Charleston Crafts Cooperative Gallery

New Season – New Style! Hand-crafted “Art To Wear” on view September 11th thru October 8th.

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Fall is just around the corner, and it’s a perfect time to see a collection of unique wearables with a cozy hint of autumn. Be sure our “Art To Wear” show and sale is on your calendar!

The opening reception is Sunday, September 11th, from 2 to 5 pm.

The exhibit continues Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm through October 8th.

Fall Layering at Charleston Crafts Gallery

Our fall feature showcases original, hand-crafted apparel, accessories and jewelry created by the gallery’s six fiber artists. Beautiful artisan-made women’s jackets, vests, purses, scarves and textile jewelry are among the artful items on display.

And we didn’t forget the guys! There are also hand-crafted ties, bow-ties and lapel pins. 

“Art To Wear” is inspiration to refresh your wardrobe for the coming season with one-of-a-kind designs by these fiber artists:

Susan Livingston: Hand-dyed and embellished scarves and purses

Raquel Quiroz: Hand-knitted hats, gloves and purses

LuAnn Rosenzweig: Hand-made jackets, vests, purses, scarves and ties

Gini Steele: Ribbon necklaces, hand knit scarves and shawls

Isabelle Tourneau: Lightweight textile jewelry crafted with batiks and vintage silks

Nancy Warren: Hand-woven scarves, silk scarves, hand-marbled apparel, textile jewelry

At Charleston Crafts Gallery, you’ll find a world of ideas for your closet. More than simply clothing, these are works of art to wear. Add a dash of creativity to your style!

A world of possibilities to add to your wardrobe!

During our “Art to Wear” exhibit, work of the gallery’s additional makers is also available, including ceramics, woodwork, stained and fused glass, sweetgrass baskets, jewelry, encaustic paintings and more. Come and admire all the work of our talented local artisans. We look forward to seeing you soon!

August at the Gallery – The Heat is On!

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August temps may be sizzling, but that doesn’t stop our artisans from playing with heat and flame. Some of the coolest work happens when our makers use the hottest methods with glass, wax and clay. Check out these one-of-a-kind artisan-crafted items or  – even better – take break from the summer heat and come see them in the air-conditioned comfort of our gallery.    

Tammy Rudd, Floral Necklace

Jewelry artist Tammy Rudd works magic with glass and intense heat. To create her luminous flameworked beads, she uses an oxygen-propane torch that heats up to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. With molten glass and deft hands, Tammy crafts beads that glow with color and mesmerizing detail. Each of her beads is a tiny work of art that creates fascinating focal points in her necklaces and earrings.

Marty Biernbaum, Ocean Encaustic Painting

Marty Biernbaum’s abstract encaustic paintings bring to mind calming landscapes of sky and sea. She begins her paintings by heating beeswax in an electric frying pan and combining it with resin and pigments before applying it to a natural wood support. She uses a propane torch to melt and stabilize as many as 15 layers of wax to complete each painting. This intense heat process helps develop her colors and smooth the surface. Encaustic paintings don’t need to be framed, so the ethereal and expressive beauty of Marty’s work radiates from the surfaces of her art.

Fred Prudhomme, Lidded Jar

You’ll find the work of six talented ceramic artists  in the gallery and all rely on the tremendous heat of their kilns to convert clay into strong, resilient forms. Typically two trips through the kiln are required (one for bisque firing, another for glaze firing) at temperatures well above 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Just one example of the gallery’s talent is Fred Prudhomme who makes functional pottery in stoneware by both wheel throwing pots and hand-building vessels. Fred’s highly individualized pieces include mugs, bowls, plates and lidded vessels. With crisp lines, warm colors and distinctive glazing, his work feels good in your hands and looks wonderful in your home.

Melanie Davidson, Tree Ring Bowl

The newest of the our ceramic artists is Melanie Davidson. Melanie creates her work by layering different clay bodies of varying colors, then using various techniques to manipulate the joined clay bodies to produce patterns, as well as free random effects. Her agateware pieces are clear gazed to showcase this technique and the natural clay body. Many pieces, such as her hurricane, sediment and tree ring bowls, are inspired by nature. All are both functional and beautiful.

No doubt about it, this art is hot! So step into the cool world of Charleston Crafts to discover all our hand-crafted items. We look forward to seeing you soon! The gallery is currently open Tuesday-Sunday 11am-6pm.

Inspiration Comes Naturally to Our Artisans

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The natural world is a powerful muse and source of inspiration for our artisans. Below we introduce just a few of our members whose creative lives are influenced by the beauty of the Lowcountry. Come and admire their work in wood, clay, precious stones and metals – and see how the details of nature come alive in every piece.

Ron Herzog, Eagle Intarsia

Ron Herzog is a woodworker who creates his striking pieces using a process known as intarsia, a time-honored technique using interlocking pieces of various wood species for color, grain and texture. Ron especially enjoys portraying creatures of the Lowcountry, such as the birds and wildlife often spotted in our local woods, marshes and waterways.

Anne John, Gourd Boxes

Anne John is a ceramic artist who adds exquisite natural elements to her decorative and functional art pieces. Her wheel-thrown porcelain and stoneware work is embellished with finely detailed features, such hand sculpted birds, organic shapes and vibrant glazes. At the gallery, Anne’s gourd boxes with their graceful spiraling details are a customer favorite.

