|
|
|
Deb Gausmann Deb just turned 50. She loves her partner, her kids, her dogs, her neighborhood (Meade Street, Pittsburgh), and her friends. She prays for peace and justice and goes to the woods as much as possible where she finds chipmunks to smile at, sticks to hurl and amazingly beautiful leaves to be in awe of. Her favorite pastimes include weeding, knitting, cuddling, meditating, and driving over mountains singing Steve Earle songs at the top of her lungs. The revolution is now...
Doreen Constantine Doreen is thrilled that the Handmade Arcade is providing an opportunity for her to make fun pieces of beaded, stone, and vintage jewelry. As a teen, she sewed most of her own clothes, and she's happy that DIY is now a hip thing to do!
Courtney Chu
Courtney first began sewing after her freshman year at CMU. An Industrial Design major, she first experimented with t-shirts as an economically feasible medium, and has always enjoyed incorporating found objects. Currently Courtney is taking custom orders and her items are featured in local shops. Visit www.courtneycourtney.com for more on Courtney!
Emily-Kitturah Westenhouser
Umbrella Girl Productions is the work of Emily-Kitturah Westenhouser. She is an artist, puppeteer, crafter, and fashion designer who currently works out of the Central Ohio area. Emily has been sewing since she was nine years old and began making handmade purses two years ago when she acquired a large amount of vintage upholstery fabric. She also makes handmade books, stationery, magnets, and kitty toys. Emily is inspired by anything vintage or retro, contemporary art and graffiti, and her travels. All of her materials are recovered or recycled. Emily graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design and majored in sculpture and three-dimensional illustration. She was an organizer and co-chair of the Ladyfest Ohio Visual Art Committee and a docent of the Wexner Center for the Arts. In the next several months Emily plans on traveling extensively to promote her artwork and find her dream job as a puppet-maker.
Jennifer Pellecchia
When Jennifer and Gus got married, they were dismayed to find that they as a couple were much more fun and inspired than the items on their department-store gift registries. Believing that all hip young (and not-so-young!) people should have access to one-of-a-kind accessories for themselves AND their homes, Jennifer began making and embroidering lingerie bags, aprons, sleep masks, and more. Many Hambone and Jennicakes items are made from recycled and repurposed fabrics, because waste is in awfully poor taste.
Jillian Chisnell
Jillian's first handmade project was a travel case made from a hand towel that won a blue ribbon in the Fayette County Fair. After five years in 4-H, she stopped sewing to pursue the art of flirting, shopping, and musical theatre. As poor college students in New York City, Jillian and her best friend Chandra started Friday Night Crafting which involved a six-pack, a turntable, and a suitcase of scrap upholstery fabric. These days Jillian can sometimes be found reliving those Fridays in her basement studio where she re-designs spiral notebooks using album covers and decorates greeting cards with ads from vintage issues of Ladies Home Journal. And, of course, she still sews. A die-hard packrat and collector, Jillian's materials come from estate sales, thrift stores, grandma's attic, and the trash.
Julie Meredith
Julie comes from a long line of crafty women and she has the purl stitch to prove it. Unfortunately, in the years before moving to Pittsburgh, she lived in cramped New York and Chicago apartments, which decidedly limited her craftiness or at least her ability to acquire suitably scrounged materials. Since transplanting, however, she has returned to her craft roots. When she is not chained to her computer working at her 'day(/evening/night weekend) job' as a freelance designer (you're looking at her work...), she can be found in her Lawrenceville home knitting, sewing, and generally making a big ol' mess.
Kirsten Ervin
Kirsten Ervin can't stop making stuff! ...which might explain several recent craft-related accidents. When she's not hot-gluing herself to the seat of her car, painting herself into a corner or futilely trying to fold origami out of damp paper towels, Kirsten makes crafts under the label Iconocraft. Inspired by the imagery found in vintage magazines and advertising, Kirsten makes aprons, t-shirts, magnets, "Keep Out" signs, serving trays, Holiday cards and Holiday ornaments. Her crafts are wacky, colorful and above all, 100% fun.
Kirsten has also shown her paintings and assemblage art at the following venues: Gallerie Chiz, SALVO, Buckets of Joy, Art All Night and the now defunct Turmoil Room. In her other life, Kirsten lives in Lawrenceville with her husband Will and their two cats Professor and Sophie Maslof. She is a special education teacher who provides career exploration and job placement services for high school students who are visually impaired or blind.
Jessica Manack
As half of Miss Chief Productions, Jessica Manack has been taking her crafts on the road since 2001. Jessica and her fellow mischief-maker, Erin Wommack, sell their buttons at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and have also appeared in galleries and events in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and New York. Jessica, a technical writer by day and crafter by night, suffers from acute paperphilia, which leads her to create postcards, greeting cards, stickers, zines, and other items. Her mad sloganeering skills can be explained by her secret life as a Tortured Poet. Sssh!
