Opening a high-end craft show the day after taxes are due seems a cheeky proposition, but mid-April has always been golden for the American Craft Council's annual St. Paul show.
This year's event, which runs Friday through Sunday, is expected to attract at least 10,000 visitors and will offer plenty of new temptations. More than 240 artisans will arrive from as far away as Appalachia and California, including at least 50 with items that sell for less than $100. Some pieces are functional and many involve recycled or otherwise "green" materials.
"It's always been good to have an affordable item in the booth, but that's especially true since the recession," said Cleveland glass artisan Michael Mikula. He's known for colorful vases, bowls and "plant rooters," little fluted bottles in which gardeners nurture plant stems and branches until they develop roots before planting. With hand-forged brackets made by a Wisconsin blacksmith, the rooters sell for about $80 and will be part of the expo's new home-and-garden section.
But the recession hasn't curbed Mikula's creativity or ambition. Last year, he was one of 20 artists in Ohio's Cuyahoga County who received a $20,000 Creative Workforce Fellowship, funded by a tobacco tax, that enabled him to experiment with a new line of architectural, blown-glass sculptures. Priced at up to $12,000, the sculptures were so popular that "2009 was actually my most successful year in 22 years in business," he said.
The art of recycling
For the past 20 years, Minnesotan Michael Tonder, who lives near Two Harbors, has been recycling commercial plate glass from old buildings into wave-shaped paperweights and frosted-glass bowls whose jagged shapes and blue-green tints recall the shards of ice that slosh in Lake Superior each spring. The iron content in the original glass determines the color of his pieces, which range from $40 paperweights to $3,500 sculptures.
Recycling also inspired Minneapolis artists Gail and Jeff Greengard to turn old vinyl billboards and banners into chic totes and messenger bags. They developed their business (drivebybags.com) after getting downsized a couple years ago from jobs in advertising and retail. Billboard vinyl is sturdy stuff that's made to last eight years (an ultraviolet coating prevents fading), so it's perfect for their clever bags ($65 or less). Working in their south Minneapolis home and a neighbor's garage, they cut and sew the easy-to-clean bags that buyers use for the market, gym and beach.
"They're fun, one-of-a-kind products that keep the vinyl from going into a landfill," said Jeff Greengard.
