indie crafts get local attention

The new craft movement that has captured the attention of the nation is making a scene locally with the support of artist cooperatives and the emergence of two indie craft fairs next month.

Crafting has experienced a renaissance in recent years. Some see the movement as retaliation against mass-production and its harm on small communities and the environment at large. In doing so, the movement is reasserting the value of traditional artistic skills.     

The result is a modern take on crafts. Hand-sewn plush animals, locally printed cards and journals, purses made from vintage ties and pant legs, and originally designed silk-screened shirts, all of which can be found at ellO gallery in downtown Portsmouth, along with contemporary art.

The gallery seeks out handcrafters as part of its mission. “It’s something people are almost private about,” said co-owner Byrdy DiLando. “That’s one of the reasons we started ellO—to give people a place to promote their own work. There’s definitely a huge crafting movement and I’d like to see it expand more in Portsmouth.”

DiLando said more people have begun to recognize that they can make their own versions of products they see in major retail stores. Some expensive, mass-produced clothes even attempt a handmade look. Among creative people, “There’s a mentality of, ‘I can do that,’” DiLando said.

Modern crafts tend to have a hip edginess or playfulness not usually associated with traditional fine crafts. Crafters often incorporate vintage fabrics, punk-inspired graphics or reused materials in what’s called “up-cycling.”

The popular crafting trend is “more raw” than traditional crafts, DiLando said. “I’m not saying it’s a less amount of craftsmanship, but sometimes there are seams not finished and it’s hodge-podgy, with found items and up-cycling. It’s more eclectic.”

EllO sells greeting cards and journals printed by Eric Brown, of Sinnickel Press in York, Maine. Educated as a graphic designer, he has been involved in the handmade movement for more than 10 years. He said it’s really grown over the past five years. “It’s a whole culture on its own,” he said.

The cards are so successful that Brown would have to hire a printing company to keep up with demand, he said. The small business started with cultural and political commentary, but has become more accessible for a gift market. He was able to make the cards “cute,” while retaining underlying questions about society in the content. One of his signature cards reads, “Relax and have a cocktail,” while depicting a sweet-looking young girl in old-fashioned clothes throwing what appears to be a Molotov cocktail.

Next door to ellO, Re-Enhabit integrates handmade products and original designs into a unique selection of vintage house wares. There are dresses made from old, oversized T-shirts with phrases like “Pimp my ride,” for example.
Owner Jodie Curtis said she often gives indie crafters advice on how to market their products, a skill many artists aren’t taught. She said handcrafts are becoming more appreciated in the area, though artists tend not to make much money for their time.

The craft movement offers an opportunity for consumers to meet the person who made what they’re buying, adding an emotional attachment that big box stores lack.

“There’s a real resurgence of the sentimental art of giving and having an emotional connection to things,” Curtis said. “The sense of purpose that lacks in a world that is all about instant gratification. We’ve come to expect things to be immediate rather than evolving.”

Also in Portsmouth, Lucky 7 began as an artist co-op but is now owned solely by RickaMae. She continues to showcase her handmade art and that of other artists with similar appeal. The items for sale use recycled material in new and innovative ways, such as light switch plates made from vintage tin cans, elegant purses made from seatbelts and jewelry made from Scrabble game pieces.

RickaMae works with found objects to make one-of-a-kind clocks, treasure boxes and small furnishings. “I think it’s because I’m resourceful,” she said. “The notion of finding another use for something that’s been discarded or lost very much appeals to me. It’s trendy now, but I’ve been doing it for 30 years.”

RickaMae said she feels an “overwhelming need” to make crafts. “It’s a basic human need to make things. As we move more and more toward technology, it’s a basic need,” she said.

Design remains important, though, and an artist’s job is to help people see things in ways they hadn’t thought of, she said. “Art is alive and well with young people,” she said. “It just may take a different form than my grandmother knitting.”

A new venue for traditional and indie crafters alike is the Concord Arts Market, which starts next month with dates on Saturday Sept. 20 and 27 and Oct. 4. Organizer Katy Brown said she hopes the market will run regularly on Saturdays next summer.

The market is loosely modeled after the SoWa Open Market in South Boston, a popular event that Brown has helped manage. But she said there’s a particular aesthetic in Boston that doesn’t necessarily appeal to people in the Concord area. She plans to have an even split of more traditional art and indie crafts.

“New Hampshire has a terrific tradition of traditional hand crafts,” she said. Those arts are carried on by some, while a new crafting style is emerging. Brown describes the current trend in crafts as a younger generation that’s into mid-century modern design and retro looks. “There’s a scattering of people that are really into it, but not a lot to draw them together,” she said. “That’s what I’m hoping this will do.”

Brown, a paralegal working on her master’s degree, owns a business called Muchacha K. She makes fabric handbags and sells most of them online, many by special order.

