Emily Applewater, owner of Applewater Designs and a vendor for the Art and Crafts show, displays handmade products comprised of resin and glass. Credit: Courtesy of Emily Applewater
A traveling art show will visit Hilliard, Ohio, this weekend to get crafty for a good cause.
The touring 2020 Spring Avant-Garde Art and Craft Show will stop at the Makoy Center in Hilliard Saturday. The events always benefit a local charity, with proceeds from this weekend’s show going to Hope Hollow, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing resources to cancer patients, survivors and their families, Becki Silverstein, owner and founder of Avant-Garde Art and Craft Shows, said.
Saturday’s event will include roughly 70 art and craft vendors offering a range of homemade goods, jewelry, decor and other miscellaneous items, as well as food trucks and live entertainment, Silverstein said.
Silverstein said she started the shows in 2011 when she was 23 years old.
“I decided to launch them because I wanted something a little bit unique and different from the typical arts and craft shows before the whole local handmade movement got real big,” she said.
The tour consists of 30 events per year across the Midwest with local and out-of-state vendors, Silverstein said.
“I try to find vendors that are unique and different. Like I say, the show has about maybe 50 percent new, 50 percent return, so some of your favorite vendors will always be at the show and so you’ll always see new vendors coming,” Silverstein said.
Michele Faith, owner of Yoga Om LLC and a vendor at the art and craft show, said after being diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago and going through treatment, she started to experiment with products such as essential oils and creams to ease her side effects from chemo and radiation.
“I put together an essential oil blend for my hot flashes, and I had peripheral neuropathy in my feet from one of my types of chemo. So I put together an oil blend to help with pain in my feet. And then from there, it just kind of just kept growing,” Faith said.
Faith said she uses a mixture of herbs, such as geraniums and rosemary, to mix with her essential oils and creams and create appealing aromas.
She said this is her first year as a vendor at the show and that she hopes to listen to people’s stories through her customer interactions.
“It’s almost impossible not to run into somebody who’s been touched by cancer, and so it just gives me that chance to find out what their challenges are, to lend them an ear, you know, to empathize with what they’re going through. I just love that connection,” Faith said.
Emily Applewater, owner of Applewater Designs and another vendor at the show, said she works with photography and materials such as resin, metal and glass to create jewelry and designs. She said she does not have a process but likes to experiment with interesting patterns.
Applewater, entering her second year as a vendor, said her work is a reflection of herself and her items are hand made and one-of-a-kind. She said she thinks this show is different from other craft shows.
“I think it’s the work that people put out at the show is different than what you typically see,” Applewater said. “It’s a little more unique.”
Silverstein said supporting charities and local businesses is a large aspect of the show.
“When I try to pick a charity, I try to pick a charity that’s not a big name and that’s also local so one can really benefit the community that the show is held in to give back too,” She said.
She said she doesn’t have an expectation of how much money is raised for charities, but the goal is typically to raise more than $1,000.
The Avant-Garde Art and Craft Show will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Makoy Center located at 5462 Center St., Hilliard, Ohio. Tickets cost $3 and children under 13 can attend for free.