Gloria Forouzan
Gloria Forouzan is a long time grassroots activist, involved in promoting the arts, community groups, good political candidates and Lawrenceville bars that serve generous drinks. Crafting gives Gloria a break from her regular work. She creates her cards, boxes, clocks & more under her "fevered mind productions" label.
Al Hoff
Al Hoff lives in Pittsburgh and crafts while watching bad television.
Jessica Yalch
Jessica Yalch is a student at Robert Morris University completing her bachelor's degree in Corporate Communications. She is also a pilot, and hopes to be in the airlines someday. Jessica started creating jewelry using various bead weaving techniques taught to her by her step-mother who owns Crystal Bead Bazaar. She feels very fortunate to have access to such a wonderful store. She loves this form of art, and hopes to spread her appreciation of this time-consuming creative outlet with its limitless possibilities
Jennifer Baron
Jennifer Baron (a.k.a. Fresh Popcorn Productions) began constructing books and collages as a girl in Altoona, PA. Fresh Popcorn Productions is a collector-addict: her products are shaped by the bold motifs and color schemes that animate her collections of 60s-era Pyrex, paint-by-numbers, motel postcards, enamel flower pins, record covers, Enid Collins purses and more! Jennifer competes for craft-space with her rapidly expanding array of vintage keyboards, and in 2002 joined The New Alcindors soul group on organ. She co-founded the Pittsburgh Signs Project (www.pittsburghsigns.org) and an online craft collective called The Polka-Dot Life (www.thepolkadotlife.net). She is also a participating artist for Everyday Art Assignments (www.everydayart.org).
Erin Pischke
Erin Pischke is an art student at Carnegie Mellon University and recent student of the Burren College of Art in Ireland where she first began craftslutting with recycled materials. Her crafty collaborator, kt, is an art student at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Their work relies on discarded materials from consumer culture and the process of trading skills and knowledge with others.
Sue Eggen
giant dwarf is a design house specializing in distinct, neo-couture crafted from collected materials of our past. The brain child of miss sue eggen, giant dwarf cut her teeth in portland, oregon on a continuous stream of second hand sewing machines and with the encouragement from a thriving DIY scene. Today giant dwarf resides in Pittsburgh, PA where she is anxiously awaiting the first flakes of snow to fall.
Jessica Fenlon
b. 1971 in san francisco, raised in wisconsin, jessica fenlon currently resides in pittsburgh, pa. a working artist who strips autobiographical content from images that emerge from her everyday life, jessica currently is mining 'cinderella' for contemporary meaning. she's also creating a 16mm film, 'drive', to be shown with the band chalk outline party's performances (and a shorter version for separate screening).
additionally, jessica's working on publishing the documentation of the collaborative drawing show drawing closer. the show ran august 6 through the 27th 2004, at future tenant gallery in downtown pittsburgh.
other work from 2004 include 'subscription', an installation created for the three rivers arts festival in june, and 'turning the wheel of the year', an interactive performance for first night 2004.
formerly the day manager of a local knitting shop, she's now employed by uberbookstore barnes & noble, where she'll ring you up any day & tell you all about member benefits.
jessica also works in the education department of the mattress factory museum of contemporary art, installs other people's art on demand for pittsburgh galleries, makes paintings and other discrete art objects, teaches knitting, writes about knitting for knitty, drinks too much coffee, knits, and spends time with a fabulous coterie of friends.
she got her mfa in studio art at the school of the museum of fine arts, boston and tufts university in may of 2002. she got her bfa (also in studio art) at the university of wisconsin madison in august of 1999.
she lives in the orphanage and doesn't own a television.
Amy Rappa & Jarrett Fete
Amy Rappa has been sewing since she was a child. Her mom and gramma are avid seamstresses and have a huge set-up in her gram's basement, so she learned the lingo early on. There were years when Amy was disenchanted with sewing and was just doing other things and "too busy". Within the past couple of years Amy has realized that sewing in any form is art. It's an art that she can identify with and understand without feeling intimidated or untrue. Amy likes to experiment and make things from found and dumpstered fabric. She has also started knitting. Her most recent project has been making custom and hand/machine sewn patches. Jarrett is a silk-screener who has a wonderful nonsymmetrical sense of design. They've combined forces for the Handmade Arcade.
Megan Dietz - Madgeworld
Megan Dietz (a.k.a. Madge) has always adored vinyl. In fact, she didn't even own a CD player until 1999, and still fondly remembers the first album she could call her very own (Olivia Newton-John's _Physical_, if you're curious). Twenty some years and a digital revolution later, she began giving Olivia and her forgotten vinyl-age colleagues a new lease on life by transforming them into funky, functional objects for iPod-age living. With a Madgeworld handbag, notebook, or lamp, you can continue to enjoy your vinyl right alongside your mp3s.