John Stoudenmire, Leaf Plate

Another of the gallery’s ceramic artists, John Stoudenmire, is known for his astonishing way of capturing natural elements such as such as leaves, vines and textured bark on his stoneware and porcelain pieces. John lavishly details his work with hand-crafted and raised details, incised and pressed texturing and meticulous glaze painting. Everything John crafts is functional and food and oven safe.

Valerie Lamott, Camping Earrings

Valerie Lamott creates nature-inspired handcrafted jewelry using traditional metalsmithing and lapidary techniques to express her appreciation for the outdoors. Valerie hand casts sterling silver flowers and twigs from actual botanicals, making each one as unique as nature intended. Many of her pieces share the beauty of state parks and other places she loves to explore.

You’ll find many more handmade objects inspired by our natural world when you visit. We look forward to welcoming you to the gallery soon!

Lowcountry Themes Run Deep at Charleston Crafts Gallery

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Time-honored crafts thrive in Charleston, thanks to local artisans who celebrate Lowcountry traditions. Think of skillfully woven sweetgrass baskets, deep blue indigo-dyed fabrics and objects that reflect the Holy City’s character. These are the crafts that keep us connected to Lowcountry culture while beautifying and enriching our lives. Visit the gallery to find these crafts, meet the artists and enjoy their creative expression.

Alethia Manigault, sweetgrass basket close-up

Aleathia Manigault is a master of sweet grass basket making, an art that came to South Carolina in the 17th century with the arrival of enslaved West Africans. The skill has been preserved by the Lowcountry Gullah community and passed down through generations. True to tradition, Aleathia uses local sweetgrass, bulrushes and pine needles, weaving them together into circular designs and binding them with palmetto fronds. Her award-winning baskets, each signed and dated by the artist, are prized by collectors.

Susan Livingston, Fiber Collage

Susan Livingston, a mixed-media fiber artist, works with natural dyes to create silk scarves, textile handbags, table linens and fiber collages. Browsing her work in the gallery, it’s easy to see that indigo is one of her favorite hues. Indigo was vital to South Carolina’s economy from the mid- to late-1700s, when it was grown to produce blue dye, primarily for English textile mills. Second only to rice as an export, indigo was also a labor intensive crop involving the toil of thousands. The beautiful blue hues in Susan’s fiber artistry honor the cultural memory of indigo’s place in Lowcountry history.

Selma Andrews, Charleston Lady Necklace

Selma Andrews brings Charleston’s character, and characters, to her jewelry and decorative objects. Her colorful “Charleston Lady” necklaces and ornaments are whimsical expressions of the city’s past and present characters. Selma works in lightweight polymer clay to craft each Charleston Lady bead for her necklaces, adding a floral or abstract pattern on the reverse side to create two necklaces in one. Each piece artfully captures the essence of an intriguing lady and, if they could talk, the lively stories and historic gossip would surely flow!

You’ll find  many more handmade objects that reflect our local cultural heritage when you visit the gallery. We look forward to seeing you soon!

 

Gallery Artisans at Piccolo Spoleto Craft Show In Wragg Square, May 27-29 and June 3-5

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Charleston’s annual celebration of fine craft is almost here! It’s time to put the 43rdAnnual Craft Show on your calendar and look forward to strolling under the majestic oaks at historic Wragg Square, where more than 40 artisans will display pottery, woodwork, jewelry, textiles, apparel and more. As you browse the show, you’ll meet these members of Charleston Crafts Gallery. We invite you to stop and say hello and admire their work.

Dan Diehl, maker of intricate wood jigsaw puzzles. Dan’s original designs, ranging from whimsical to challenging, delight both children and adults and also make eye-catching decor objects.

 Marc Tannenbaum, a gallery woodworker, crafts peppermills, pens, clocks, keepsake boxes, bottle stoppers and other items. Marc combines exotic woods in special patterns and often adds semiprecious stones, such as turquoise or geodes.  

Anne John,  a ceramic artist whose decorative and functional art pieces are distinguished by finely detailed decorative elements, such as hand-sculpted birds and organic shapes inspired by the natural world.

Mayako Blackburn, a creator of bold and contemporary ceramics that are inspired by nature, especially the beauty of the ocean.

Tammy Rudd, a jewelry maker whose luminous flameworked glass beads create designs that glows with light and color.

Sharon Wilson, creator of one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces that display meticulous craftsmanship in metalwork accented with pearls and sparkling gemstones.

Caroline Sandlin, whose distinctive designs combine handcrafted components with natural and vintage elements to create contemporary pieces of wearable art.

Susan Livingston, a mixed-media fiber artist who works with natural dyes such as indigo and often embellishes her work with hand-stitching, applique and found objects. Susan’s booth displays fiber collages and her colorful, naturally dyed silk scarves, textile handbag and vintage napkins.

The Craft Show is open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 am to 6 pm and Sundays 11 am to 5pm during the last weekend of May and first weekend of June. Admission is free. See you there!

 

Support Covid-19 Response Fund...Find the Perfect Gift...Support Local Artists!!!

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Throughout April, Charleston Crafts will be donating 10% of all sales
to the
Tri-Counting COVID-19 Response Fund
The Tri-County Covid-19 Response fund was set up to address the
emerging needs presented by the impact from Covid-19…Coronavirus.

Each member of Charleston Crafts Co-Op is a small business owner as well as an artist. In the online store you will find designs in a wide variety of mediums, prices and ‘personalities’. Pictured below are a few of the many items available for immediate shipment from ShopCharlestonCrafts.com.