Spring into March with Memorable Artists and Crafters!

Meet Alyssa Kyle from Alyssa's Cupcake Confections...

I am 23 years old, and am the owner of "Alyssa's Cupcake Confections." For the most part, I am self taught. I am home-based but sell my cupcakes at various farmers markets, art shows, and events at Gale's Garden Center in Westlake. I also cater special orders, birthdays, showers, weddings, do custom designs, etc. I teach cupcake baking & decorating classes as well.

I love the creativity of inventing cupcake flavor combinations, baking them, and decorating them in unique ways. My inspiration comes from other desserts (pastries, pies, cookies, donuts, candies, international desserts, ice cream, drinks, seasonal, fun and unique flavor combinations, etc.) that I can incorporate into a cupcake. The next step is tweaking recipes to perfection and creating a unique design for each one.

My mom is my partner, and was instrumental in helping me begin "Alyssa's Cupcake Confections" 5 years ago. She handles the business end, created my website, and is my decorating consultant.

I've always loved baking desserts since I was a little girl. My mom and I would bake and decorate tons of sugar cookie designs for parties at school. As I got older, my passion for sweets grew. I took cake decorating and baking classes, and developed a particular interest in cupcakes. I started bringing them to the theater I used to act for, as well as family parties. They were always a huge hit! I decided, on a whim, to try selling them at Crocker Park Farmers Market.  My table was mobbed and I sold all 200 cupcakes in 2 hours. Everyone asked for a website, brochures or business cards. That day my business was born.

The message behind my work is to have fun with your choices, think outside the box, and be creative. Anyone who has tried my cupcakes can tell how much I love doing this, and take pride in their enjoyment of my flavors and designs. I think that they should appeal to all of your senses. It is important to me that they are very visually appealing, as well as have a wonderful smell and taste. My favorite quote is, "To Enjoy the Flavor of Life Take Big Bites" Robert Heinlien.

This will be my second Avant -Garde Show. We were in last summer's show in Westlake and loved it. We sold out before the end of the day. Becki Cooper's shows are wonderful!

In five years, I hope to have a small store front. In the meantime, please take a look at my Website: www.cupcakesbyalyssa.com/, Flavor pages, Photos and Events page and come out and see us at our next event! We will be updating the Events page in early February.

Meet Rosanne Demkowicz from Restorations by Rosanne… 

I am a single mother to a teenage daughter. I own my own business called

"Restorations by Rosanne," where I repair and restore statues. I work on

anything from garden gnomes and religious statuary, to fine art and

tchotkes. I also enjoy landscape photography. I love to go hiking in the

park areas we have here in the Cleveland area, and while I hike, I like to

snap photos of the beauty I see around me. For fun, and stress relief, I

like to paint, and music has always been in my soul.

I have been doing the statue restorations for three years, and I'’ve been

taking pictures almost my whole life. I just got into showing and selling

my photography at local art shows in the past year.

This will be my first Avant-Garde show, but I have heard great things about

the shows and I am really looking forward to being apart of it.

You know how some people say that they don'’t have a creative bone in their

body? I think I have 206 creative bones in my body. Creating art and

music are a part of my being. If I couldn't paint, or take pictures, or

sing, I think I would wither away and die. Everything around me inspires me,

especially the beauty and majesty of nature.

The statue restorations started off as helping a couple of neighbors with

repairs on their garden statues. They loved my work and convinced me to

turn it into a business. The selling of my photography was also the doing

of my friends and family. They felt that my work was too good to keep to

myself, and I needed some money. My therapist gave me an application for a

major art show, I applied, and got in. Although sales were bad due to

super-hot weather, I was bitten by the show bug.

I'’ve always enjoyed taking pictures. With the dawn of the digital age and

the use of editing software, I found new life and possibilities with my

photography. It was my friends who discovered that I had a talent that

should be shared with the world. If they hadn't nudged me into doing

shows, I would have thousands of photographs sitting on my computer that

nobody would ever see.

