Kicking it off again … Artisans of the Valley, LLC. having learned from our mistakes the last round, mainly shooting for too high in an all or nothing campaign, we’re giving Kickstarter another try with a Manzanita Madness project. This time, all we ask is $100 to start the funding and in return Artisans will start providing our backers with bowls and vases.

Visit the link below for our campaign – visit www.artisansturnings for examples of our turning projects or explore our FB albums.

The Bench, The Art, The Wine … a Sunday Afternoon at the vineyards, at the movies, and among the artwork for a nominal expenditure.

This four hour exclusive event is hosted by Hopewell Valley Vineyards and offers personal interactive artist meetings, light music, wine tastings, homemade brick oven pizza, delectable desserts, a feature independent film, and a Q&A session with members of the cast, and crew.

The “Couples Bench” $69.50 package includes two movie passes, one bottle of wine (preset choices), one cheese and crackers platter, one brick oven pizza (preset choices), dessert for two, gratuity, and all ticket transaction fees. NJ Sales tax is applied in addition.

https://artisans.ticketbud.com/the-bench-the-art-the-wine

Agenda of the Day

• 12:45pm Arrivals and will call ticket pickup begins.
• 1:00pm Doors open for social wine & cheese with light music.
• 1:45pm Opening introduction with short films, artist intros, Q&A.
• 2:20pm Ten minute intermission.
• 2:30pm Feature film presentation “The Bench.”
• 4:06pm Dessert Q&A with the writer Christopher Michael Jones, Producer Jeff Stewart, Director Lawrence R. Greenberg, and, pending announcement, additional members of the cast and crew.
• 4:45pm Reception room reopens to general public for evening entertainment. All are welcome to stay!

The Bench

On this bench, seventeen people come to sit. Their stories are told in eight different chapters, by eight different filmmakers. Socially relevant topics are explored, such as prejudgment, homophobia, and persecution. Stories told of love lost, love found, love redeemed, love remembered, and even perhaps a second chance at love… One Day. One Park. One Bench.

https://www.facebook.com/TheBenchFilms

The Artists

Eric M. Saperstein of Artisans of the Valley is offering his latest works in wood turning. www.artisansturnings.com

Thomas Whistance of Whistance Wood Art is showing off his latest creations on the lathe. www.whistancewoodart.com

The Vineyard

Our hosts, Sergio and Violetta Neri enjoy the lifestyle of winemakers and patrons of the arts; they are eager to share the experience with those who travel the Delaware River Valley Wine Trail. Their award winning vintages age in their cellars alongside their home, vineyard, and tasting hall. Enjoy an afternoon, stroll through the grape vines in the crisp autumn air, then warm up next to the brick oven, with a glass of wine, while absorbing the smell of baking flat bread.

www.hopewellvalleyvineyards.com
www.enjoyhopewellvalleywines.com

Greetings,

Welcome to Artisans Quarterly Review, a periodic newsletter presented by Artisans of the Valley. We’re a little late as this is the first issue of 2014!

This email features Artisans Quarterly Review Volume 7 Issue 1 – 2014 … the first slightly late issue of 2014. Previous issue links are listed on our home page at www.artisansofthevalley.com and at the bottom of this email.

http://www.artisansofthevalley.com/docs/Artisans_Quarterly_Review_Vol7_Issue1_2014.pdf

Volume 7 Issue 1 Table of Contents:

Sliding into the 4th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd ….

• 2013-2014 Cross Over – Introduction
• Gere’ing up for “Franny” – A walking stick for Richard Gere’s Indie Film
• Gothic Hutch Restoration – A princeton restoration project
• The Bench, The Art, The Wine – Our latest event scheduled December 7th!
• Artisans Joins Olana – Our manzanita turnings and walking sticks are new featured at the Hudson River School!
• From Beam to Bowl – Video debut!
• Turning Towards New Media – About our videos
• Manzanita Spoons – Some creative projects
• Another Issue Another Lathe – Our old Delta died, and Powermatic took on our turning tasks.
• The 2013/2014 Manzanita Lineup – Galleries of bowls
• From Brush to Bowl – Video debut!
• Rabbit Restoration – A very unique carving restoration.
• Art All Night 2014 – Post Event Coverage
• Windows Relive – Artist Feature
• 73 Burls – Project Feature
• About Artisans – The usual, who we are …
• The Bench – A Feature Film where Eric got to play on the camera crew.
• 2014 Rolling Out – What’s coming next

Thank you for your business and your support,

Eric M. Saperstein

Master Craftsman

Artisans of the Valley

www.artisansofthevalley.com

www.customwalkingsticks.com

www.artisansturnings.com

Email: eric@artisansofthevalley.com

609-658-2955

Stop at the Quiet Life Gallery during your stroll through Lambertville, NJ to check out a sample of our manzanita bowls for an October showcase.

