Where do you go to find handmade crafts? Is it local or do you go out of your way to get to your favorite gallery?

My favorite gallery is, of course, the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen Store, but my second favorite gallery is Red Raven gallery in Lancaster.  I was drawn to it initially because it was showing some work of Guild members I know. I’ve since gone back several times just to check on the new exhibits.

Share your favorites below and why.  Please include links whenever possible and the city.  I’m gonna assume they’re all from Pennsylvania unless you say otherwise.

Our Lancaster gallery is open every day until Christmas day.  And to make things easier for everyone who works all day and then spends the weekend with the family, we’ve specifically extended our hours early next week.  Here’s our hours for the next seven days…

• Thursday, December 17:          10 am to 4 pm
• Friday, December 18:                10 am to 8 pm
• Saturday, December 19:           10 am to 4 pm
• Sunday, December 20:              12 pm to 4 pm
• Monday, December 21:             10 am to 7 pm
• Tuesday, December 22:             10 am to 7 pm
• Wednesday, December 23:      10 am to 7 pm
• Thursday, December 24:          10 am to 2 pm

And thanks to everyone for stopping in so far, its been a smashing success and because of you we’ve brought in even more handmade work.

Beth Aten, of Lewisburg, dyes, paints and prints fabrics and papers for her one of a kind wall hangings and gift items.  Her work, which she has been making for over twenty years, ranges in size from very small framed works to very large installations.  Her gift items include table runners, pins, scarves and ornaments.

She will be exhibiting her work at two upcoming guild shows; in Lancaster this weekend at the Manheim Township High School and with the Central PA chapter in State College at the Winter Craft Market on December 5th and 6th.  You can also see her work at Handmade Holiday at our 252 N. Prince St gallery in Lancaster.

Visit Beth’s blog, http://studiodays.wordpress.com, to read news from her studio and see her available works for sale.

This is a challenge of sorts.  There’s no giveaway tied to it except the satisfaction of pursuing its ideal.  This year only give locally handmade crafts.  You might think, that’s going to be too difficult and require a lot of extra travel.  Well, that’s not true.  You have a ton of options and if you live in Lancaster county you specifically have two: our Holiday Craft Fair (Nov. 14 & 15) and Handmade Holiday store (opens Nov. 6).

To get you thinking about it, here’s six items in our store, which opens this Friday.  The selection is incredible… I unpacked most of it yesterday.

• Christina Spangler – scarves ($75 – 95)
• Elizabeth Gates – accordion fold journal ($25)
• Lisa Gallagher – filligree snowflake pendant ($24 – 48)
• Bev Zimmerman – clay fern basket ($80 – 125)
• Deena Ball – original watercolors ($14 – 350)
• Tim Knight – vessels and vases ($40, 50 & 60)

I will post another six objects next Thursday to continue your challenge.  We’ll see you this Friday for our opening!

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.

The Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen has members in 33 states.  As the only Guild of its size in the Mid-Atlantic, it serves many members from Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.  One of those members is Susan Wechsler, of Chester, NJ.

Susan explains her intricately handbuilt pottery on her website:

My work is a thoughtfully melded mélange of artistry and functionality. The pieces are fabricated from a combination of high-fired stoneware and porcelain clays. Each creation is a one of a kind, slab constructed or hand woven composition, having its own personality. The palette of my work varies from season to season utilizing both the colors and themes of nature.

You can find her work at our upcoming Handmade Holiday store in Lancaster from November 6 to January 2.  She will also be showing at our Craft Festival this weekend at Montgomery County Community College, Blue Bell.

This Saturday, October 3, is the final day of our popular In the Kitchen store.

But before that, there’s October’s First Friday.  Make plans to come down, visit the store and then go see what else is happening in Lancaster such as the grand opening of the PA Arts Experience’s orientation center, the Scott Wright opening at Lancaster Museum of Art or the Strictly Functional Pottery National at Kevin Lehman Pottery.

We’re open all week from 10 am to 5 pm and on Friday until 9 pm.  Come out and say hello and check out some great crafts for the kitchen.

copyright Larry Lefever

copyright Larry Lefever

copyright Larry Lefever

copyright Larry Lefever

For details about this particular store, visit www.pacrafts.org/inthekitchen.

If you haven’t made it to In the Kitchen gallery store yet, here’s a few more works to get you in the kitchen mood.

1. Joyce Inderbitzin – muffin pan ( $154)
2. Beth Aten – tablerunners ($54)
3. Scott Gold – hewn salad set with servers ($260)
4. Sandra Kaye – fused glass coasters ($40)
5. Clarissa Enck – juicer ($42)
6. Barry Bennecoff – hutch ($1750)

We’re open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm.  Stop on in or if you have a quesiton call us at 717-431-8706.

We have all 585 handmade works in-house for ‘In the Kitchen’ which opens on September 4 (be sure to be there for free food and drink).  Here’s some of what you should expect…

• cutting boards
• teapots
• salt and pepper shakers (wood and/or clay)
• muffin baskets
• whiskey jug
• iron pots and pans (cast iron, seriously!)
• butter bells
• mugs, cups and saucers
• corner cupboard and hutch
• dinner table
• trivets
• wooden spoons
• pitchfork chairs
• table runners
• linens, placemats and napkins
• kitchen-themed art
• and geez… there’s a TON more

But for now all the work is staying in boxes until after the upcoming ‘Intro to PMC’ workshop with Wendy Schuster.

Seems like I should be thrilled that there’s not one more thing added to my plate this week, but I love pulling together these store settings.  And you should see the work we have… WOW!  You can see some of it on the Guild’s Flickr photostream.

So I’m counting the days til I can get everything tagged and set.  In the meantime, we’ve put together a window display at 252 N. Prince St (Lancaster).  Stop by and check it out.