Visit the American Crafts Festival June 13-14 and June 20-21 in New York City to find more than 35,000 one-of-a-kind uniquely designed original creations with a total estimated value of $20 million. The event is the most popular, the largest and the most innovative in the New York tri-state region and one of the oldest and most respected in the United States. More than 250,000 visitors are expected to view craft displays from 39 states, as well as guest artists from Canada, Mexico, Israel and Argentina.
The festival was originally conceived as an opportunity to provide a support mechanism enabling craft artists to continue their work, providing them with a dignified living while offering the community an unparalleled cultural event. Since its inception, this event has become one of the most extensive and best attended craft expositions in the United States, hosting more than seven million visitors since 1977.
The 33rd annual American Crafts Festival takes place from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday June 13 and June 20, and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday, June 14 and June 21, at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Different craft displays will be exhibited each weekend at Damrosch Park and the Josie L. Robertson Plaza at 64th Street and Columbus Avenue in Manhattan.
Admission is free. The festival is produced by the American Concern for Art and Craftsmanship, a New York City based not-for-profit organization, will feature 300 juried selections from among 1,436 applicants and is sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts.
The American Concern for Art and Craftsmanship is a New York Foundation for the Arts member and is an arts organization offering educational and essential services to American craft artists.
For the 25th consecutive year, the governor issued a proclamation declaring June “American Crafts Month” throughout New York State in honor of the festival. The City of New York has also issued a proclamation honoring this event as a New York City tradition.
Of the three hundred crafts displays from every region of the United States, most will be new to the event and all will be presented by the artist-designers themselves. One of the most spectacular creations will be presented by marquetry artist Jeffrey Nelson from Ossining, New York: a Demi Lune table fabricated from maple and cherry, with leaves and separate matching mirror, finished with an elaborate veneer of Birdseye Maple, Padauk, Mother of Pearl, Malachite and 20 additional exotic and hard woods. Taking at least two months to fabricate, this original design set is available for $5,600.Â
Also from California, Mona and Alex Szabados offer a multicolored luminescent four-sided locket depicting the four seasons in Grisaille and LiMoges enamel techniques with 24-karat gold foil and granules employing 30 layers and firings in an 18-karat gold setting with diamonds, sapphire clasp and an opal embedded in the enamel of the side depicting winter. Worn as a pendant or with an 18-karat hand-woven gold chain, this piece is priced at $8,000
Combine the unusual with the traditional handcrafted works, which will also be in abundance at the American Crafts Festival at Lincoln Center. Most items range in price from $65 for a handpainted pure silk shawl with matching handbag by Ela Szymanska-Bausch from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, to $1,200 for the “Union Square Table Lamp” modeled after the Lincoln building (formerly the Lincoln Hotel), which has a four-sided digital oil painting shade portraying the building in perspective on a decoupaged paper in glass base by Cindy Avroch, a lifelong New Yorker.
A 100-percent cotton knitted evening jacket in gray black and white, accented with a red and black braided collar designed, fabricated and presented by Murielle Arlin of Boonton, New Jersey, for $425, as is, or for $725 with a matching skirt, combine the unusual with the traditional handcrafted works that exemplifies the creativity of works by three hundred master artisans who will be at their displays presenting objects in porcelain and earthenware, molded and dyed leather, precious and non-precious jewelry, forged iron, blown, stained and slumped glass, hand-fashioned designer apparel for women, men and children, home furnishings, toys, musical instruments and more.