that were lightweight and had a wonderful feel.

Hand weaver Nancy O'Conner from Ashuelot, New Hampshire makes rayon chenille scarves, tops and jackets that look stylish and feel amazingly lush.

Patricia Palson, also of Contoocook, New Hampshire, makes women's clothing that feels as good as it looks. Jean, of course, was initially distracted by her terrific eyeglass frames by MiuMiu.

Patricia focuses on jackets and coats and will be participating in the Philadelphia Museum Craft Show this year, so our paths will definitely cross again soon.

Jim Lambert is an artist from Hillsborough, New Hampshire, with an incredibly wicked sense of humor and a well-developed sense of whimsy. Jean was struck by his installation of a dress made out of tree bark, most especially by its halo of butterflies.  She chatted with Jim about the piece which had sold to a young couple and advised him to tell them to look up Philip Treacy's famous butterfly hat to add a dimension to their enjoyment of the piece. Although he doesn't have a website, his email address is: jimlabertfolkart@gmail.com.

Here is Philip Treacy's butterfly hat for Alexander McQueen's Spring 2008 collection. (Image from blog.liberio.it.)

Carrie Cahill Mulligan makes heirloom handknit hats. Her booth featured an example of what her buttery soft felted hats start out looking like before they are washed and shrunk.

Although it is a slightly different color combination than the one above, this hat gives you an idea of how soft and fitted her hats can be.

Feltmaker Miriam Carter's booth was chock full of beautiful designs. This shot only gives you a glimpse, so check out her website to view more goodies, including her gorgeous hats!

Hope you enjoyed Jean's whirlwind tour of the NH exhibition. If you are on the East Coast, we recommend the Philadelphia Museum Craft Show in November. And someday, we hope to make it to the Smithsonian's Craft Show in Washington, DC, which is held in the spring.

ART EVERYWHERE

"Is it art?" (to quote everyone, everywhere, at some time or another.)

Yes, particularly if it's a piece of the Berlin Wall, sandwiched in one of New York's many nooks and crannies.  (The realtor owner generously placed it in the public eye when it turned out the floors of his apartment would not stand up to the weight of the concrete.)

Actually, we just showed you the Berlin Wall segment to insert pictures of ourselves.  Now that we've taken care of that, let's talk about Art Everywhere US.org., a "public celebration of great American art exhibited on thousands of … advertising displays across America … includ[ing] billboards, bus shelters, [and] subway posters…  This August, cherished American artworks will be seen by millions of people every day when they are commuting to work, taking the kids to school, hailing a taxi, shopping in a mall, catching a bus or pursuing other routine activities."  (Click on the link to learn more, including what cities are participating.)

What a great idea!

So we set out to find some art hiding in plain sight.

Here's John Singer Sargent's Dorothy, painted in 1900.  We could have photographed it without the garbage can, but this is how most pedestrians will discover it - a breath of fresh air, an invigorating change from the braying advertisements usually plastered on the sides of phone kiosks.

On the side of a newsstand in Times Square there was this wonderful 1932 painting, Pueblo Woman, by Emil Bisttram.  Every thirty seconds it changed - mostly to advertising, but every fifth change or so was another painting.  There was no way to photograph her without some reflections of the pervasive neon lights of Times Square, but perhaps one could call that interactive art.  (And anyway, although the camera catches everything, the focused eye automatically filters out what it doesn't want to see.)

The exhibitors chose the broad side of another newsstand to exhibit Charles Sheeler's Classic Landscape (1931).  All the paintings shown are from major American museums.  Classic Landscape is from the collection of the National Gallery of Washington D.C.

We could show you several others, but let's insert a bit of variety here.  Is the Naked Cowboy art?  If he were painted or sculpted, everyone would say yes.  Can he be art if he's not painted or sculpted?  We know some of our readers are saying right now "But he IS sculpted!"

Nestled between a garbage can and lighted ads as big as the Eiffel Tower is the SnackBox.  Isn't it art?

IDB Bank plays with the concept of repousse doors, so popular in the Machine Age, and updates them for the modern eye.

Last year the Lexington Hotel put art in its windows that clearly references Fritz Lang's movie Metropolis.

Even the sidewalk is decorated in New York.  (But is it art?)

(Many thanks to Brendan, who kindly took the Berlin Wall photos one recent evening!)

WISH YOU WERE HERE

WE VISIT THE AMAZING FASHION ARCHIVES OF NEW YORK VINTAGE

A few weeks ago, we made an impromptu visit to New York Vintage, a huge store filled to the rafters with uniformly the best vintage clothing we have ever seen under one roof. We gasped and gaped at every wonderful thing we saw, and there were many wonderful things to see. Maybe we had a certain look about us, or maybe the staff recognized us from our business card, because we were invited to come back and take a look at their archive, which is usually reserved for stylists, costume designers, and movie and television professionals. The invitation alone was our version of Christmas in July.

We returned two weeks ago, and would like to share with you some of the wonders we saw.