I don'’t know that I have a process really. I go hiking and take my camera

along. If I see something that I find beautiful or interesting, I snap a

picture. When I get home and have time, I upload the pictures to my

computer and use editing software to pick out the best areas of each shot.

Then, sometimes, I play with the image through adjusting the color

saturation or turning it black & white or sepia.

In five years, I would love to open a store front in an historic shopping

district. It would serve two purposes. Part of it would be a gallery for

my own artwork and that of up-and-coming local artists. The other part of

the store would house my restoration business with an open workshop area

where people could watch me work on a restoration project. Of course, I

would still be doing art shows around the area as well.

The message behind my work is to look around you and find the beauty of the world around you. 

Oftentimes I take pictures of small things that most people might overlook. There is  beauty everywhere. As to my restoration work, my message is to be green. We need to stop being a “disposable” society. Just because a statue may

be faded with some minor damage, does not mean it needs to be added to a

landfill.

2013 West Side Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday & Sunday, March 23 & 24, 2013, 10:00am-5:00pm

Rocky River Memorial Hall

21016 Hilliard Blvd.

Rocky River, OH 44116

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardeshows.com

Visit us on:

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Dare To Display The Uniqueness That Is You

Meet David Simon...

I am an ad agency creative director, freelance illustrator and writer. I live in Westlake with my wife Carrie, our cat Brix and our children Eric, Hannah, and McKenna. I have been drawing and designing professionally since I was in my late teen years.

The world that we live in inspires me, I look at a magnolia tree silhouetted against the sky and think, "How can I render this image in pen or ink?" After all of these years I still enjoy putting pen to paper and sharing my work with others, and it is what keeps me going. 

I discovered my talent when I was very young. I could always draw a little better than other kids my age and just improved with time, therefore developing my creative process. I try not to over think, I just start drawing and often times something good happens. If not, I just start over.There is beauty in everything, in texture, detail, and shadows. You just have to find it.

This will be my third Avant-Garde show and I'm looking forward to experience the first two-day show!

Meet Kate From Peripeti...
I grew up in Avon and have been in Chicago for the past ten years as a freelance mixed media artist. I recently returned to the area and I am enjoying getting plugged into the art and craft community in the area. I will be going to England this April for an art fellowship and I am very much looking forward to expanding over there while still maintaining my shop Peripeti. 

I have been making art for about 15 years but fell into making candles. It started as a way to make gifts for friends and family and just began to grow. I love every aspect of making them, so I feel very blessed to be able to continue making them and to be expanding.

Creating is something that I have always loved, but what I love about the art and candles I’m making is that they are more personal and for the home. I think the home is so personal and intimate, and I love creating pieces that are meant to compliment that environment.

How I began my business.. I had worked with galleries and exhibits previously, but sort of fell into the craft shows when my candles began to grow into a business. I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s a great community of friendly people who are pursuing their passions and enjoy seeing others succeed as well.

My creative process is experimenting and problem solving which might sound odd when talking about creating, but to me they are the same thing. Whether it’s mixed media or candles, it takes a willingness to try new things. It's also important to be open to learn from the past. There’s always that tendency to get ‘bound up’ in a piece and be afraid to move forward. But, if I approach it like an experiment or how I would in solving a problem, it frees me up to make mistakes, which I’ve found moves my work ahead faster than anything else.

I’m currently in shops and have an online shop and I am looking to expand both locally and internationally. The US is the largest soy producer, soy candles mean more domestic jobs and local resources. I’m excited by all the possibilities and hope to be able to grow while maintaining a local presence! 

Meet Kendall Felt From Kendal Painting & Unique Finishes...

I am a self-employed painter/artist, who does medium and high-end faux finishes, as well as wallpaper installation and removal. This is my twentith year in business. I have been selling my designs for about five years now.

I’ve shown my hand-crafted scarves & jewelry at three Avant-Garde Art & Craft Shows, thus far. I get my inspiration at night, in bed, designs come into my head while staring at a darkened ceiling; then it’s time to get out of bed and start a drawing. 