Also in the making is the first Picnic Music and Arts Festival in Portland, Maine, which is planned for Saturday, Sept. 13 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Lincoln Park. There is room for 100 vendors, and the organizers are expecting at least 50 emerging artists from the local indie craft scene. The deadline for applications is Friday, Aug. 15.

Diane Toepfer, owner of Ferdinand Home Store in Portland, is helping to organize the festival, which was her husband’s idea. He owns the record label Peapod Recordings and has booked several bands to play live, including Metal Feathers, Cougars Kill Cobras, Dead End Armory and Huak.

The festival is based on the Renegade Craft Fair, a market that takes place in a few major cities, the closest being Brooklyn. But, like Brown, Toepher said the market in Portland will expand beyond that specific aesthetic. She said many crafters in metropolitan areas seem to be influenced by each other and what’s trendy, but they are all different in the Portland area. Shoppers can expect clothing, accessories, plush toys, paper goods, housewares and art, as well as vintage goods and records.

“I’m meeting more and more people who are kind of quietly doing their thing all winter long,” Toepfer said. She speculated that the Internet has helped popularize crafts and made them more accessible to potential customers. Web sites such as www.etsy.com and www.cutandpaste.com give crafters a virtual storefront, while others, like www.indiepublic.com give them a place to network and share ideas.

Some local artists who sell their products at www.etsy.com share a blog called the New Hampshire Etsy Street Team. Susan Schwake, owner of Artstream Studios in Rochester, is a member. She said fine crafts have always been part of the New Hampshire art community, but now there’s an appreciation for modern versions.

Another member of the Street Team is Melanie Chabre, of Handbags by Melanie. A mother who works from home in New Ipswich, she began making bags by drafting her own pattern from a worn-out store-bought purse. She’s been selling online for about two years, but says the items sell better in person. “People are starting to appreciate handmade because it’s a real person, not some huge company,” she said.  

Erica Jeanes, also a mother who lives in Candia, sells jewelry under the name Kaleidoscope Studio at small stores and online at www.kaleidoscopestudio.etsy.com. Her artisan jewerly is inspired by a love of the ocean and the great outdoors.  

“It’s very important to let who you are come across in what you create. It’s imperative to make your craft originally yours, setting it apart from any one else’s,” she said. She added that it’s satisfying to tell people she made something with her own two hands when they ask where she bought it. “None of my items are exactly the same, as is the nature of handmade art,” she said.

Other local artists are staying close to home in different ways. Erin Moran, who makes ceramics at a Button Factory studio in Portsmouth, said she’s trying to keep her life as local as possible. For her, this means selling less on the Internet to avoid the environmental effects of transportation, and only attending markets within an hour drive.
“People are buying locally made handcrafting because they want a strong sense of community,” Moran said.

Her pottery tends to be functional, with a colorful and textured line of plates, mugs and bowls that appeal to a broad customer base. She also makes jewelry. “I feel like I can play around with the clay and do anything with it,” she said. “I wanted to make things that I wanted to use.” 

The handcrafted pottery makes for an eye-catching display at the Portsmouth Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings.

The Rollinsford Farmer’s Market is another popular venue for area artists. That’s where Irene Sampson has begun to sell her hand-knitted puppets.

Sampson is a native of Latvia, a country in northern Europe known for traditional knitted mittens. But when she retired and sought out a hobby, she didn’t want to make mittens, exactly. “When you make a puppet, you only have to make one,” she said.

She combined the mitten knitting technique with sock making to create hand puppets. They come as sheep, goats, cats and an accidental combination she calls “special friends” and sells at a discount. “One has to use an imagination to tell whether it’s a bear or a cat,” she said.

While Sampson said she has always enjoyed making things by hands, she has never tried to market anything before. Still, she made about $60 in one day at the Farmer’s Market. “Summer time is not the time to market something that’s woolly,” she said. Regardless, she is having fun and said that is valuable to her.

Also, Sampson is part of a crafting culture that celebrates individuality. “This is not like you go to a store and buy a plastic thing,” she said. “It’s more unique.”    

An independent documentary film on the indie craft community, “Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY Art, Craft & Design,” is expected for a 2009 festival release. First-time director Faythe Levine, of Milwaukee, is also releasing a book, “Handmade Nation,” in November 2008. 

Levine said the craft movement combines punk and a do-it-yourself ethos with traditional handiwork, modern aesthetics, politics, feminism and art. It attempts to intervene in mass-market consumerism, challenge the familiar and gain creative and economic freedom, she said. “It’s a younger generation of people taking traditional mediums and methods and giving it a modern twist,” she said.

Levine is an artist who co-owns a gallery and who founded a Milwaukee craft fair. She got the idea for her film while at a Renegade craft fair in Chicago in 2003, her introduction to the expanse of the craft community. “The movement needed to be documented,” she said. “There are so many amazing people doing so many amazing things.”

She interviewed more than 80 people for the film and said there is no definitive type of person in the scene. “People are just really looking to identify with something unique and different,” Levine said.