Margaret Almon Mosaics

Nautilus Mandala: New Work For Lancaster

 

I have a new Nautilus Mandala for the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen Lancaster Show so come check it out in person!  This is 8" in diameter, and begins at the center with an Italian glass bead swirled with Aventurine, then spirals out into copper smalti alternating with blue silvery smalti, shading into pale blue iridized glass tile, and finally into amber and coppery glass, orange gold smalti and glass tile.  I had some glass squiggles, and I cut them up and interspersed them throughout with a neat effect, because of their rounded shape.  Here's a closer look:

Pennsylvania Guild Holiday Fine Craft Fair in Lancaster, 2009

This coming weekend, November 14th & 15th, I will be in Lancaster for the Pennsylvania Guild Fine Craft Fair, at the Manheim Township High School.  Look for me in booth #207.  This is an all mosaics booth, and then starting with North Penn Holiday Show(11/21), it will be mosaics with Stratoz's stained glass.  There are three separate rooms within Manheim, all full of crafts, so be sure to check them all!

Hours

Sat: 10 am to 6 pm

Sun: 11 am to 5 pm

 

Admission

$7 adults

free members

free children 12 & under

 

(groups tickets are available for parties of 10 or more, call 717-431-8706 for details)

 

Directions

Whether from north, south, east or west, here are your options.

 

Coupons

$1 off discounts for two are available. Simply go here.

 

Related Post:

Nautilus Mandala: New Work for Lancaster

Rain or Shine! PA Guild Fine Craft Fair 10/17-10/18, 2009

Today was set-up for the PA Guild Fine Craft Fair, and was pleased to discover that the Bucks Chapter Group booth has been moved into the big tent, sheltered from the rain.  We put up our outdoor tents inside the big tent, and figured out how to fit 6 of us.  Fortunately, our crafts really work well together, and it's fun to see the variety.  The necklace pictured here is by Cynthia K. Prediger, one of the talented Bucks Guild members in the booth with me.  She has fearless creativity!  

So instead of getting squirrely inside your house this weekend, brave the weather and come be warmed by all the delightful craft, food, music, and activities for kids.  The organizers are using their own creativity to reconfigure the layout of the show so that you can stay as dry as possible!

Hope and the Pennsylvania Guild Show this weekend October 17th & 18th

 

This weekend has a lot of hope in it.  Hope that it won't rain is a big one.  But also hope for the heartening effects of beautiful handmade crafts at Montgomery County Community College, in Blue Bell, PA.  Wayne was kind enough to design the lettering for this mosaic, and cut it from iridescent pale pink glass.  I glued it to a Pennsylvania slate base, and constructed a background of stained glass, iridized glass tile, and custom colored dusty pink grout. 

Growing up with the common wisdom that brunettes are suited to pink, I had an aversion to it.  In my first ballet class, I was the only girl who chose the blue leotard.  Slowly, I have found my eye drawn to pink glass, and at first I ignored the attraction.  Afterall, we'd bought a house in spite of pink carpet in practically every room save the kitchen, and I'd agreed knowing that we would rip it out as soon as could.  But still, pink is growing on me, and as a symbol of breast cancer awareness, I have many women in my life who have faced this disease, and pink can be a symbol of their courage. 

Related Posts:

Asymmetric Rose Tone Mosaic(note that I resisted using the word pink in the description. . .)

PA Guild Fine Craft Fair: Celebrate Fall with Handmade in Blue Bell, PA

Check out Wayne's commission to make a pink ribbon stained glass.

PA Guild Fine Craft Fair: Celebrate Fall with Handmade in Blue Bell

Get outside and play on October 17 & 18th by checking out fine crafts by over 100 artists, including myself, and finding beautiful and inspiring handmade items, and  demonstrations, new kids' activities, new food booths and live music.   There is ample free parking at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, and a Septa bus stop right at the action. My mosaics will be part of the Bucks Chapter Group Booth, which is now UNDER THE BIG TENT.  I'll be there when I can, so come visit. 

If you are inspired, enter the PA Guild's contest to win a $65 gift certificate toward any crafts at the show.

 

A Car Load of Fine Crafts: Headed to Wilmington

Captured this portrait of Stratoz, after his successful loading of a 10ftx10ft booth into the Honda Fit.  That's 9 knock-down Pro Panels, 2 tables, tablecloths, tile stands, bubble wrap, 4 boxes of mosaics, a chair, lighting, and a cart to dolly it all in. 

We are all settled in to booth #422, with Elizabeth's Lace Tatted Jewelry next door, which is very cool since I've admired her work ever since Stratoz bought me a tatted lace pin for Christmas.

Jonathan's Spoons is across the aisle.  I have an ergonomic spoon from him that is a delight to use.

And catty-corner are members of my chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, Bucks Guild Group Booth. 

Getting Ready for the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen Summer Show

I am in the beginning of the whirlwind.  Mosaics on every available flat surface, ready for photographing and putting into my inventory program Artist's Butler(the closest I'll ever get to actually having a butler!)  A new director's chair is assembled, thanks to Stratoz and some major yanking and tugging.  I'm gathering the new work, contemplating getting it into the Honda Fit.  Actually, Stratoz will be using his spatial-ability superpowers to get it all in. 

I'm excited to be bringing some new trivets, not only with new designs, but using the beautiful woodwork of Wood By Dami, Mindy & David Spray.  They are new juried members of the Bucks Chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, and when I saw their trivet frames made with contrasting species of wood, I felt inspired.  Working with new materials helps expand my creative thinking, a synergy.  As David Spray notes on their website, "Furniture has been called accessible sculpture because we all live with it, touch it, and interact with it everyday."  I am grateful I've had the chance to interact with this sculptural form, and that I can use my hands to create. 

On July 25th, 10-6 & 26th, 10-5, stop by my booth, #422!  I'm listed under Nutmeg Designs. 

Wood by Dami will be in the Bucks Guild of Craftsmen booth, #410, so be sure to check them out as well, along with other cool Bucks member crafts including weaving, and jewelry.

PA Guild Summer Show

Glass on the Riverfront: PA Guild Fine Craft Show in Delaware

I am excited that I will be at the Pennsylvania Guild's FIne Craft Show on July 25 & 26, 2009, booth #422, with mosaics.  I am solo at this show, but Stratoz will be there to help set-up and give me a break over the course of the show.    Come check out 180 craftspeople, and of course come visit me in the booth!

Chester County Craft Guild Spring Show, May 2-3 2009

I will be at the Chester County Craft Guild's 5th Spring Show, along with the other half of Nutmeg Designs, Wayne Stratz and his original stained glass designs.  Come check it out!  We'll be in booth #26, in the "theater" part of the building. 

Historic Yellow Springs Chester Springs Studio which you will see first as you drive down Art School Rd.,  is also be having their art sale at the same time, so make a day of it! 

Clear, Bright, Gleaming: Easter and Clearance of the Spirit

This morning I went to my husband's Episcopal church for a sunrise Easter service.  I don't usually go, but this was the first year in my memory of a sunrise service, and I loved this as a child.  In Edmonton,this involved getting up at 4:30 in the morning, and putting on a new pastel Easter dress and a warm coat over top of that, and then standing outside, often with snow still on the ground, and an overcast sky, with the Moravian Trombone choir intoning beautiful chorales, and singing "Jesus Christ is Risen Today: Alleluia!" As the Moravian Music Foundation notes, the 18th and 19th Century Moravians considered music a necessity of life. 

This morning's service began in darkness at 6:00 am, with the lighting of the Paschal candle, and proceeded by candlelight vigil as the sun rose, and the stained glass windows became illumined.  Growing up in the Moravian church, I was accustomed to simple spare sanctuaries.  As an artist, the Episcopalian church is a revelation, with art as part of the spiritual life, art as a way to reflect as much light as possible. 

As I prepare for the Bucks Chapter Guild of Craftsmen Craft Studio Clearance Sale on April 25th, 2009, I started thinking about the word "clearance."  I looked up the etymology, and was surprised to see it is from the Latin root, clarus, "clear, bright, gleaming," and ultimately from the Indo-European kele, meaning to call.  This is serendipitous for a mosaic artist, as the essence of the glass comes from light, bright and gleaming.  I have a closet in my studio, that is full of mosaics, squirreled away in the darkness, hibernating, mostly forgotten.  I brought them out, to be in the light, and become reanimated, like the log cabin square in copper and green.  Many of these are from earlier incarnations of my work, and I can see the seeds of my current work within them.  It is a fact of enjoying creating art, that I have more art than I can really store, and so I am clearing out for the new, and sharing some light at a lower than usual price. 

Some have idiosyncrasies like the music box   that doesn't play music, or the black framed trivets that I am phasing out, or the heavy slate wall hanging , that weighs in at almost 5 pounds, or the pink mirror that's just a little too pink for me!  Come and visit at the show, and see all the other cool things for sale--pottery, glass beads, wood turning and more.