I started this as a hobby several years go, I would make simple pieces and give them to friends for birthday and holiday gifts. Many people said I should sell my pieces since they were so lovely. My talent is in my genes, I grew up learning fine art at the knees of my mother, a talented artist from California.

                     

My creative process is simple, I see shapes in nature which stems to me seeing a design in my head, then it goes onto paper. From there, I then attempt to mold it with my hands. In five years, I hope to I see my designs online, reaching out to millions of daring women.

The message behind my work is this: “Only dead fish swim with the stream…”  You are ‘one-of-a-kind'; dare to be different; dare to display the uniqueness that is you.

Meet Jody Lanham From Designs by Jody... 

I was born and raised in Wooster,Ohio, I am about to retire from my job of thirty years working for the State of Ohio at The Ohio State University and Wooster City Schools. I have three grown daughters, one is a US Marine, the other two are the mothers of my most precious grandchildren!

I have been making jewelry and designing other kinds of decorative craft items seriously for about six years. I began doing crafty things for fun many years before that, since kindergarten I imagine! I still like to make things and decorate for fun or for my own pleasure, but I spend most of my creative time making things to sell.

Almost anything inspires me to create. Mostly nature: sunsets and sunrises, water, sky, trees and flowers, animals and so much more! Shapes, textures and colors, feelings and moods help mold my ideas. For me there are no rules in my jewelry creation except that I make only what I would wear myself. Also, although it's not a rule, no two pieces of my jewelry are ever alike.  Not even the same design or color. They are all just different, period.

There is no real process to my creative generation of wearable artwork, but there are methods that eventually lead to production. I love to go to bead shops and just browse through the individually-selectable stones and glass. I sometimes get a vision when looking at the beads. Sometimes, I just buy pieces I like and hope they work in pleasing combination at some point. I also like to glance through beading magazines and look at other jewelry, particularly artisan-made. My favorite happenstance is my messy beading setup. I will look at the beads scattered about and their pattern. From there, proximity will suggest a combination that generally ends up in a final and usually a quite pleasing result.

                            

My work says that what is inside is what matters, and if one can bring that to the surface, expose it to the world, that takes courage and confidence. It also says also that it is ok to be different and to try new things. It is not so much the jewelry wearing that makes a person beautiful, but rather the person wearing it  that brings out the beauty in the jewelry.

2013 West Side Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday & Sunday, March 23 & 24, 2013, 10:00am-5:00pm

Rocky River Memorial Hall

21016 Hilliard Blvd.

Rocky River, OH 44116

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardeshows.com

Visit us on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

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Spring Has Sprung...Well, Almost!

Meet Alice Radabaugh from DBA Alice's Air Pets...
In March 2012 I started a mobile business selling air plants, also known as Tillandsias, at a variety of events.  I like art shows because I offer something different - living plants that I incorporate with elements from nature to create living art.

Nature is a great inspiration. Plants are a livelihood and hobby that allow me to take rocks, shells, and wood and put them together to create a functional piece of art. Art makes us happy. It doesn't have to be something that just looks pretty sitting on a shelf or hanging on a wall. Air plants can be cared for and moved around, even outside! I call them "air pets" because they grow on us much like animals we care for do.

I participate in home & garden shows, plant sales, open markets, fall festivals, christmas shows as well as juried and non-juried shows. I travel up to 100 miles from home to communities selling person to person. I love meeting new people to tell them about Tillandsias and perhaps giving an art lover a new hobby. As I approach my second year, I look forward to revisiting with folks I've met along the way.

Meet Carey Starkey of Designs by Carey...
I'm 28 years old. I love to travel. Along with beading and some crocheting, I am into scrapbooking. I teach 5th and 6th grade Sunday School. I've been beading since grade school and learned to crochet just after high school and been selling on Etsy since July 2011. This is my second Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show. I did the spring one last year in Westlake. 

I create purely for fun. I can't draw. I can't cook anything that's not in a box. So jewelry and crocheting are my creative outlets. I've been beading since grade school. I started out with plastic beads and stretchy string making costume jewelry and friendship bracelets for my girl friends. As time went on, I began reading more and learning techniques from friends. I learned to crochet from my mother and grandmother. I'm still in the learning stages, but I am proud of what I've learned so far and plan to extend my line of crocheted items in the future as I learn more.

