Mistletoe Art Fair

Afloat on the Tide.

Nancy has an innate ability to see the beauty in simple objects and then capture that beauty in a photograph that both attracts the eye and stimulates the imagination.  Her subjects range from small wooden boats, to elegant fragments of seashells, to dried seaweed resembling Tiffany glass, and finally, to up-close macro images of colorful marbles and sparkling gems floating through ice and water. 

Nancy’s unique photographs of small wooden boats were recognized by the publisher Sheridan House in a one-of-a-kind book titled, Afloat on the Tide.   It serves as a historic record of these special boats, so characteristic of New England, that are rapidly being replaced by boats made of more durable, synthetic materials, such as fiberglass and rubber.

She is one of our artists showing her ceramics on December 15-16 at Cambridge Center for Adult Education during the Mistletoe Art Fair.

Trained as a fine artist, she considers a well crafted and spirited piece of pottery is art that one can hold and use. Fire Garden Pottery is the name of her studio where she make her work, mostly using the potters wheel. “I love the primal quality of clay and the relationship of pottery to daily life throughout human history. “

Ariel combines her love of photography, painting, and the art of story telling in her mixed media creations. Her work is colorful, and imaginative. Her photography lets viewers into her private self, quiet, and evocative. Ariel find’s inspiration from the 20th century female photographers.

Ariel has a regular column in Photopreneur Magazine called “Analogue Culture”. A magazine which helps photographers begin and grow their business. “Analogue Culture” focuses primarily on analogue and alternative photographers.

When I told friends I was making soap, they arched an eyebrow and asked me if I realized that I could buy soap at the supermarket.  But as a Chemical Engineer, what would you have me do as a hobby, refine used motor oil?

Making soap by hand allows me the freedom to carefully select a blend of oils based on the characteristics each one will contribute.  I use lots of olive oil for gentleness, coconut oil for fluffy lather and palm oil for a hard bar.  I also use other oils for conditioning such as shea butter, mango butter and sweet almond oil.

In addition, the process used to handcraft soap naturally produces glycerin, a wonderful skin softener that is retained in the bars. Glycerin is wonderful for your skin, because it attracts and hold moisture to your skin.  While all soapmaking processes produce glycerin, large manufacturers of “corporate soap” often extract the glycerin, then turn around and sell the glycerin to the cosmetics and lotion industry.

All soaps are 100% vegetable soaps, no animal products are ever used. 

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Susan was born and raised in Boston, MA. She spent her youth at Fenway Park and Boston Garden rooting for her favorite teams.  

In 2003, Susan was introduced to needle felting by Sue Young, an incredibly multi-talented artist and friend in Jay, NY, in the Adirondack Mountains. She immediately fell in love with this ancient craft, eventually turning it into her business, Artfelt Creations.  Over the years, she has expanded her knowledge of felting by taking classes in nuno felting and hat making, using the wet felting process, and recently has created several new items such as felted dog jackets, felted soap, felted pillows,  and her wildly popular Cat Fish.

Chikako Mukai, one of our Fiber artists, creates works inspired by both her Japanese heritage and her western upbringing. Her esthetic is rooted in Asian sensibility and  Western influences. You can see the full range of her products exhibited in our show, Mistletoe Art Fair, on December 15th- 16th. Put it on your schedule.

We are delighted to have Stephen Earp as one of our talented artists at Mistletoe Art Fair. His ceramic works are refined, classic, and timeless. We hope you could see them in person on December 15th and 16th.

This week Mistletoe Art Fair is featuring the work of Jennifer Yogel. You can see her beautiful Jewelry at Cambridge Center for Adult Education on December 15-16.