Guelph Art On The Street

Jul 18 2010

Bringing Art and Craft to the Street

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of being part of the Guelph Art on the Street show. As with every show there is much planning and prep work that goes into it. Not just the making of jewellery but the booth has to be weather proof, accessible and welcoming to the traffic. Early morning set up includes jockeying for parking near your booth, lugging heavy tables and wrestling with the wind as you raise your canopy. Yesterday was a hot day! At only 8 am it was a humid 22 degrees Celsius and it got hotter as the day wore on. The wind gusted playfully and unpredictably sending anything that wasn’t well secured flying to the pavement. Luckily jewellery isn’t very fragile and the wind is more of a nuisance than an adversary. However, nearby the sound of breaking glass could be heard periodically from booths with framed drawings and photos and beautiful glass objects. My heart broke for every piece that was shattered knowing the artist’s work and livelihood was lost with each broken piece.

You might wonder why artists and artisan’s go to such trouble with no guarantee of selling enough to even cover the cost of the booth space. Well for me, despite all the work and risk involved, the best thing about street shows is meeting the community. People come out to wander, to chat, to look at creative hand made things and be touched by what the makers offer. They buy with their hearts because these things are made by people that have lovingly made them with their hands. When you buy hand crafted you make a connection with a person who has a story to share. The art speaks to each person uniquely. It is my pleasure to meet each person. Each comment and question is welcome as it also sheds light on whether a design needs reworking or a price needs adjusting and keeps me talking about why I make jewellery, how it is made and what brought each item to be there. Street shows enrich my story as each piece made from my heart finds a home.

My booth at Guelph Art On The Street

If you attended the show. Thank you! I will be posting some of the work that you saw here. Some will make it’s way to the Cambridge Centre of the Arts Gift Shop others to Edissi Fine Arts in Kitchener and some may be posted on my Etsy or my icraft canada sites. Please contact me via email at heather@swaysilver.ca to find what you are looking for or have a special design made for you. If you’d like to keep in touch email me and I’ll add you to my email list so I can keep you informed of where you can find me teaching classes and where my jewellery is for sale once in a while. (I promise never to share your info.)