The Quiet Life
17 South Main Street
Lambertville, NJ 08530
United States
ph: 609.397.0880
info@quietlifegallery.com

We are located at the corner of South Main & Ferry St. in the beautiful city of Lambertville, NJ.

The gallery is one block south of Bridge Street. There is free street parking.

Hours of Operation:

Wednesday 11-5 * Thursday 11-5 * Friday 11-5 * Saturday 11-5 * Sunday 11-5

An 800lb shipment of manzanita burls arrived yesterday! We’re setup to do a multi-camera video shoot this Saturday to document turning some of these into what we hope will be masterpieces. We’ll post some onset images as we progress on Saturday, check our Facebook page for the most up to date action. Our plan is to document the process using the outboard mode on our lathe, then add one or two more videos to our library. Keep watch out for “Seven Bowls in Seven Minutes” – releasing as soon as we complete the filming of the seven finished pieces.

Our next collaboration is adding a touch of glass to our turnings, exploring the potential of combined mediums has been our passion for some time. We have finally began to make it happen! Inspired by classes taken by turner Eric Saperstein a few years ago at East Falls Glassworks in Philadelphia, we are working with Master Glassblower Nikolaj Christensen.

A few videos provide an insight into the world of glass blowing; an art form so drastically different than turning! You’ll have to keep watch to see how we work to combine these unique mediums into a single piece.

An interview with Nik …

Showing off the skills and technique of two masters …

For a window into the raw experience of a choreographed chaos of movement check this out … the coral reef project is a collaboration of artists that must all work in tandem, series, parallel, and as a team focused on the creation of one piece. The attention to detail dancing flames shows how complex this form of artwork can be. Listen to the commands, and observe the execution and technique. The fusion of art and artist must be perfect or the entire piece can be lost in a single misstep. Having been there (Eric took a few classes a while back) its intense! Shown without edits, as live as it gets without being next to the heat. As soon as we get some images of the finished piece we’ll share!

A little sneak peek into an upcoming collaboration – pending for debut at our Fortuna Fine Arts show pending in New York City we are partnering with artist and coppersmith Steven Bradway. Steve will be working on a series of copper floral and vine work to intertwine with our turned bowls and vases.

Steve Bradway, owner and operator of Stephen D. Bradway – Coppersmith, LLC, Rio Grande, NJ. Grew up in the sheet metal business teaming up with his father to creatue architectural metal products, copper cupolas, copper roof flashings, skylights, etc. his father, Edwin, was a tough act to follow, so he chose another direction. About 1975 his interest in copper peaked, inspiring him to produce hand made cookware and architectural items.

Taking the  fortunate opportunity to study under Fred Haushouser, an old German metal smith, from Wilmington, DE. After two years of him saying: “Get away kid you bother me.” he opened up and let Steven in. Fred taught him the techniques uses today. He now passes them on to his assistant, Betsy King (a top rate jeweler in her own right), who provides her extra hands to help create beautiful, utilitarian, copperware to last a lifetime.

If you ever travel to extreme Southern New Jersey, about 6 miles north of Cape May, please stop into Edwin’s Barn and browse their small gallery. Explore many different items for the kitchen, home and garden that accent their handcrafted copperware.

We’re not ready to share our combined creations just yet, but stick around we’ll provide some previews before the opening.

http://www.sdbcoppersmith.com

Spinning this manzanita plank was an amazing experience. Creating a plank bowl means concentration, turning where there is nothing to turn while the material spins like a prop in front of you. There is no other bowl like this, as there are very few perfect planks of manzanita to make them!

Manzanita Plank Bowl

Manzanita Plank Bowl

The world keeps turning so we keep turning. We’ve been having fun with the newly upgraded lathe, taking advantage of the extra horsepower. Turning is a a chance for us to go free range as artists. Producing an ongoing supply of signed artwork bowls tailored to, well, whatever we want to do! We’re not going to answer to anyone when it comes to our free range turnings. Bowls in this array include spalted beech, black walnut, cherry, dogwood, and manzanita burl. We’ll be playing with more exotic materials as time and budget allows!

This isn’t really an article, its showing off a few snapshots of the creative process.

Manzanita, Red Mallee, and Spalted Copper Beech – three totally unique materials producing distinctly different bowls.

Douglass Fir, ribbing a unique pattern.

Spalted Copper Beech in progress, hollowing a flexible thin walled vessel.