I get ideas from around me. I work in retail, so I'll pay attention to what people are wearing or notice something while online shopping or browsing a store. I'll make a mental note of what I see and like and make my own take on the item. Or, I'll get ideas when bead shopping. I'll see a fun shape or new gems I haven't tried yet and experiment. In 5 years, I see myself still selling on Etsy and maybe having my items carried in a local boutique.

The message behind my work is fun. What girl doesn't enjoy adding a little sparkle to her day? Whether it's a cute pair of earrings worn to work, or a shawl for a wedding. I hope there are people out there who enjoy my work and have as much fun wearing them as I do making them.

Meet Jamie McCoy of Davita: Recycled Goddess...
I am a 2007 graduate from Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA, with a BA in Psychology and a concentration in Neuroscience. I was born and raised in Iowa and moved to Pennsylvania in 2004. I live in Erie still, but love to travel to handmade markets and art shows! I love music and attend a lot of summer music festivals including Great Blue Heron Music Festival in Sherman, NY. I have four cats, named Dexter, Mike Gordon, Nittany Lion, and Bella. I have recently taken up hoop dance, and though I am not very good at it, I love it. Finally, I love to cook and challenge myself with vegan baking. 

I opened my Etsy shop in March of 2009 thinking that I would sell a few things a year, just to have a little extra money and to justify all of the time I spent creating. At the time, I worked full time in the mental health field and needed the stress relief after work, so creating and photography had become my "ME" activity. I was actually able to quit my day job in August 2011 and have been working as a full time artisan ever since! This will be my first Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show and I look forward to participating!

Everything inspires me, really.  I can never really pinpoint where the inspration comes from. Usually, an idea hits me like a flash and I have a moment of feeling like I'd known it all along and just hadn't accessed it yet.

My mother was always a crafter; needlepoint, Pretty Punch (remember that, way back in the 80's?) and all kinds of other things. Her mother was a quilter. I suppose that crafting was always there, but I don't think I really started spending a lot of time doing it until 2009 when, as I stated previously, I was working in emergency mental health and needed a distraction after particularly stressful days of work.

When I was in grade school I attempted to start a club called Kid's FACE (Kids for a Cleaner Environment) at my school. This never came to pass, but four other girls and I did meet in a classroom after school for about a week before the teacher put a stop to it. During that time I learned how to make paper and years later a friend, Amy, reminded me that I still knew how to do it. I guess it all started there! 

I find art in everything. Even things that you find no use for, like junk mail, can be turned into something beautiful and functional, like a plantable gift tag or a seed bomb. It's all about perspective. You have to train yourself to see uses for things beyond their initial intended use, and then you can get a little creative and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time! Once you can do this, your options are endless.

Meet Cynde Hujarski of Cynde H Designs...
Cynde Hujarski – a Cleveland native – received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kent State University in jewelry/metals. Her previous design degree from Cuyahoga community College, plus her Kent State, formal art training laid the foundation for both creative design and artistic exploration.

Working with/inspired by fellow artists, Cynde has developed an extraordinary interest in recycling ordinary objects and transforming them into unique works of art. Recent designs have focused on 35 mm film negatives. Necklaces, pins, earrings, hair clips and key chains are only a few of the items Cynde has created using film negatives.

Not only does Cynde create production pieces, she also designs commissioned and custom jewelry. Cynde’s finely crafted jewelry has been admitted to several Ohio juried shows. Her work is sold at Epiphany Gifts (Hudson OH), Native Cleveland, and CLE Clothing Co. (Cleveland, OH). Her Pierced Heart Ohio Pendant reflects her fondness for her home town and was featured in the December, 2011 Cleveland Magazine.

2013 West Side Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Saturday & Sunday, March 23 & 24, 2013, 10:00am-5:00pm

Rocky River Memorial Hall

21016 Hilliard Blvd.

Rocky River, OH 44116

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardeshows.com

Visit us on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

LINKEDIN