Lori Bode
Lori Bode is a Brooklyn-based visual artist who has been creating her own accessories for many years because she's picky, cheap and enjoys the peculiar. After being routinely accosted on the streets by strangers asking where she got her accessories, Lori started Squink. Her Reversible bags are constructed from hand silk-screened and painted fabrics in bold colors, loud vinyl, leather and wacky textiles she finds. Each one is unique. Lori's jewelry is made from industrial plastics, leather, and velvet and sterling findings. She also designs and hand-screens t-shirts with entertaining motifs. Lori truly adores color.
Kelly Cole
Kelly Cole, a current Lawrenceville resident and quilter, comes to the Arcade
after having been involved in teaching quilting for a community quilt project and has been involved in the yearly art venue "Art All Night." A former French teacher, now mother of three children, she tries to balance obligations with creativity, often "burning the midnight oil" on ideas for new projects and techniques. An unabashed fabric junkie, she has spent many years collecting a rather eclectic stash of textiles, trims and embellishments. Ever frugal and up for a sewing challenge, Kelly decided to combine some of these vintage fabric gems with exciting trims and details into decorative pillows and throws. Often with whimsical subjects, full of color and texture, and embellished with a wide variety of techniques, Kelly's creations are a pleasure for the senses.
Tara Rubeo
Tara Rubeo recently moved to Pittsburgh from San Francisco. She spent the past summer without a job, but passed the time by harnessing her inner Martha Stewart. Tara's current profession is civil engineering, but she knits and makes duct tape purses on the side to offset the time she spends being "left-brained" at her job.
Leigh White
Leigh White is from Carnegie, PA. Her interests in pop-culture and vintage Americana translates to her arts and crafts. The mediums she likes to work in include, among others, glass mosaics and the magical art of découpage.
Ellie Gumlock & Emily Press
Ellie is a vegan culinary goddess as well as a knitter and general creator of great stuff. She sees the artistic value in the most commonplace items (yellow rubber gloves, for example) and crafts them into stylish accessories. Ellie likes to watch Steeler games with her gigantic dog, Avery.
Emily moved to Pittsburgh two years ago from the boring old Midwest and she loves it here. She is a high school math teacher, but not YOUR old high school math teacher, so please stop making that face at her. When Emily is not solving differential equations she reads a lot of fiction, plays with various fibers, watches Steeler games, and thinks about egging homes that have Bush-Cheney signs on their lawns.
Amber Cherry & Tracey Holzshu - Friend or Foe
Tracey Holzshu and Amber Cherry are two cool girls from Pittsburgh creating lovely handmade stuffies and more. Contact: friendorfoe@incrediblythin.com
Michelle Currie & Kari Tipton
When she is not crafting, Michelle Currie also enjoys dancing, eating ice cream and singing into pretend microphones. She hopes to one day find the right adhesive and the perfect pair of shoes. Michelle effortlessly lives by the motto "one woman's trash is another woman's treasure."
Kari Tipton is the cussiest, stubbornest crafter you'll ever meet and has just discovered a love for liquid eyeliner. She has no qualms about any of the following: kneeling down in a skirt in traffic to check if her car is on fire, cleaning out leaf-packed gutters in a rainstorm, and picking up street baubles and keeping them in her handbag until it is so full of nuts and bolts that she strains her shoulder.
Laura Coleman
Laura Coleman is from Nashville, Tennessee. She moved to Pittsburgh about a year and a half ago, and has been knitting ever since. (Maybe the trek to the cooler climate inspired this.) She'll be featuring bunches of her fun scarves: long and skinny, furry, messy/mixed styles...all at great prices!
Rachel Myers
Rachel Myers, a Pittsburgh native, has had a lifelong fascination with unusual artmaking. Recently, Rachel has turned her attention to wearable art, in the form of colorful cloth bracelets and pins. Her job as a nanny inspired her to create jewelry that is soft, flexible, and looks good with her daily uniform of jeans and a t-shirt. Her fun and funky designs are made with felt, fabric and ribbon.
Carol Henley & Beth Westbrook
Carol Henley is an Episcopal priest, amateur musician and crafter. Currently, she is working with wire and recycled metal such as roof flashing, tin and aluminum cans to transform them into greeting cards, jewelry for people (and plants), and other delightful craft items.
Beth Westbrook, another inveterate crafter, joins Carol in making jewelry and greeting cards under the name "Wired to Go".
