Craftsman’s Fair spins upbeat weekend

7 first-time vendors display work at Albemarle show

By DIANA MAZZELLA
Staff Writer

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Area crafters have heard things about the annual Albemarle Craftsman’s Fair held this weekend. They’ve heard so many good things that the 51-year-old fair is still drawing new crafters to display their work.

Carolyn Sleeper, 55, was fashioning a ceramic angel that had curly hair and a striped skirt. She’s one of the seven first-time vendors at the fair this year out of 42 total vendors.

“I heard that it was a quality fair,” she said. “...I was looking for a place to sell my work where I felt I better belonged.”

Sleeper, of Washington, N.C., makes wheel-thrown pottery and handcrafted ceramics. Some, she says, are functional, such as her mugs. Others are whimsical or funny, such as the turtles, shallow miniature dishes with leaves painted in the center, and angels.

“I make angels just because I can, and I think they’re pretty, and not everybody makes angels,” she said.

Sleeper was an art teacher for many years and has been crafting full time for the last five years. She has enjoyed working beside other crafters at the fair this weekend.

“I’m going to come back every year,” she said.

Fair chairwoman Mary Temple said the fair’s attendance has just about kept pace with last year’s numbers. On Friday, about 600 people showed up at the Knobbs Creek Recreation Center. Between 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Saturday, 454 people had already attended. She said Friday had about 60 fewer people than the same day the previous year, but traffic has been steady.

She said some of the crafters remarked that their sales were better Friday than the previous year, and others noticed that customers seemed to be using cash more this year.

But all customers seem to be taken with the original, painstaking work for sale.

“I’ve heard several comments that this is the only show that they do because they’re happy with the quality,” Temple said.

She said the demonstration aspect of the fair, in which the crafters either explain how they do their work or create items on the spot, helps the customers appreciate how much work went into a craft and why it costs what it does.

Donna Sneed, 59, a recent transplant to Elizabeth City, was making crystal beaded bracelets at the show Saturday. She had Venetian glass jewelry and Swarovski crystal bracelets for sale.

She’s lived in Elizabeth City for about a year and found the craftsman’s fair and guild on the Internet when looking for area art organizations.

She strongly believes in encouraging young people to take interest in crafts, which is one reason she likes the fair.

“It’s more than just a place to buy things,” she said. “It’s a place to learn, too.”

Sneed picked up her love of glass when she was a child at an exhibition watching artisans create blown glass.

“You never know what kids are going to pick up on when you expose them to new things,” she said.

Along with the new crafters are the regulars that come back year after year. Emily Harrell, 100, has been showing her Armenian needle lace since 1984. She now also creates quilts and has her family members with her selling their quilts as well.

She says she enjoys seeing the same vendors consistently every year that she may not see any other time.

Customer Judy Fogarty, of Roper, called the fair “terrific” and said she’s been once before.

“I wanted to come back to see the pine needle (booth), and I’m partial to glass,” she said.

She was looking for Christmas presents for others and nice things for herself.

“You don’t find the quality of stuff ... anywhere else,” she said.