Great Festival!

Thank you, great customers, for making the Greensboro Bicentennial Heritage Festival a smashing success for Metallic Artistry and the folks that braved wind , rain, cold and sun, my hats off to you. It was great seeing old friends and making new ones over the weekend. Hope to see you all again real soon. It was so neat to see the celebrations all over downtown with real craft demonstrations in the Center City Park and those great antique autos. They were so interesting, and so were the enthusiasts that loved and cared for them. It's so much fun to talk to folks with so much passion for their interests. We are truly blessed with so many talented people in this area.
Saturday started out with everybody dodging showers 'til sometime after 12 when it finally settled down, some sun could be seen and everyone saw it was safe to venture out without getting too wet. We had a great afternoon, although the wind was bad in some areas, we were sheltered somewhat on Davie Street by the YWCA. I've been to enough of these I've got a pretty good feeling for wind dynamics and had most of my displays fairly low profile. Some others on the street didn't fare so well. Early on, a bad gust took down a potter's rack with hours and hours of work along with it. Unfortunately that's one of the risks that go with the territory. We pour our hearts and soul into our endeavors, present them to the world with our hearts in our hands only to have them dashed to destruction or rejected. We artists have to be a tough lot sometimes. But, the rewards are worth the price. Check out the two young ladies in their 40's classic clothes. All day we saw vintage and costume clothes worn by period actors some with Original vintage clothes from Design Archives on Tate Street. I've always loved the old WWII era movies, and these two looked like they just came through a time bridge which opened up on our street. I had to get a shot. Thanks ladies!! Oh, by the way check out the sign just to the left of the black hatted young lady.....it says, "1st Place Best of Show". That's a first for me. Thanks judges for knowing a good thing when you see it and rewarding our hard work!
The other pic is of the tent with sis Ann on the left and Miss Karrie Detwiller. Karrie collaborates with Metallic Artistry occasionally with some of her exceptional jewelry. Quite a few customers availed themselves of her beautiful work over the weekend. I met Karrie at the Carrboro Arts Center where she teaches numerous classes in metalworking techniques. Her young mind is a treasure chest of metalworking knowledge. I had her Chasing and Repousse class and hope to incorporate some of that into my work soon. Stay tuned! Her classes are well worth the 50 minute drive from Greensboro if you're thinking of expanding your skill base. So, time to get back to work for the next show coming up. Later...Ed.