The stock market rises and falls, but the 33rd annual American Craft Council Show, which returns to the Baltimore Convention Center this weekend, is for investors of a different sort. The largest indoor craft show in the country will showcase the work of 700 artisans.
"We're anticipating a good crowd," says Bernadette Boyle, the council's senior marketing manager. "People who come to the show are investing in the craft."
There is something for every taste and budget. For the second year, an Altcraft section will highlight the burgeoning indie craft movement. There will be green artists who use recycled materials or environmentally friendly ways to produce works. There will be Baltimore artists for people wanting to shop local. And for those who can afford it, there will be fine craftsmen whose pieces cost thousands of dollars.
Here's a rundown of some of the artists you'll find at the show:
Shop local
* Ronnie Aroni, pottery
A founder of Baltimore Clayworks, Aroni will bring her functional porcelain to the show for the 28th year. Aroni says her work features simple forms in imaginative colors. "I like to paint on it to get different color in the work," she says. "I garden a lot. I look at color and the way things play together."
Her work ranges from $20 to $150.
* Alison Dryer, Pistol Designs, fashion accessories
Dryer, who designs and makes purses, will be returning to the show for the second year. Although she learned to sew when she was 11, she only became a full-time artisan a little more than a year ago. Today, her purses are in shops from Boston to Santa Cruz, Calif.
She describes her approach as "modern meets vintage." "I gravitate toward fabrics that could be vintage but with a modern twist," she says.
Her purses sell from $70 to $180.
Indie craft
* Allison Fomich, Tiger Lilly Shop, jewelry
Last year, the show's organizers asked Baltimore-based Fomich to demonstrate the electroforming technique she uses to make metal jewelry. This year, the artist is returning as an exhibitor in the Altcraft section. Fomich says she doesn't consider herself an indie artisan, but acknowledges the category can be hard to define. "It's more grass-roots. It's more survival. It's also a feeling," she said, struggling to come up with the words.
While she makes jewelry from buttons and other objects, at the show she will be exhibiting metal pieces that she imprints with natural images. "I'm working hard in the studio to come up with some new, fresh ideas," she says.
