The Bruce Museum’s 33rd Annual Outdoor Crafts Festival will take place on Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20, 2018, from 10 am to 5 pm, rain or shine. More than 70 juried exhibitors, many new to the show, will share their unique talents and crafts in wood, wearable and decorative fiber, metalwork, leather, paper arts, glass, ceramics, jewelry and more at this nationally recognized event held on the grounds of the Bruce Museum in downtown Greenwich.
“We scout talent nationwide to bring the very best to our Museum,” says Sue Brown Gordon, Festival organizer. “As a result, we are honored to have many of the top award-winning craft artists from throughout the country with us for the weekend. The opportunity to meet many of the artists who actually created the work adds a meaningful layer to the art being collected. You’re not just buying a hand-crafted artwork; you’re taking home a memory, too.”
Among the dozens of featured artists are metal sculptor Domenico Belli of North Salem, NY; jeweler Tiara Kim, based in Edison, NJ; and Juliet Bacchas and Linda Spelko, makers of carved pottery at Juliet Rose Pottery in Monson, MA.
“The quality of what is presented at the Bruce’s festivals is very high,” says first-time exhibitor Dylan Bartlett, a Norwalk native who crafts furniture and decorative objects at his Weston, CT studio. “I think people like the idea that someone local is still using traditional techniques to make craftwork that will outlast you.”
Exhibiting artists are eligible for cash prizes, which will be awarded by this year’s judges, Nancy Moore, a nationally exhibited contemporary artist and gallery curator, and Ellen Schiffman, an award-winning fiber and mixed media artist.
The Bruce Museum’s Outdoor Crafts Festival also features an array of cuisine on-site, including Boothbay Lobster Truck, the classic American fare of Wendy’s Weenies, and Thai Taste. Lending ambiance to the Festival with performances, both days, will be Ed Wright, on guitar playing updated acoustic classics and contemporary originals, and Annalisa Ewald, a classical guitarist whose repertoire includes baroque as well as the standards.
Hands-on craft activities for all ages are available at no additional charge in the Museum’s Education Workshop, and the Museum’s galleries will be open. Current exhibitions include Patriotic Persuasion: American Posters of the First World War; In Time We Shall Know Ourselves: Photographs by Raymond Smith; and Wild Bees: Photographs by Paula Sharp and Ross Eatman. The weekend also features the final two days of the provocative exhibition Hot Art in a Cold War: Intersections of Art and Science in the Soviet Era.
The Festival is held on Museum grounds at 1 Museum Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut. All works are available for purchase. Admission to the Outdoor Crafts Festival is $10, free to Museum members and children less than five years old, and includes entry to the Bruce Museum galleries. Festival visitors will be able to join the Bruce Museum to receive free admission and many instant discounts both at the Festival and in the Museum Store.
Visitors are asked to park on Museum Drive and Steamboat Road or in the Island Beach Parking lot near exit 3 off I-95. The Museum is a short walk from the Metro-North Greenwich railroad station. For information, visit www.brucemuseum.org, or call 203-869-0376.