The Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen the largest chapter in the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen with 188 members, holds its 66th consecutive juried Holiday Fine Arts and Crafts Festival on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 2015.
More than 100 artisans and about a dozen student artists will appear at Kutztown University's O'Pake Field house (312 Trexler Ave., Kutztown, PA 19530) on Oct. 31 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Nov. 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The holiday show, held in partnership with Pennsylvania German Scholarship Studies, the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center and Kutztown University, offers museum quality examples of contemporary and traditional artwork produced by members of the Reading-Berks Guild and other juried craftsmen who are members of the Pennsylvania State Guild. Kutztown University students and other art students will also display and sell their work.
Show Chairman Terry Boyer said visitors can expect to find many genres of crafts including clay, fiber, glass, jewelry, metal, paper, photography and wood. Traditional holiday show favorites are stained glass, hooked rugs, pressed and dried flower art, furniture, woodworking, ceramics, wearable art, tole and folk art paintings and holiday collectibles. Boyer also said
this is an opportunity to shop for that one-of-kind gift and meet the artist who created it.
Several Guild members will demonstrate their craft including internationally acclaimed fine pottery artist, Lynn Taylor; silk clothing maker Wilfriede Axsmith; Gerald W. Putt, a wildlife painter and winner of more than 13 annual Pennsylvania duck stamp contests; Joan Dunham, theorem painter; and one of the top traditional Scherenschnitte artists, Marilyn
Diener.
Other featured fine arts craftspeople are Andy Smith; Judy Boyer, floral art; Linda Beiler, straw weaving; Mary Ellen Brubaker, cloth dolls and mohair bears; Brenda Miller, paper cutting; Janet Fasnacht, handspun wool; Ed Youtz, wood; Debra Hammond, basketry; Gina Strubel,
wire jewelry; Ginny Good, folk art beeswax; Kathy Dinsmore a fiber artist; Jon P Marks, a woodcarver, and many more demonstrating craftspeople throughout the weekend.
Butch Imhoff and the Acoustic Road Show will present live music on both days. Food is also available. Visitors are encouraged to take a break and hang out in the Cafe area of the show.
A free gift will be given to the first 66 visitors on both days. Boyer said there is ample free parking with handicapped accessible areas and the show is also wheelchair accessible.
The donation for admission is $6. Children under 12 and Kutztown University students are free.
