December 2011 | BY Jean Thompson | Issue 78, Winter 2011-2012 |
- The Guild Store – Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen
Shopping for a gift? Redecorating your family room? Splurging on accessories or jewelry? You’ll find what you are seeking at galleries that specialize in the handcrafted products made in your state.
Whether you’re coveting a handbag, vase, basket, bowl or brooch, you can appreciate the fine craftsmanship that sets locally handmade items apart from mass-produced merchandise.
You’ll see designs ranging in style from traditional folk to contemporary couture. The prices are pleasing, too: At many galleries, you can find handmade items for under $50 as well as masterworks at collector prices. Whatever you choose, you can be certain that your spending will contribute to economic recovery by supporting artists in the state where you live.
How will you find the stores that carry made-in-your-state handcraft? We have them right here! Exclusively for AmericanStyle readers, we’ve compiled a list of great galleries, sorted by geographic region. Originally researched to help out a reporter from USA Today, the list includes galleries that are nonprofit, guild-run, government-backed or founded with an economic development mission. On Dec. 9, USA Today published 10 of the names: You get to see them all. Scroll ahead.
Also, AmericanStyle maintains an online list of great galleries of American craft, most of them run by independent and local small businesses. Use the drop-down menu below for a state-by-state directory.
Happy handmade holidays!
AmericanStyle State-By-State Directory
WESTERN STATES
Volcano Art Center Gallery
In Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
P.O. Box 129
Volcano, HI 96785
Hours: Daily, 9am-5pm
(808) 967-8222
www.vacgallery.com
Handcrafted art works by more than 300 local artists. The gallery is located at Kilauea on the big island of Hawaii, in the 1877 Volcano House hotel under a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service. Annual exhibition and sale of artisan-made wreaths and ornaments continues through Christmas.
Crafty Wonderland
802 SW 10th Avenue
Portland, OR
Hours: Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm; and Sun, Noon-5pm
(503) 224-9097
www.craftywonderland.com
The Crafty Wonderland shop opened a year ago as a pop-up shop representing 100 Portand-area artists. It was intended to exist only as a six-week holiday sale taking over a vacant storefront. Downtown Portland embraced the indie artists and local support has enabled the store to stay in place. Its organizers also sponsor retail shows at the convention center.
Corner Gallery Ukiah – Art Center Ukiah
201-203 South State Street
Ukiah, CA 95482
(707) 462-1400
Hours: Tues-Sat, 11am-6pm; closed Sun-Mon
www.artcenterukiah.org
Art Center Ukiah is a non-profit organization with classes, workshops and public events and exhibitions. Corner Gallery Ukiah is an artist cooperative-run retail store with local member artists showing their work in a full variety of art forms. The Art Center and the Corner Gallery are located next to each other with an interconnecting door, and a relationship that helps sustain them both.
Marin Jewelers Guild
at Art Works Downtown
1331 Fourth Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 454-2711
Hours: Tues-Sat, 10am-6pm
www.marinjewelersguild.com
Marin Jewelers Guild is a cooperative of local artists who design and hand-fabricate distinctive jewelry from silver, copper, gold, bronze and precious and semi-precious stones. The guild’s for-profit retail store is a tenant of Art Works Downtown, a nonprofit center for art built in a former opera house complex.
The Art Studios at Spanish Village Art Center
1770 Village Place (in Balboa Park)
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 233-9050
Hours: Daily, 11am-4pm
www.Spanishvillageart.com
Home to San Diego artist guilds representing painters, potters, sculptors, enamellists and woodcarvers, the Center emphasizes locally made and regional art. Visitors see artists at work in their studio-galleries. Built in 1935 to depict a Spanish village for the second California Pacific International Exposition, the village is located in Balboa Park.
The Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture
111 South Grand Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59715
(406) 587-9797
www.theemerson.org
The nonprofit Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture is located in a former school building. It relies on community support and the ventures undertaken under its roof, including three non-profit galleries and seven for-profit galleries. These include the Mud Room, which sells ceramics made by Montana artists. Also, in the center’s Galleria Hall are several privately run retail boutiques including Tart, which carries affordable craft objects made from up-cycled and recycled materials by Montana artists.
Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts Sales Gallery
2915 Country Club Avenue
Helena, MT 59602
(406) 443-3502, ext. 18
Hours: Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm, and in holiday season open Sundays, 1pm-5pm
www.archiebray.org
The annual holiday sale continues through Dec. 23 at this nonprofit educational institution, founded by a brickmaker in 1951. The foundation maintains a gallery of fine and affordable ceramic artwork made by its current and past resident artists and faculty.
NEW ENGLAND
Center for Maine Craft Gallery
West Gardiner Travel Plaza
Route 126, off Exit 103 from 95 South.
Mailing address: 24 Service Plaza Drive, West Gardiner, ME 04345
(207) 588-0021
Hours: 9am-8pm
www.mainecrafts.org
The nonprofit Maine Crafts Association operates this gallery. The Center was created with collaboration from state departments and agencies, as a unique place in a highway service plaza where made-in-Maine products could be promoted. Also visit the association’s two pop-up stores open now through Christmas in the Maine Mall, 364 Maine Mall Road, South Portland, 04106, enter through the food court; and the Bangor Mall, 663-Stillwater Avenue, Bangor, Maine, 04401.
Frog Hollow Craft Gallery
85 Church Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 863-6458
Hours (holiday season): Mon-Sat, 10am-8pm; and Sunday 11am-7pm through Jan 7
www.froghollow.org/content/our-gallery
Founded in 1971 in Middlebury, Vt., Frog Hollow bills itself as the first designated “state craft center” in the nation. The nonprofit Frog Hollow Foundation operates the gallery. Two additional Vermont State Craft Centers were designated in 2009: Artisans Hand Craft Gallery, 89 Main Street/City Center, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 229-9492, a cooperative gallery carrying the work of more than 150 Vermont artists; and the Gallery at the Vault, 68 Main Street, Springfield, VT, 05156 (802) 885-7111, which carries local and regional artist works.
The League of NH Craftsmen Retail Galleries
The nonprofit League of NH Craftsmen oversees a network of eight retail galleries around the state. These galleries feature the work of juried craftspeople from New Hampshire.
SOUTH
Mississippi Crafts Center Gallery
950 Rice Road
Ridgeland, MS 39157
(601) 856-7546
www.mscrafts.org
The Mississippi Crafts Center opened in Nov. 2006, and belongs to the state; the nonprofit Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi is self-supporting and must maintain the facility through its projects and fund-raising. At the gallery, shoppers see the work of more than 400 members who are fine craft artists. The guild also operates the Mississippi Craft Center Gallery at Fondren, 2906 N. State Street, Jackson, MS 39216, and hopes to open a second satellite gallery on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the spring to assist with restoring art districts destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
200 Artisan Way (off I-75 at Exit 77)
Berea, KY 40403
(859) 985-5448
www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov
The center began as a local initiative in Madison County, following a tornado that struck Berea in 1996, and developed into a state economic development initiative. The Kentucky legislature designated funds to build the state artisan center, which opened in 2003 and is a state agency. At the gallery, you’ll find folk art and other fine crafts.
South Carolina Artisans Center
3318 Wichman Street
Walterboro, SC 29488
(843) 549-0011
Hours: Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm; Sundays 1pm-6pm
www.scartisancenter.com
Designated by the state legislature as South Carolina’s official folk art and craft center, it is located near Charleston. The center presents the work of nearly 300 South Carolina artists. Started by three local women with a goal of economic development for downtown Walterboro, it received city, state and corporate help to open.
Piedmont Craftsmen Gallery
601 N. Trade Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
(336) 725-1516
Hours: Tues-Fri, 10:30am-5pm; and Sat 11am-4pm
www.piedmontcraftsmen.org
The shop carries a wide range of unique works by members of Piedmont Craftsmen Inc., a nonprofit guild representing more than 400 Southeastern artists. Fine craft representing folk traditions and contemporary art works are available for sale.
Allanstand Craft Shop at the Folk Art Center
Milepost 382, Blue Ridge Parkway
Asheville, NC 28805
(828) 298-7928
Hours: 9am-6pm, from April to December
www.southernhighlandguild.org
The oldest continuously operating craft shop in the United States, Allanstand was started by a missionary in 1897 and was donated to the Southern Highland Craft Guild in 1930. The Guild represents more than 900 craftspeople from nine southeastern states. The store presents the work of 200 members of the guild, with fine traditional and contemporary crafts in media including fiber, clay, wood, glass, metal, paper and natural materials. The guild operates four additional shops in North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky, and a prestigious juried craft fair, and partners with the National Park Service.
- Guild Crafts, 930 Tunnel Rd., Asheville, NC 28805, (828) 298-7903
- Parkway Craft Center, Milepost 294, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, NC 28605, (828) 295-7938
- Cumberland Crafts, US 25, E. Middlesboro, KY 40965, 606-242-3699
- Arrowcraft, 576 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738, 865-436-4604
Florida Craftsmen
501 Central Avenue
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701
(727) 821-7391
Hours: Mon-Wed, 10am-5:30pm; Thurs, 10am-7pm; Fri-Sat, 10am-5:30pm
www.floridacraftsmen.net
A statewide nonprofit organization for fine craft art, Florida Craftsmen Inc. teaches workshops to assist artists with their business and art skills, and maintains a fine craft gallery. The gallery features contemporary craft works from more than 300 Florida artists. Florida Craftsmen Inc. is supported by the state’s Division of Cultural Affairs.
RHINO Contemporary Crafts Co.
The Shops at Canal Place, Level 3
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
(504) 523-7945
www.rhinocrafts.com/gallery
RHINO stands for Right Here in New Orleans. It is a nonprofit artist cooperative incorporated in 1987 and devoted to promoting fine crafts made in Louisiana. Shoppers can meet fine craft artists on duty in the gallery, which sells its members’ work.
ArtWorks
The Galveston Art Center
2501 Market Street
Galveston, TX 77550
(409) 763-2403
www.contemporaryartgalveston.org/artworks.html
The ArtWorks retail gallery carries the contemporary creations of Texans, in all media including woodworking, ceramics, and metalsmithing. Sales support the artist and the art center. Incorporated in 1986, the Galveston Arts Center (GAC) is an independent nonprofit organization.
MID-ATLANTIC
Tamarack, The Best of West Virginia
1 Tamarack Park
Beckley, WV 25801-2674
(304) 256-6843
Hours: Sun-Sat, 8am-8pm
www.tamarackwv.com
Conceived as a state economic development initiative and built by the Parkways Authority, Tamarack became the nation’s first statewide showcase of craft, art, theater and cuisine. The facility includes a retail gallery, which showcases thousands of handcrafted objects by West Virginia artists.
Heartwood: Southwest Virginia’s Artisan Gateway
1 Heartwood Circle
Abingdon, VA 24210
(276) 492-2095
Hours: Mon-Sat: 10am-9pm and Sun: 10am-3pm
www.heartwoodvirginia.org
Newly opened in 2011, Heartwood was founded as an economic development initiative by the Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Commission and ‘Round the Mountain, Southwest Virginia’s Artisan Network. It features several galleries devoted to traditional and contemporary Southwest Virginia handcraft, including quilts and coverlets, baskets and pottery, art glass and jewelry.
Artisans Center of Virginia, “The Official State Artisans Center”
601 Shenandoah Village Drive
Near Milepost 0 of both the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive
Waynesboro, VA 22980
(540) 946-3294
www.Artisanscenterofvirginia.org
Part of the state’s Artisan Trail Network, the center features the work of Virginia artists in its retail sales gallery and exhibition space. The Center also has a program designating “retailer partners,” additional locations where shoppers can find Virginia fine craft. (These partners are listed on the center’s website.) Economic development directives given to state agencies by the governor in 1987 led to the founding of the center. In 2000, it was designated as the “official state artisans center.”
Art Galleries at The Torpedo Factory Art Center
105 N. Union St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 838-4565
www.torpedofactory.org
The building complex was originally a torpedo factory and later, a federal storage facility. With city and artist collaboration, several renovations occurred, and now the Center is a highlight of the Potomac River waterfront in Alexandria. Along with 1,000 cooperative gallery members and some 2,000 art students, the Center attracts artists from across the region to its multiple studios, galleries and classes. Among the galleries are the Scope Gallery, a clay artists’ cooperative; the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery; and the Enamelists Gallery – all of which show work by artists from the Alexandria and Washington D.C. areas.