We hadn't taken two steps in when we started ooohing and aaaaahing because there were dozens of wondrous hats at the door. We both fell in love with these marvelous feather crests. These are not antique, but were specially made to order for New York Vintage.

Now let's show you Nicki Minaj, who wore it first.  And let's not even ask the magazine question Who wore it better?  We already know that, but we're absolutely delighted to say we wore it too.  We chose to wear ours widthwise, which shows you just how versatile and well made this headpiece is.

Just a little further in was this dazzling jacket dated "circa 1924".  It has the very popular silver and gold thread of the time, and a theme of ancient Egyptian imagery rendered in seed beads and embroidery.  Remember, King Tut's tomb made big news when it was discovered in 1922.  Egyptian design fit right in with the art deco period.  New York Vintage's owner and founder, Shannon Hoey, has a very strong collection from this period, and helped costume Boardwalk Empire and The Great Gatsby.  (For Magnet Agency's great interview with Shannon, click here.)

Here's Paz de la Huerta wearing a New York Vintage costume in a still from Boardwalk Empire which we found on the New York Vintage website.

And you need to see some swoonworthy shoes from the period, too, don't you?

And staying right around that period, how romantic are these printed trousers from the archives? They are like something out of Scheherazade.  One gets the feeling Leon Bakst could have designed them, and Nijinsky could have worn them.

Various period items scattered around the room, as if in a comfortable apartment, keep visitors in a historical frame of mind. Jean couldn't resist trying on this hand painted mask. Now we know what to rent if we're ever invited to a masked ball in Venice.

We were offered the opportunity to try things on.  We don't have to tell readers how tempting that was, but we kept our try-ons to a minimum.  We couldn't resist the hats, but we photographed most other items in situ.

Jean fell in love with this persimmon colored raw silk suit dated "circa 1905".  It has very detailed seam work, not all of which is visible here, to flatter the body, and wonderful black and white target buttons in bone or horn.

We should also show you a selection of shoes from the 1940s.  The colors and decorations nearly dance, even without feet in them.

Just as there were cases and cases of shoes (only a few of which we can show you here), so there were cases and cases of jewelry.  Here's a smattering of that.  We've chosen a selection of bold sculptural jewelry, but if anyone comes in needing a tiara, New York Vintage has a selection of those, too.

At the rear of the archives, we discovered a mannequin with an amazing display of large statement necklaces, each one more fabulous than the next.

We were ably assisted by the very knowledgeable and helpful Megan. We asked her to model a huge statement necklace for us (in carved ebony?) from the mannequin, and she kindly obliged.  She did hesitate for a moment, saying she had not done her hair, but we suspect it is not possible to take a bad picture of Megan.

New York Vintage doesn't restrict its archive to things beyond our memory. This Mondrian swimsuit and futuristic beach hat with built-in sun visor look like something out of a James Bond flick circa early Sean Connery.  Yeah, we wore stuff like this.

We also found current designers like Mary McFadden and Comme des Garcons. Here's a terrific Maison Margiela top we found, made out of kid gloves.

This graphic black and white striped faux monkey fur coat by Dolce and Gabanna is also available for rental.

But inevitably we gravitated back toward hats. (There's a surprise!) There were three that we both had to try on.

We loved this asymmetrical orange straw Pierre Cardin hat. It looks like Phillip Treacy meets Dr.Seusse.  (Notice we each wore it differently.)

Needless to say, this purple velvet Yves Sant Laurent hat from the archives stole Jean's heart. It is guaranteed to bring out your inner Marlene Dietrich.

While specializing in clothes, the owners can't resist the occasional iconic furniture pieces.   For contrast, we wore these hats sitting in a '60s egg chair, with typical '60s lighting in the background.

But we both fell in luuuuvvvvvvv with another of New York Vintage's special creations, a black leather cone hat that must have been a foot tall, but was so well made it easily stayed on our heads.

This tall conical hat is the cat's meow! It has a very Grace Jones vibe. When either one of us wins the lottery, we'll buy one and commission another!

When our visit to the archive was over, we wandered back downstairs, where more wonderful clothes and props awaited us.

Next to this deco mannequin in a feathered headdress is a yummy sleek pair of modern black platform sandals from Celine.

The art deco mannequin and vintage luggage create an atmosphere that screams glamour.

Nearby was this Alexander McQueen dress, whose expertly designed stitching gives it body and drama.

In the next room, we came across a marvelous screen in the strong colors and black outlines favored by Gauguin.  You can see yet more astonishing vintage hats in the case at the left, and an eye-popping yellow lacquered chair peeking out at bottom right.

To close, we had to show you another photo from New York Vintage's press collection.  Dating back to 2004, it's Beyonce for InStyle magazine.

We want to thank Shannon, Jon, Nicole, Jack and Megan for allowing us the privilege of looking behind the scenes.  Everyone at New York Vintage clearly loves what they do.  They were warm, welcoming, knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

Jon kindly took the opening photo, in which we wear a pair of matching Dior Resort sombreros, sitting in vintage matching chairs, and flanked by platform shoes which we remember with fondest nostalgia.