YazBerry Little Shop Studio Tour

Enjoy, a narrated and guided tour through The Little Shop. Open by appointment most days. Simply contact me for a visit at shop.yazberry@gmail.com or just knock on the door!

City announces this year's picks for Artists Row - Beverly, MA - Salem Gazette

City announces this year's picks for Artists Row - Beverly, MA - Salem Gazette To view pictures visit this link.

By Lisa Guerriero/ salem@cnc.com
Salem Gazette
Posted May 27, 2010 @ 06:03 PM
Salem —

There will be some new faces as well as familiar ones when Artists Row reopens this weekend.

Competition was fiercer than ever this year to occupy one of the four small buildings at 24 Derby St., nestled between Front and Lafayette streets. The city typically gets five to seven applications each year for the seasonal artists’ enclave, but this year it received about 15.

“We had more applicants this year than in the past two years put together. The word is getting out and there’s a lot of interest,” said Frank Taormina, of the Planning Department. “We tried to accommodate as many as artists as possible.”

A collection of galleries and studios, Artists Row is sponsored by the city of Salem as a way of encouraging the arts community and also fostering retail growth in the downtown. Officials from the Planning Department and the Mayor’s Office make the choice each year as to who will occupy the spots.

The Salem Arts Association (SAA) will return to its 900-square-foot space, and Mamadou Diop’s Baobab Space again will house one of the stalls with Debra Crosby’s A Quest Actors Studio.

New this year is A Guild of Artistic Sorts — GASworks, a collaboration of about 10 local artists from varying disciplines. Also new, in the fourth stall, is potter Bradley Backer’s Impart Art, sharing space with textile artist Virginia Berry’s YazBerry Fashion.

With so many artists and groups vying this time around for just a few spots, city officials had a tough time deciding who would make the cut.

“This year, unfortunately, there had to be some clear winners and losers. This year there was so much interest. It’s a great thing, but at the same time it made it harder,” Taormina said. “Making the final decision… was quite a process.”

The organizers of Experimental Art Gallery & Studio, which occupied a stall for the last few years, did not apply this year, said Taormina, while the city did not chose to return the Theory studio, which was joined Artists Row in 2009 but won’t be back this year.

Much of the hard choices were based on the city’s desire to pack in as many artists as possible. Shared spaces and collaborative galleries won out, Taormina explained.

Artists get to use the space rent free, but throughout the season they have to maintain the stall, stay open during designated hours every week and offer special programs and performances — so the manpower offered by collaborations makes a difference when officials makes their selections.

The influx of applications is also why the choices weren’t made public until this week, shortly before Artists Row’s soft opening this weekend. The artists’ stalls were set to open Thursday, but there will be an official grand opening next weekend, which will coincide with the citywide Salem Arts Festival. (See below for details on the festival.)

The schedule for the season is the same as last year, which includes an extension of the hours on Thursdays so that Artists Row shares traffic with the Salem Farmers Market, which runs until 7 p.m. The artists and the city also work with the Lobster Shanty restaurant, next to Artists Row.

Newcomers on the Row

About 10 North Shore artists comprise A Guild of Artistic Sorts — GASworks, which formed specifically to find a home on Artists Row.

Like the SAA, GASworks’ artists represent a variety of disciplines. Salem resident Dann Maurno, who’s leading the group, said the members would display and give workshops on talents ranging from fine art and photography to leather craft and theater.

They’ll also be working with the local band Merj, which Maurno described as “violin power rock,” to teach an open-mike preparation workshop. And his wife, Sarah Maurno, an acting professor, will give a few workshops there on her own craft.

“[The city] only required we deliver 12 workshops or performances during the time, but we’re asking, can we do 20, 25?” Maurno said,

The group is excited about being chosen for the season — “It’s a gas,” Maurno quipped — although they’ve been busy getting ready to open for the first time.

“Everyday we’re down there thinking something new to do,” he said. “For us, every brick has to be painted, every display has to be put up.”

In the fourth and smallest stall will be the shared studios of Backer and Berry. A recent transplant to Salem, Backer previously owned a paint-your-own pottery studio in Quincy for seven years. Visitors will be able to watch him work with his kiln, check out the pottery he creates and try their hand at the craft during workshops.

With her YazBerry Fashion, Berry creates one-of-a-kind purses, jewelry and clothing. She uses bold colors and intricate details to create pieces with a vintage flair, inspired in part by her travels around the world. She’ll offer classes on fashion design, basic sewing and costuming — plus some musical activities, as she’s also a musician.

Artists come home again

The SAA is returning for its third season at Artists Row. With dozens of members who work in a range of media, they host rotating monthly exhibits as well as retail and gallery offerings. The group’s first show of the season, opening this weekend, is “Fresh and Fruity,” which ties into the Salem Farmers Market, which will reopen in June. A reception for the show will be held Saturday, June 12, 4-7 p.m.

In addition to the monthly, themed exhibitions, the SAA will spotlight one member artist every few weeks. The first person featured will be glassworker Gary LaParl. (Learn more about the SAA and its activities, within and outside the Row, at salemartsassociation.org.)

