Today I am happy to present one of our super talented jewelry vendors – Kim of k.o’brien jewelry!

Does the “k.o.” stand for KNOCKOUT? Because seriously – her designs are total knockouts. Kim makes the most beautiful, unique jewelry in the most simple but gorgeous shapes and glossy colors. See?

From bright, cherry red to smooth, avocado green to lustrous metallics –
her palette is truly gorgeous! And all of these lovely tones are complimented
by super elegant shapes.

Be sure to check out Kim’s booth at Union Made and score a lovely piece or two of
her handmade jewelry for yourself and/or someone nice!

http://kobrienjewelry.blogspot.com/p/shop.html

I always think quality over quantity is the best way to approach dessert, and Sweet Lydia’s always hits the spot. I don’t think I have ever seen her table and not picked up a bag of coconut toasted marshmallows.

Lookout for her table at Union Made, and make sure you stop by early, since her desserts and treats have a reputation for going quickly into the hands and mouths of hungry shoppers and vendors! Follow Sweet Lydia to find out where her treats are available, as well as give-aways, deals, and links to other great specialty gourmet food makers from all over!

Sweet Lydia’s Facebook :: Sweet Lydia’s Twitter :: 
Sweet Lydia’s Blog

The Small Craft Advisory has finalized vendor selection for the upcoming Union Made event on June 24th, and we’re excited to start telling you about all the fabulous artists that you’ll see there! So let’s get started with An Li from Cambridge, MA.

An Li Liu is an artist and designer from Toronto, Canada, now residing in Cambridge, MA. She has always been interested in collage, painting, and making all sorts of crafty things. Her work ranges from original artworks, to stationery, to hand-printed clothing. Her use of color and shape is simple, charming, and sweet.

From the artist: “My designs are graphical, nature influenced, colorful, and fun! I use only highest quality water-based, non-toxic inks on both organic and conventional cotton — all sweatshop free. I work from my home-studio in Inman Square, and will be continuing to roll out new summer designs in the coming weeks.”

Dying to know what those summer designs will look like? You’ll just have to come check out An Li’s booth at the 2012 Union Made event — June 24th, Union Square, Somerville MA!

P.S. If you’re looking for something to do with Mom this weekend, An Li will also be opening the doors to her studio in Cambridge MA this weekend – so stop on by 1247 Cambridge St. #2, right at Prospect in Inman Square. For more information about the Cambridge Open Studios, click here . And for more information about An Li, check out her website.

Enjoy!
Ryan.

In other artist linking news, I had the pleasure of talking to Steph from Rifrakt the other day at WSAC when she set up an artists meet-up. For anyone interested in getting in touch with other artists in the greater Boston area, you should hook up with Rifrakt. This seems like an especially great community for artists who don’t work in shared or collective studio spaces. Artists who work in their homes or private studios need community too, and we should all work together to make awesome stuff happen. I also talked to another Stephanie from Atlantic Works studio in East Boston.  Who is with me in going to my first show over there this summer? Art, good food, and the beach. That sounds like an amazing night out to a neighborhood I don’t frequent nearly enough. Both cooperatives have dozens of active artists and I really want to check them out.

When I see how crafters I know and love have built up followings, fans, friends, contacts, and a base of buyers for their work, sometimes I think the fine art world I have immersed myself in could take some notes from the craft world. The idea of building yourself up as a business or brand can sometimes be ‘not cool’ in some artist circles, but that is not my opinion. There are only so many of your pieces that you can sell to friends, or have housed in the collections of family before you have to branch out. I am really interested and excited to find ways to work with other cooperative artist groups outside of WSAC in the next year. I hope to start by keeping up with Rifrakt and Atlantic Works, and see where I can branch out from there.

THIS COMING WEEKEND – May 4th – 6th – Over 400 artists at over 100 locations all over the city of Somerville will be opening the doors to their studios and homes to show off what they’ve been up to! That’s right, Somerville Open Studios is upon us!

Here are the basics:

Where: All over Somerville! (find a map here)
When: May 4 + 5 + 6, 2012
saturday + sunday, noon – 6pm
opt-in friday, 6pm – 9pm (check out the SOS map for the little ‘f’ logo to see who is accepting visitors Friday night)
Who: Painters, illustrators, crafters, glass blowers, ceramicists, paper-cutters, sculptors, woodworkers, book-builders, screen printers, photographers, jewelers, letterpressers… every kind of artist you can imagine! (there’s a searchable list here!)
Why: Because you love art, obviously.

