Find Great Holiday & Wedding Presents This Sunday At A Local Fine Art & Craft Show (Partner)

The Fall 2013 Art and Craft in the Garden Show takes place this Sunday, October 13 from 12-5pm at 690 East 18th Street (between Glenwood and Foster Avenues).

Neighbor CJ Segal-Isaacson, who is both the show’s creator and one of the featured artisans, says her inspiration was a desire to create a hyperlocal fine art and craft show with an extremely high level of artistic skill and passion. On Sunday, twenty artisans and artists, most of them local to Brooklyn, will showcase, sell, and talk about their work.

A wide spectrum of completely handmade arts and crafts will be available, including art glass, jewelry, ceramics, hand-felted shawls and scarves, batik pillows, cosmetics, fine art, high fashion as well as functional hats, photography, carved wooden bowls, hand-dyed scarves, cosmetics and handbags.

As a special attraction, guest artisan and master Ebru fabric painter Richard Aldorasi will guide those interested in creating their own intricately-colorful silk scarves. Above, Mr. Aldorasi shows a child how to create a flower using the Ebru method of dying scarves, which originated in Turkey in the 15th century and involves layering different colors of fabric paint on a gel-filled trough.

Flowers, ribbons and pinwheels of color are created by drawing a stylus across the layered paint floating on the gel’s surface. A pre-treated length of fine white silk is then gently placed on top of the paint, picking the pattern up immediately and permanently. After a quick washing, the scarf is ready to take home.

Also featured are Mary Ellen Buxton and Kevin Kutch, the glass artists of Red Hook’s Pier Glass. Ms. Buxton describes their glassmaking process as collaborative–first, the idea is sketched, later being committed to form by blowing air into clear and colored melted glass to create the desired shape.

Once the glass has cooled–which, Ms. Buxton adds, can take a month on large pieces–the shape is further refined through different stages of sanding and polishing. Pier Glass will be bringing both decorative and moderately-priced functional glass objects on Sunday.

Homemade refreshments will also be available at Sunday’s show, so walk over or take Q to Newkirk Plaza and get your holiday shopping done. For more information, contact CJ Segal-Isaacson at 718-462-5607 or email hungrycatcafejewelry@verizon.net.