On Saturday, our exhibition ‘from Raw to Refined‘ closes at the Reading Public Museum.  If you have not yet made it, change your weekend plans, get in your car and drive out there.  It’s a wonderful showing of fine crafts.

For details on hours and directions, visit the Reading Public Museum’s website http://www.readingpublicmuseum.org/

I’m sure you know by now that we have a fall craft festival coming up this weekend at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell.  We’ve only been saying it every chance we get since it’s a great way to celebrate fall outside!

But there’s a lot more happening in the coming weeks, here’s a quick preview…

Also this weekend, in Lancaster, we have a Juried Member Showcase during Fall ArtWalk at our 252 N. Prince St gallery.  David Lunin and Jay Brubaker are showing their furniture for two days in what they’re calling ‘Divergince’.  These showcases are an opportunity for our juried members to rent our gallery.

October 31 is the final day to see ‘from Raw to Refined‘ at the Reading Public Museum.   If you have not made it, it is worth the drive.  Plus there’s a really cool printmaking exhibition on display with works from Cezanne, Millet and Whistler.

October 31 is also the date of our ‘Anatomy of a Pattern‘ workshop with Debby Spence at Millersville University.  There are a number of spaces remaining.  If you’re interested in making your own patterns for clothing, don’t miss this one.  It’s gonna be great.

We open our Prince St gallery doors for ‘Handmade Holiday‘ on Friday, November 6.  This store setting runs until January 2.  We’ve extended our regular hours for the month of December so you can get in and buy some handmade crafts for gifts.  For those of you from out of town, it’s worth the drive: come down to see our gallery on a Tuesday, Friday or Saturday and you can also catch Central Market, the country’s oldest continuously operating farmer’s market.

Saturday, November 7 is the ‘FELT: Hat, Bag or Vessel’ class with Jeri Robinson.  It’s also the start of Lebanon Valley Studio Tour, which has a number of Guild members involved.

The following weekend is our return to Manheim Township High School for our Holiday Fine Craft Fair on November 14 & 15.  We love this show and we know you will too.  It’s a short (10 minutes) drive outside of downtown Lancaster.  And if you’re planning to come to this craft show, you should make it a point to then drive into our gallery downtown.

I can’t believe how much is going on in the next few weeks!  Leave comments below about other events I may have missed.

A tree becomes a table, a vein of metal ore becomes a wedding ring. This is the journey through which a gift of nature is transformed into a work of art. 

Handmade.  That is the mark of the master craftsman.

From start to finish, from raw to refined, the master craftsman begins with the abundance of earth, field and forest, and through sheer skill and ingenious thought, gives back that which is finely wrought and utterly breathtaking.

It seems so romantic to be a craftsman. In reality, craftsmen are like chemists and engineers who work long hours, using trial and error to develop works of lasting beauty.

Theirs are lifetimes spent perfecting the craft: studying the chemical properties of glazes, learning just how to strike when the fire is hot, testing strength in woven patterns, building sculptures that demonstrate both balance and restraint.

Raw talent is a good starting point, but years of making, observing, experimenting, gathering feedback, and just making, making, making are how masters create truly resolved designs.  

Crafts and craftsmanship are both vast categories, hard to define yet always intriguing to behold. 

The traditional craftsman is imagined by some as a hardy soul, the true pioneer of time honored methods and heritage practices. Their powerful skills create work that is supremely functional in our everyday life. Windsor chairs, wooden spoons and oil pitchers come to mind.

The contemporary craftsman often shares the stage with fine art, creating sculptural, sometimes whimsical and always creative works that may be functional yet are quite decorative in tone. Tiny teapots of pure silver are perfectly able to hold tea, yet are less about quenching thirst, more about feeding the soul. 

Yet fine craft encompasses all that is well-conceived and finely executed by hand. Fine craft is designed by old and young, men and women, each skilled beyond measure, and each working alone or in collaboration. Handmade is a worldwide concept.

The collection here celebrates some of the best work of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. It speaks to all mediums in traditional and contemporary craft, and to the years and decades in the field, as raw moves to refined, and as each maker grows in technique, skill and accomplishment.

This is an exerpt of ‘from Raw to Refined’ on display now at the Reading Public Museum through October 31.

It’s our third year at the Chase Center on the Riverfront for our July Fine Craft Fair on July 25 & 26.  The last two years have been spent developing marketing strategies for getting the word out.  Now that we’ve planted our feet, we wanted to build a little community of partners.

We received a warm response from Delaware Art Museum, Delaware-by-Hand and Biggs Museum.  A special thanks to Danielle Rice, Gail O’Donnell, Ryan Grover and Deborah Appleby as well as the presenters Dr. Mary Holahan, Beccy Cooper and Linda Danko.

From the discussions with each of those three fine Delaware art institutions, we’re launching a new educational program called Local Craft Conversations.   It is a platform for local art groups to speak directly to our members, patrons and show attendees.  It gives the group a chance to say what impact they have on the local art scene and allows craft-lovers to discover new exhibitions in their backyard.

So when you’re at our show on July 25 & 26, make sure you stop by to hear from Delaware Art Museum, Delaware-by-Hand and Biggs Museum on their ongoing commitment to local artists.  Talks are Saturday at 11:30 am and 1:30 pm and Sunday at 11:30 am.

Karen Howell is a tile and mosaic craftswoman from Pittsburgh.  Her imagery focuses mostly on animals and wildlife.  An avid outdoor adventurer, she draws her inspiration from nature. 

This particular tile mosaic ’Streak the Cat’ is part of ‘from Raw to Refined’ at the Reading Public Museum (July 18 to October 31).   She also exhibits at various craft shows including our July 25 & 26 show at the Chase Center on the Riverfront, Wilmington, DE.

Have a suggestion for a future Member Monday showcase? Email nick -at- pacrafts.org.

One month from today, on July 18, our new exhibition ‘from Raw to Refined’ opens at the Reading Public Museum.  The exhibit includes 89 brilliant one-of-a-kind handmade works from 79 craftsmen including ‘Split’ (pictured below) by clay artist Lisa Muller.  The opening reception is Friday, July 17, from 5:30 to 8 pm and is free to members. Please join us! After that date, normal daily admission ($7) applies to all adults unless you are a museum member. The exhibition closes Oct. 31. The reception is generously co-hosted by the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen.