American Craft Exposition 2006

This is my hat. And this is the top of my hat box. How can you not admire hatmakers who have the creative nerve to put such an odd picture on their hat boxes and business cards?

They are Ignatius Creegan and Rod Givens. Not only were they talented and humorous , they also were among the kindest of the artists at the American Craft Exposition.

Also welcoming was Daniel Essig, an artisan of small handmade books. The leaves are old, old paper that he finds or buys and the hard covers have a small icon-like window in the front where he places a geode, or some pebbles, or a tiny silver hammer. My favorite thing at his booth was the arch-shaped book with a tiny volume attached to it by a thin metal chain. The little book could be released to the end of its leash, or attached back to the main book with an invisible magnet. Essig is soft-spoken, comes every year to the exposition, and teaches classes at Columbia College as well as closer to home in the South.

I also loved Sally Jones' work, and the fact that she was wearing black pants under her purple and bronze colored skirt so that she could whip the skirt off and pass it to a customer to try on for size. She works in silk screen prints, then sews the Arts and Crafts style fabrics into simple wrap skirts, little pouches on a silk cord, bow ties, and simple but luscious rectangular scarves. The colors are saturated blues and greens and russets and blacks, and each scarf or skirt contains a few different patterns that somehow work together better than they would as separate.

Jay Rogers delights in revealing to each visitor how each of his handcrafted, wooden boxes open in a different way. With some, you need to find just the right spot on the uneven, stepped-down lid to press, and the lid angles off its base. With others, whose tops looked like several pieces of wood laid one atop the other, you need to find the right piece to lift first, and then each one comes off in order. His jewelry box had three compartments and a hidden drawer that could be accessed only once you had opened the rest of the box. He had a series of boxes whose lids looked like ancient maps, with tiny cracks in the wood that resembled rivers running through antique parchments.

Unfortunately, by the time that you read this, the exposition will be winding down. But go next year, walk the show, notice how each booth has its own personality. And be on the lookout for something frivolous, in the meantime, because art and craft can be fun at the same time as it is creative.