Diop and Crosby have also shared their space on Artists Row for several years. Their stall again will feature Diop’s African art and crafts and Crosby’s acting classes and performances.

The pair also works together on the nonprofit A3D (African Development through Drum and Dance), which hosts CultureFest in Salem every summer.

FYI:

Artists Row stalls are open Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Some stalls may be open additional days or hours. Performances, exhibits, workshops and other events are held throughout the season, May 27 through Nov. 1. For details on programming, visit salem.com/pages/artistrow.

Many of the artists involved in the Row are participating in the Salem Arts Festival and Salem Arts Walk, June 4-6. Learn more in the Gazette’s Art News section this week, and find further details at salemartsfestival.com.

For more about the Salem Farmers’ Market, visit salemfarmersmarket.org.
Copyright 2010 Salem Gazette. Some rights reserved

Salem Arts Festival – June 4th – 6th, 2010

As an Artist on Artists' Row, the area where my store is located, I will be participating in this festival. Should be a fun lively weekend in Salem.


Press Release May 14, 2010

For Immediate Release
Contact: Matt Caruso #(978) 744-0004, mattcaruso@salemsounds.com www.salemartsfestival.com
Salem Main Streets, 265 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970

CLICK HERE for a printable copy in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat)

Salem Arts Festival – June 4th – 6th, 2010

Enjoy a stroll through beautiful and historic Salem, MA and experience the Salem Arts Festival, a celebration all the arts: painting, photography, sculpture, dance, music, writing, new media, performance, poetry, culinary and more!

This free and family-friendly event runs June 4th-6th, 2010 and promotes the arts in downtown Salem in a unique and collaborative way – highlighting the existing artist community and encouraging general community participation. The Festival venues include Old Town Hall, The Salem Common and Pickering Wharf, and run the gamut from juried exhibitions and demonstrations to live performances. No matter what your level of art experience, people of all ages and backgrounds will find something that will delight and educate!

Visit www.salemartsfestival.org for more information.

About the Salem Arts Festival?
Salem Arts Festival is organized by volunteers and by Salem Main Streets with assistance from the Salem Arts Association. Funding provided in part from a grant from The Salem Cultural Council (SCC) with additional funding provided by local businesses and organizations.

The Salem Arts Festival provides the arts community an opportunity to showcase their talents – from juried exhibitions and demonstrations to live performances. Last years Festival was attended by over 4000 people and we expect an even larger crowd this year.

About Salem Main Streets?
Salem Main Streets’ goal is the revitalization of downtown Salem as a vibrant, year-round, retail, dining and cultural destination through business recruitment, retention and the promotion of downtown Salem.

The Salem Arts Festival is offered free to all visitors and residents of Salem and does not include goods for sale. However, exhibitors and performers may distribute their cards and brochures.?
ILLUSTRATION BY RICHARD FLYNN

Wee! Stuff on the Shelves!

My good Skidmore College buddy Kate Bradley helped me populate the store this weekend. Steve & I did a couple of finishing touches and voila, I present, the almost ready store!
This is my vast window display, the other windows are occupied by the potter.

The wall of yummies. Obi belts, newly designed hair barrettes (only available in store), some of my purses and leather cuffs...

The converted letterpress drawer earring display.

My new handmade mannequin (yesterday I built this mannequin from newspaper, strapping tape and plastic grocery bags. I made a cover for her from a t-shirt. I'm rather pleased with the end result). A glimpse of the jewelry case, which we plan to light with a string of white x-mas lights.

The dressing room, made from a hula hoop. We rigged up a wooden stick to serve as the rod for clothing. Still need to come up with a lighting solution so you aren't in a super dark tent trying on clothes. Any ideas?

The corner shelf with a couple more purses and wine glass charms. What you see on the left hand side is some of the potters work.

Finishing Touches on Display elements

What a busy week scouring my favorite stuff (aka junk) stores for treasures and unique quirky display components. I'd searched the internet for necklace displays and was having a heckuva time finding the fabric I liked in the shape and size I liked for a price I was willing to pay when...lo and behold...I stumbled into Jerry's Department Store aka Witch City Consignment here in Salem and found that had just purchased an enormous lot of props from 20th Century Fox which included necklace displays and mannequins (passed on the mannequins).

I picked up several used necklace displays which I took home, stripped of their dressing and made patterns to make new covers out of black velvet. They are finished and DELICIOUS if I do say so myself. Here is a quick peek as well as a peek of a soon to be listed necklace I just made (top).
I also found this delightfully quirky Victorian drying rack which is wall mounted and will hang high above the glass display counter I have. I will mount purses on it. This is a similar one splayed out (mine's not mounted yet, thank you Google images for this one).

Cement Patches and Paint

Stage two of the retail space renovation. Steve's cement patch is nearly dry and we mended the whole in the wall left by the removal of the take-out counter. We also painted the boards along the bottom of the wall. The brackets had left brown marks and the new boards needed paint. Here's a peek at what we're up to: