Meet Kelsey Hendren from Terra Artistry...
Hello, my is Kelsey, owner of Terra Artistry. I make rustic jewelry using natural and recycled materials. I am a long time crafter and have been selling on Etsy and doing art shows since 2016. I look forward to being in Strongsville for my first Avant-Garde show. I lived in Strongsville with my family for 10 wonderful years and then we took a huge leap of faith and moved to a small hobby farm in Valley City. Life on the farm has been such an amazing experience and has really been the fuel to my creative fire. I am deeply inspired by nature, and being surrounded by trees and fields has taught me to slow down and drink up the beauty all around me.
Human beings are amazing creatures. We have complex societies, create amazing art, and engineer skyscrapers, but there is something that takes my breath away when I look at a flower, or hear a bird's song. I also love to repurpose, and enjoy the challenge of taking items no one wants and turning them into something beautiful.
I have always enjoyed crafting and DIY projects, but it was in June 2016 when I started to get serious about jewelry design. That was the month when we were inundated with the 17 Year Cicada's. Our farm was covered with them and it wasn't long before I started to find their shed wings caught in the tall grasses beside our pond. They were so beautiful shining in the morning light, I couldn't pass them up. I ended up collecting thousands of them, and started using them to create jewelry. That was the beginning of Terra Artistry. From there, I continued to experiment with different techniques and materials and expand my business and grow as a designer. Every piece of jewelry I create comes from a place of love and positivity, and that is what I hope to share. A little piece of natural beauty, from delicate veins of an insect wing, to the wear and tear on an old watch, to the rustic charm of a rough cut stone.
Meet Fawn Michelle Fecca from Annie's Armoire...
I live locally and have always loved my pets. Since I was unable to have children, pets have become my focus. I have been doing my craft now for about 5 years. I'm inspired to create by my beloved English cocker Spaniel Annie who loves to dress up. I created all my designs with her in mind.
I also got into my hobby because I was tired of the fuss that came with tying bandanasa around her neck. I needed something easy for me. I also make custom coats for our fur babies as I have found the sizes in retail do not fit.
I come from a long line of sewers. In fact my grandmother was a professional seamstress, and had several ball gowns at LBJ's inaugural ball. I guess I picked it up more than anyone realized as I had not touched a sewing machine since 8th grade Home Economics class!
The message behind my work is to make pets happy one pet at a time. I test all my products on pets and their humans before rolling out to the general public.
Meet Angelina Sheetz from Roots and Rain LLC...
Hello! My name is Angelina Sheetz, I am a wife and mother of
two wonderful children. I handcraft a growing line of natural health and beauty
products made with essential oils. I also make candles and wax melts from 100%
soy wax in a variety of colors and fragrances. I am a Certified Herbalist (2010)
and have been studying natural medicine for over a decade. I have a wide
variety of hobbies and interests and I have been an artist with entrepreneur
tendencies all my life.
I have been crafting a variety of natural products for my
family and myself for several years, but this is only my second year vending. This will be my first Avant-Garde show and I am very
excited!
I draw inspiration from life itself in all its infinite
forms, from the unending battle against entropy, and the need to maintain
balance both internally, and externally. I am inspired by the wonders of nature
and the incredible healing powers that plants have over the human body. Of
course, Need is the greatest of inspirations and wherever it exists, a creative
solution will arise.
I have chronically chapped lips and after questing for the
perfect lip balm with no success – even in the best brands the consistency was
off or the ingredients were – I finally decided to make my own. I made it
exactly the way I liked it and after giving some to family and friends I found
that others liked it too. So then I started experimenting with other natural
health recipes and candle making and found that people liked those too. So I
tried selling my wares at a craft show and found I very much enjoyed it and so
did everyone else. I think the part I like best is sharing products and
information that truly help people.
