Three years ago, Whitney Moody was laid off from her job - so she took up knitting. "I couldn't stop," says the West Tisbury resident who will display Whitknits, her new line of hand-knit handbags at this summer's Vineyard Artisans Festivals. A participant since last year, she calls it the best of the Island's arts and crafts fairs and enjoys the sense of community.
Joan Walsh manned her booth of paintings and drawings in the Grange Hall last year. Photos by Lynn Christoffers
"Working on your own all winter, you can't wait to talk to people," Ms. Moody says. "People appreciate you." She finds more of an exchange with customers at the festival than in other settings.
Boasting its largest number of vendors yet, the Vineyard Artisans Festival opens for the summer season on Sunday, June 14, at the West Tisbury Grange Hall. More than 60 of the Island's year-round artists and craftspeople will offer Islanders and visitors handmade collectibles ranging from children's beds to knitted purses to fine art photography.
Jamie Rogers, who assists her mother, Andrea Rogers, in running the festival, attributes its growing popularity in part to the Island trend toward supporting local products. "The downtrend in the economy also means more people are supplementing their income through their artistic endeavors," she says.
Festival visitors stopped to listen as Ed Russell of Seahorse Sculptures describe the wood carvings of Ethan and Isaac Stone.
The 12th annual Summer Festival will continue every Sunday through September from 10 am to 2 pm. Food will be provided by Slice of Life, since Lola's, the previous caterer, closed its doors.
On Labor Day weekend, September 5 and 6, the show will move to the West Tisbury Agricultural Hall for its 14th annual Labor Day Festival from 10 am to 5 pm. Fairs will also take place Columbus Day weekend, Thanksgiving weekend, and once in December at either the Grange Hall or the Agricultural Hall.
Although the weather was cool on May 22, the opening day of the festival's Memorial Day weekend launch, by the next day sunshine was plentiful and so were the crowds. Jamie Rogers, a silversmith and a blacksmith, was pleased with the interest in her products - silver jewelry that incorporates crystals, stones, minerals, and fossils - and made additional sales to customers after the weekend ended.
Bill Moore of Oak Bluffs, a first-time participant, exhibited his boat-shaped toddler beds at the Memorial Day weekend show. The positive feedback he received from attendees made him optimistic about the summer festivals.
The made-to-order beds are replicas of Island ferries with storage drawers, a horn, and lights. Mr. Moore constructed his first boat bed, a copy of the Katama freight boat, for his grandson several years ago. It received so much interest that he made several more, this time copying the Islander, complete with a freight deck for toy trucks and cars. Mr. Moore plans to exhibit his work throughout the festival season and will add ferryboat coffee tables to his repertoire.
Denise Rhone of Oak Bluffs has been researching and making skincare products out of Shea butter for three years, developing a line of high-quality but affordable skincare creams. She buys Shea butter from a Fair Trade women's cooperative in Burkina Faso, West Africa. She belongs to PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) and the Compact for Safe Cosmetics.
Ms. Rhone will begin displaying her botanical products, made from the fat of a West African tree fruit, at the festival in August. "This is my lifeblood," she says, extolling the virtues of her products for healing eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis and as an anti-wrinkle cream.
Founded in 1995 by Andrea Rogers, the Vineyard Artisans Festival has been supported over the years by a number of Island cultural councils, the Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society, the town of West Tisbury, and the Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust.
Since 2002, the festival has been juried. Arts and crafts categories include aromatherapy, botanicals, blacksmithing, book arts, clothing and wearable art, fiber arts and leather crafts, glass, home furnishings and accents, jewelry, painting, mixed media, photography, woodcrafts and novelties.
Vineyard Artisans Summer Festival, Sunday, June 14,10 am-2 pm, Grange Hall, West Tisbury. 12th Annual show features over 60 artisans. Free parking and admission. 508-693-8989; vineyardartisans.com.
