The Men of Craftstravaganza

Perhaps the surest sign that this is no ordinary old-lady craft fair is the fact that several of our vendors are, in fact, males. Whereas traditional "ducks in bonnets" style craftwork may be less appealing to men, the kind of art we looked for could be more or less appreciated by both genders. I counted, and out of 67 booth spaces, at least 12 include one or more dudes (some tables are shared by multiple vendors). That's like eighteen percent! Here are a few of my personal top picks.

It all starts with John Carlson, who is also the President of the Board at the Sibley Bike Depot. He paints Ukranian eggs, but there's not much online yet. Jaak assists with our scrapping operations at the shop, and keeps some choice parts for his sculpture work. He also makes some unique jewelry that I think could go over at the show. Finally, there's Nate's Custom Sewing, who made a custom saddle and grips for John's vintage 3-speed! The craft world and the bike world are both very small.

Lonny Unitus I must have mentioned before. He designs gig posters and I commissioned him to make our crazy giant-style poster for the show. We've been getting compliments on his work from lots of people already, so I think I made a good choice on that one. Withremote is Nate Nolting, another designer who makes band posters but also sells art prints, stickers and t-shirts. I am totally going to buy one of these shirts on July 8.

I am going to cut myself off after drawl graphic, even though that's less than half the talented guys who'll be at the Craftstravaganza. There are actually two guys in this studio (Chris and Adam (plus a girl, Lindsay)) and I like them both, but I'm partial to Adam's big cartoony style. Cool it, man. No, you cool it.

I wouldn't be so egoistical as to mention my own work again, oh no. Especially since I already posted about it twice.