So grab a map, circle your favorites and have a wander around Somerville. It’s a great way to see a beautiful city and meet its staggering number of creative inhabitants! And don’t forget to stop by some of our favorite places for lunch/caffeine… Bloc11, Sherman Cafe, 1369, Diesel… ok, there are too many to mention (we’ll leave the comprehensive list for a future blog post)!

Have a wonderful time! Maybe we’ll see you on the streets of Somerville!

(Full disclosure/bragging-rights: Two of our beloved organizers will be on hand to show you their art and craft and I’m guessing they’ll have another post for you this week. I just wanted to make sure I popped in and reminded you to add it to your calendar.)

Art pictured above is from the SOS website and is the work of (L to R): Emily Bhargava, Julie Williams-Krishnan, Bobbi Kovner and James Weinberg. We can’t wait to see it all in person!

[End of Alert]

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Speaking of friends, we were talking with our friends at the Independent Film Festival Boston and decided we should probably team up to give you some movie tickets for this weekend, right?

I think it’s pretty safe to say that after art, craft, cats, snacks, and tea, MUSIC is something that we are seriously serious about. And the art that goes along with music – well, that’s right up there with cats. This Sunday, April 29th at noon, IFF will be screening “Just Like Being There” a documentary about gig poster design (an art form near and dear to all of our ink-spattered hearts here at the BBB).

In Scout Shannon’s absorbing documentary, we embark on a voyage to meet the key talent in the growing community creating screen-printed posters for the indie music scene. Their works of modern folk art not only promote bands, but stand as vibrant reminders of the performances’ ephemeral nature. Like the shows they commemorate, the posters don’t last: after the initial run is sold, there are no more.

You can’t possibly have anything more awesome that THAT going on around lunchtime on Sunday, right? So win these tickets!

We have one pair of tickets for this screening at the Somerville Theater in Davis Square!

How you can win those tickets:

• Head over to Twitter and reply to our tweet about the giveaway/this blog post. Say something like “I want to go see Just Like Being There @IFFBoston!” and you’ll be entered to win the tickets.
• You can also share this on Facebook to be entered.

 (Tweet/share as many times as you want but don’t be spammy, it’s seriously not cool.)

Each tweet/share will be one entry into the giveaway. We’ll randomly select a winner on Friday.

Check out the trailer here:

Just Like Being There Teaser #2 from Johanna Goldstein on Vimeo.

So cool. GOOD LUCK!

Our little shark friend up there basically says it all.  We’re always looking for a big variety of vendors, with shiny fresh goods. If you make awesome stuff, we want to see it, and to have it sold at Union Made! This includes pretty much anyone who has ever made anything. Are you an artist or craftsperson of any kind? A baker of any flavor? A designer, maker, illustrator of your cool ideas? GET IN THE APPLICATION POOL! We promise it isn’t full of sharks, other than that friendly little guy up there. Don’t worry about him.

UNION MADE 2012 APPLICATIONS CLOSE FRIDAY, APRIL 20th AT MIDNIGHT!

It is time to apply to our third annual summer time fun fest in Union Square in Somerville! This year the warm-weather outdoor festivities will take place on June 24th!

Click this link for more information and to find out how to apply! We can’t wait to see what you’ve been making since December!

Union Made III will also feature live acoustic music, demonstrations and hands on art making, and continue our nautical theme with Small Craft Advisory creating washable stencil tattoos of ships, mermaids, sharks, anchors, and whatever else we feel like, while also working on our knot tying skills. Maybe a couple other tricks are up our sleeves as well, so we will be posting more about specifics and our totally sweet vendors in April and May!

Speaking of comics, volunteer organizations, upcoming events, and the WSAC, Marissa and I are ALMOST ready to post more details, and calls for participation about our April event, currently being called Spring Zine Thing.  So far our rough event-sketch is for a totally sweet afternoon selling, swapping, reading, and making zines at the WSAC on Saturday April 15th. So put it on your calendars, and get to work on making a zine to bring! First time zine makers of all ages are 100% welcome, as are those who have been making zines since the 70′s. We want to see zines of all subject matter, size and format! Info in the form of fliers, posts, and a facebook event will be coming soon to an internet connection near you…