SALT
Salt is a journal that modernizes and reinterprets archetypes. Each issue explores a theme aesthetically, literally, and metaphorically. The founders of Salt, Ellen James and Berry Steiner, started the journal after a lengthly obsession with pirates which became fodder for their first issue, the pirate issue, in May 2003. Since then, Ellen and Berry, along with their team of designers, have produced four issues altogether and have published original stories and illustrations from local and national artists. They are currently working on the spy issue which should be published sometime around January.
At the Handmade Archade, they will be selling their fourth issue, the cowboy issue, which features a lovingly hand-pressed cover and stories about gay square-dancing troupes and hot pepper eating contests along with original comics and design.
Josh Loughrey
Josh Loughrey has been self-releasing music under the name Pancreatic Aardvarks for the past 5 years. Each album has had a different stylistic approach, ranging from minimalist experimental, noise, post-rock and ambient, but everything has been meticulously composed. He has also had a track on a recent tribute to Current 93 and an upcoming compilation on Void Rekordz in Portugal. As well as his own work, Josh will be showcasing material by other local independent musicians of a variety of styles. You can hear short clips of his music at www.gnarphlager.com or catch him busking with traditional Scottish folk songs in Oakland every day around noon!
Daviea Davis
Daviea Davis lives and breeds in Edgewood. She has been playing with broken pieces of stained glass and mirror for ten years. Her mosaic dinosaur won best stegosaurus in the Carnegie DinoMite Days of 2003. She is regularly commissioned to create mosaic fireplaces and other installations throughout Pittsburgh. She also teaches mosaic classes from her home. For details call 412-243-0925.
Roya Hamadani
Roya Hamadani lives in Point Breeze with her beautiful girlfriend and two baby cats. She has been making beaded jewelry for ten years. She creates necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and more to order. She also does restringing, clasp replacement and other repairs. For details call 412-365-2040.
Elizabeth Prince
Elizabeth is an underemployed art historian who likes sushi.
Amy Frank
Beginning with traditional items such as baptismal bonnets and christening gowns, Amy Frank and the House of Tomorrow also work with bold prints creating a wide range of gifts for babies and little children. With retro prints the trend, items are crafted from actual vintage and reclaimed fabric and embellished with hand-dyed silk ribbon establishing a continuity and sentimentality in each piece. Amy attended Alfred University and graduated from SUNY Purchase. She has worked in NYC's garment district, managed stables, written a column for a children's magazine and now wholesales her works to boutiques in the NYC metro region.
Heidi Kenney
My Paper Crane (a.k.a. Heidi Kenney) is making an army of soft plush food creatures to send out into the world and spread sugary cheer. When she is not sewing and stuffing you can find her spinning unusual yarn, or silk-screening. It's like a three ring circus-only no elephants or whips! http://www.mypapercrane.com
Christine Scalf
Once Christine Scalf realized she wasn't tall enough to be a professional basketball player and wasn't coordinated enough to be an Olympic gymnast, she fell into running, writing and art. By day, Christine does PR for automotive parts companies; by night, she knits. Now Christine is addicted to crafting and anything else that stimulates ideas. She gets bored easily so her crafts are always changing. You'll never know what to expect under the Blue Spring brand.
Kim Kenseth
Kim Kenseth has made jewelry for the past twelve years and has sold her pieces throughout California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. She loves color and tends to be very meticulous with her jewelry design. Kim strives to make classic, elegant pieces that can be enjoyed for many years.
Alison Alvarez
Alison comes from a long line of crafting women. She minored in ceramics and design at the George Washington University before coming to Pittsburgh to earn her Ph D. at CMU's School of Computer Science. She sews, draws and paints to escape from the extreme left-brained nature of her work. She is also obsessed with cooking and care of edible plants.
Zerlinda Covalt
A.K.A.: Hot Pink Zebra. Age: 18. Hobbies: Playing guitar, watching movies, Ebay, and crafting. Can't live without: Scissors and ribbon. Creates: Handmade accessories-belts, arm warmers, button earrings, brooches, ribbon chokers, scarves, hairpins, handbags, etc. -from modern and mint-condition vintage materials. Visit her table for: Must-have fall and winter accessories (for yourself and all the ladies on your Christmas list!), friendly conversation, AND free stickers, samplers, and posters!
Emma Rhem
Emma Rehm bakes like a fiend. Obsessively. To make herself feel better
when All Is Not Well With The World. And even when all IS well. All vegan,
all the time. And sometimes even without any refined sugar. If you want
it, she can make it.
The Big Idea Bookstore
The Big Idea Bookstore is a 100% independent, volunteer-run bookstore in
Bloomfield that is dedicated to the active promotion of
radical/alternative cultures through community networking and the
distribution of literature. We actively support politics and lifestyles
that we deem as alternative, multicultural, woman-positive,
queer-positive, class-concious, and all the things that promote a
sustainable community.
www.thebigideapgh.org