MIDDLE STATES
The Guild Store – Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen
252 N. Prince Street
Lancaster, PA 717-431-8706
(717) 431-8706
Hours: Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm
www.pacrafts.org/shop-now/guild-store/
This award-winning retail store sells works made by members of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen.
Ohio Craft Museum & Gift Shop
1665 W. Fifth Avenue
Columbus, OH 43212
(614) 486-4402
www.ohiocraft.org
The museum is a program of the nonprofit Ohio Designer Craftsmen, a guild with more than 2,000 members. OCM is the only museum in the Midwest exclusively devoted to exhibiting and collecting fine craft. The gift store carries work by artists from Ohio, the nation and the world.
The Gift Gallery at the Foothills Art Center
809 Fifteenth Street
Downtown Golden, CO 80401
(303) 279-3922
Hours: Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm; and Sunday, 1pm-5pm. Holiday art market is open through Dec. 30, 2011.
www.foothillsartcenter.org
Staffed by artist volunteers, the Gift Gallery features exclusively works by Colorado artists. The juried holiday sale includes jewelry, ceramics, wood, fiber, glass and photography. Local artists founded the nonprofit art center in 1968. Today, it occupies a historic Victorian mansion and nearby gothic-style church.
Illinois Artisans Shop
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph Street, Suite 2-200
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-5321
Hours: Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm
http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/chicago/geninfo.html
The Southern Illinois Artisans Shop
at the Southern Illinois Art & Artisans Center
14967 Gun Creek Trail
Whittington, IL 62897
(618) 629-2220
Hours: Daily, 9am-5pm
http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/so-il/events.html
The Illinois Artisans Shop, in downtown Chicago, showcases a diverse collection of works by Illinois artists. The Southern Illinois Artisans Shop presents fine craft by more than 850 juried Illinois artists, plus workshops and demonstrations. Both shops are operated as part of the Illinois State Museum System, which is headquartered in the State Capitol Complex in Springfield and overseen by a state museum board.
The Textile Center Shop at The Textile Center
3000 University Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
(612) 436-0464
Hours: Mon-Thu, 10am-7pm; and Fri-Sat, 10am-5pm
www.textilecentermn.org/shop.asp
Through Dec. 30, the Textile Center Shop is featuring fine-quality, artist-made fiber art by more than 150 artists, mostly from Minnesota. Included are felted and knitted accessories, shibori-dyed garments, beaded items and art quilts. The Textile Center, founded in 1994, is a nonprofit member organization and a national center for fiber art, the first facility in Minnesota representing all fiber art forms including weaving, quilting, knitting, sewing, needlework, lace making, basketry and beading.
Frank M. Basile Studio Shop at the Indianapolis Art Center
820 E. 67th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 255-2464
Hours: Mon-Sat, noon-6pm
www.indplsartcenter.org
The Basile Studio Shop showcases fine craft and art by Indiana artists, including glass, ceramics, works on paper, jewelry and wood. The Indianapolis Art Center had humble roots in a Works Progress Administration/Depression-era art league, which operated a school. Today, the foundation-backed Indianapolis Art Center continues to offer arts training and community arts programs.
Gallery of Wood Art
American Association of Woodturners
222 Landmark Center
75 W. 5th Street
St. Paul, MN 55102
(651) 484-9094
Hours: Tues-Sat, 11am-4pm; Sun, Noon-3pm, and by appointment
www.galleryofwoodart.org
The gift store carries work by woodturners from across the country, with an emphasis on regional artists. The store features a wide range of work and prices, from handcrafted pens and Christmas ornaments to kitchen items and vessels. The American Association of Woodturners is a nonprofit.
Craft Alliance Gallery Shop
6640 Delmar Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63130
(314) 725-1177, ext. 322
www.craftalliance.org
Craft Alliance was established in 1964. Its Gallery Shop in Delmar Loop sells jewelry and clay, glass, fiber, wood and metal art by local and national artists. Craft Alliance is a funded member of the Arts & Education Council of Greater St. Louis and receives support from the Regional Arts Commission and the Missouri Arts Council as well as individual, corporate and foundation donors.