My creative process is simple; I select the highest quality
ingredients I can find that have the most benefit to the human body, then I
prepare them in a way that is practical, convenient, and effective, and finish
them with a little artistic flair. Many of our product labels feature
photography from our travels to the Amazon rainforest and many of the Sacred
Sites of the Andes Mountains. I find that labels are an excellent way to
display photography and natural plant oils and butters are an excellent medium
of artistic expression. I consider my work to be true “healing arts”.
In five years I hope to see my products on store shelves and
have a thriving family business. And I hope in five years it will still be just
as much fun as it is now.
If there was a message behind my work, it would be “Make the
most with what you have” and “Nature provides everything we need.” We should
always appreciate what we have when we have it, for things change so quickly
and precious things, once lost, cannot be regained.
*As a rule, I only use ingredients that I know to be
beneficial to humans, and none that are harmful. Our products do NOT contain any
of the following: parabens, petrochemicals, titanium dioxide, EDTA, industrial
preservatives, stabilizers, phthalates, aluminum compounds, pharmaceuticals,
cheap fillers, or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). But I do put a lot of
Love into everything I make, enjoy!
Meet Sarah & Rebekah Jones from Renee Originals...
Hi! My name is Sarah Jones and I
own Renee Originals 1 with my sister and best friend Rebekah. We are two city
girls from Cleveland, Ohio who believe in being classy, cozy and romantic; we
love to express this by creating unique knit and crochet fashion accessories.
Rebekah and I, Started Renee Originals 1 back in
2011, however, we have been crocheting for over twelve years and knitting for
about two. Being that we are 24 and 22 respectively, we literally have been
working at this craft for more than half of our lives.
This will be our very first time attending one of the
Avant-Garde Art & Craft Shows and we are super excited to be able to share
something that we love and are so passionate about with the art community as
well as fellow art lovers.
For us a classic style is timeless; it doesn’t become
outdated with changing trends and it always flatters. I often tell Rebekah, ‘we
have to keep working on this until it makes you feel something’. To that end we
draw inspiration from classic textural ideas like lace and petals, updating
them for the modern romantic. Being from Cleveland, we know cold, so the items we make have
to be cute and cozy for when you’re bundled tight.
Think cityscapes and black and white movies… that’s us.
Crochet has been a part of our family for as long as I can
remember; when our mother taught herself the art she did not hesitate to share
such a wonderful skill with my sister and me. Ever since we were young our parents always encouraged the
use of our imagination, and they would tell us that anything you can think of
can become a reality if you are determined. Thus when our mother showed us how
a simple hook and a skein of yarn could be turned into something beautiful, it
did not take long for inspiration to captivate us. We began with the basics,
and in time our love and ability gradually matured into what we do today. Since
our beginning, we have continued the self-taught tradition and have included
knitting in our skill arsenal; every day looking for ways to learn and improve
our skills.
Rebekah and I have two very different creative processes. I
am definitely more of a systematic creative, I have a list of things that I
want to make or try and I continually work according to my schedule to achieve
these goals. Rebekah on the other hand, is the type of person who works when
inspiration hits. Working together we have been able to ensure that all the
pieces we create are unique and truly things that we ourselves would wear.
The future is uncertain, but we would love to see our
business having grown in its reach and scope, offering many more unique
fashions for Men, Women and Children. We
would also love to travel and learn different techniques and styles associated
with the fiber arts from around the world and thus be able to incorporate them
into new designs and thus expanding our brand even wider into the global
marketplace.
Everything we do can be summed up in the words Classy Cozy
and Romantic. Our goal is to show how beautiful and practical handmade can
truly be no matter the season. Just as
the classic little black dress or that well-tailored suit never goes out of
style; we have designed Renee Originals 1 to express a timeless elegance that
can only come from handcrafted art.
Everything we make can be completely customized ensuring
that no matter your style or size we can make something that fits who YOU
are. We also have an expanding number of
handmade items specifically designed for men in our shop further proving that a
classic style can fit everyone.
View more of our work at:
Reneeoriginals1.etsy.com
Instagram.com/reneeoriginals1
2017 Strongsville Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
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