Craft Lake City to Celebrate the Do-It-Yourself Craft Movement
130 Local Artists will vend at festival on August 14, and the movie Handmade Nation will be screened August 15
SALT LAKE CITY, July 27, 2010 – SLUG Magazine is proud to announce their festival, Craft Lake City (CLC), which celebrates alternative craft and all things handmade. A movement is taking place all across Utah in spare bedrooms, family rooms and garages. The movement is called do-it-yourself or alternative crafting, and artists are making everything from soap, to stuffed animals, to recycled clothing. Women and men are making and selling their own goods, lashing out at sweat shops and striking a blow against exploitive business practices often associated with big business.
The second annual CLC will be held on Saturday, August 14. 2010 from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Gallivan Avenue, behind the Wells Fargo Building, in downtown Salt Lake City. The event is free and open to the public. A panel of local artist selected 130 of the best Utah crafters to vend at the event.
Affordably-priced items like silk-screened posters, reconstructed clothing, knitted items and jewelry will be available. Entertainment will be provided throughout the day and will include craft demonstrations, street performers and musical acts. Many of last year’s artists said the event was a stand-out in terms of earnings and attendance.
“People came out to last year’s CLC ready to buy the art and crafts we’d been working so hard to make,” said Kali Mellus, jewelry maker. “It’s great to feel like your city is supporting you as a full-time artist and appreciates what you do.”
“We are excited to put on a do-it-yourself event that brings people downtown to enjoy and support artists from their very own communities,” says Angela Brown, SLUG Magazine owner and editor, and organizer of Craft Lake City. “The vibrancy of our downtown depends on events like this.”
Crafty festivities will continue all weekend with a screening of Faythe Levine’s film Handmade Nation at the Tower Theater on Sunday, August 15 at 4:40 pm. Tickets will be $5 and can be purchased online at www.slcff.com, in person on the day of the show or from the Salt Lake Film Festival booth at Craft Lake City. The screening will be followed by a question and answer session featuring some of the artists from Craft Lake City 2010. The film is a documentary with interviews of 80 different indie-craft artists from all over the country.
CLC also includes a musical line up that will round out the craft event into a full day of entertainment. Performers include Joshua Payne Orchestra, The Boomsticks, The Red Bennies, Hello Amsterdam, Mad Max & The Wild Ones, Spell Talk and Muscle Hawk. Belly dancers Hathor, Trisha McBride and Blue Lotus will also perform. A kid’s area will offer fun arts and crafts from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. All local food vendors will include Chili Verde, Lucky 13, Sage’s Cafe and Sno Zone.
Craft Lake City is modeled after alternative national craft festivals like the Renegade Craft Fair and the Bazaar Bizarre. The event is sponsored by the Gallivan Center, Ebay, Making Memories, Clear, XMission, Utah Symphony and Opera, Salt Lake Film Society, Koi, Pioneer Craft House, Copper Palate Press, Sublime Stitching, KUER, City Weekly, Catalyst, Artduh.com, KRCL and Simply Utah and hosted by SLUG Magazine.
More info is available at www.craftlakecity.com. For the most updated information about Craft Lake City check the website regularly and make sure to add CLC as a friend on Facebook.