- November 8, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Noted Local and Regional
Artisans Make Benefit Craft Fair a Perennial Favorite for Discerning
Shoppers and a Holiday Season Highlight for Families and Kids
Editor's note: Colorful images
of works by Dillon, Crone Jewels and Boss/Brown Artists are available.
Contact Sharon Bolotin at (413) 537-2021 to request.
- Contacts:
- Sharon Bolotin, Smith College
Campus School PTO, (413) 537-2021
- Ashley Dennis, Big Brothers
Big Sisters, (413) 253-2591
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.-With its loyal following
of distinctive local and regional artisans, the Northampton Winter
Craft Fair has become an annual holiday shopping tradition for
families seeking high-quality, one-of-a-kind gifts in a warm
and relaxed setting.
Now in its 22nd year, the fair will feature work by more than
60 artisans, including silk paintings by Sally Dillon of Amherst;
handcrafted jewelry by Jean Marie Watt and Lynn M. Crevier of
Crone Jewels, Northampton; and quilted pillows, as well as whimsical
metal clocks made from assemblages of household objects, by Susan
Boss and Mark Brown of Easthampton.
The fair, which is open to the public and wheelchair accessible,
will take place Saturday, Dec. 7, and Sunday, Dec. 8, from 9:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Smith College's Scott Gymnasium. Admission
is $2 for adults and free for students and children 12 and under.
Access to Scott Gymnasium is via Green St. or Lower College Lane.
Parking is available in the Smith College parking structure on
West Street.
In addition to crafts, the fair will feature baked goods, music,
children's activities-such as face-painting and card-making-and
a silent auction.
Dillon, a fabric designer specializing in hand-painted silk,
creates wall hangings suggesting topographical images and geographic
landmarks, such as the oxbows of the Connecticut River. She also
makes scarves, vests, coats and dresses, the designs for which
are inspired by maps, satellite photographs, cellular and circulatory
patterns, animals, flowers and natural earth formations. She
is a regular exhibitor at the Paradise City Art Festival.
Crone Jewels has been making and selling jewelry since 1989,
with an emphasis on quality of design, materials and techniques.
Combining their skills in metalworking, glass-blowing and hand-fabrication,
Watt and Crevier create distinctively beautiful pins and other
wearable art that is reasonably priced "so that people of
varying income levels can afford our work."
Boss/Brown Artists are known for their geometric pillows and
quilts, the designs and colors for which are strongly influenced
by African-American strip quilts and Amish quilts. Working directly
on cotton batting, Boss and Brown often incorporate inspiration
from poems, nature, travel and dreams into hand-cut and hand-printed
silk-screen images. They will also be showing sculptural clocks
made from salvaged materials-such as ice cube trays, funnels,
forks and dice-that they describe as "simple objects from
another age."
Dillon, Watt and Crevier, and Boss and Brown will be joined by
some 60 other artisans selling distinctive creations including
rustic furniture, wooden toys, ceramics, prints, wreaths, ornaments,
baskets, photographs and more.
The Northampton Winter Craft Fair represents a collaboration
between the Smith College Campus School (SCCS) and Big Brothers
Big Sisters of Hampshire County. Big Brothers Big Sisters uses
the proceeds to match children with mentors, and SCCS uses the
funds for scholarships.
The Smith College Campus School is an elementary laboratory school
serving children from preschool through 6th grade.
For more than 25 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has provided
one-to-one mentoring friendships with adult volunteers for at-risk
children in Hampshire County.
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