GREENWICH, CT -- The Bruce Museum’s 34th Annual Outdoor Crafts Festival will take place on Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, from 10 am to 5 pm each day. More than 60 juried exhibitors 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 Greenwich.
''This year, jewelry and wearables – for both adults and infants – will be particularly strong,'' says Anne von Stuelpnagel, the Museum’s Director of Exhibitions, who organizes the Museum’s two annual Outdoor Festivals, with Festival Director Sue Brown Gordon. “There are also a number of exhibitors who specialize in accessories, from fiber handbags to book purses to beaded bags.”
Among the featured artists are textile designer Mary Jaeger of Brooklyn, NY; ceramicist Peter Jones of Camden, ME; wildlife sculptor Peter Bowe of Stratford, CT; raku artist James Brunelle of New Britain, CT; weaver Tegan Frisino of Glen Falls, NY; jeweler Dawn Lombard of Milford, PA; furniture maker Dylan Bartlett of Weston, CT; and Jim Sprinkle of Charlottesville, VA, who creates functional decorative bowls and other vessels from exotic wood. (For the complete list of exhibitors, visit brucemuseum.org.)
Exhibiting artists are eligible for cash prizes, which will be awarded by this year’s judges, Sooo-z Mastropietro, an artist, textile designer, and curator; and Mari Gyorgyey, an award-winning printmaker and multimedia artist who has shown her work in the United States and Europe.
The Bruce Museum’s Outdoor Crafts Festival also features an array of food truck cuisine, including Kettle Korn, Thai Taste, and Wendies Weenies. Lending ambience 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.
Artists’ demonstrations are a perennial Festival favorite, and this year potters Erika Nowak and Drew Darley from Round Trip Clayworks in New Britain, CT, will throw ceramic forms at their booth located on the steps in front of the Museum entrance.
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. Exhibitions on view include Summer with the Averys [Milton | Sally | March]; Buried Treasures of the Silk Road; the science exhibition Sharks!; and the community art project Your Place Squared.
Admission to the Outdoor Crafts Festival is $10, free to Museum members and children under than five years old, and includes entry to the Museum galleries. Visitors will be able to join the Bruce Museum’s member program to receive free admission and many instant discounts both at the Festival and in the Museum Store. The Festival is held rain or shine, and all works are available for purchase.
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.
Bruce Museum’s 34th Annual Outdoor Crafts Festival
Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, 2019, 10 am – 5 pm
One Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT
Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, 2019, 10 am – 5 pm
One Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT
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