Art vs. Craft is where the wild things are
Wearable music, free T’s, and rag doll scaries at the two-day art and craft fair in Milwaukee
By Lori Finkel
Published: July 9th, 2007 | 4:08pm
The Venus Zine interns took a road trip up to Art vs. Craft in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 7, 2007, held in a large and (thankfully) air-conditioned room at the Michael J. Cudahy Student Center. The event, co-sponsored by Venus Zine lasted for two days, but we could only get our Bratmobiles out of the Venus Zine cave for one. While the other interns womaned the Venus Zine table, I mosied around. This is what I found.
At the Make & Take station sponsored by Tulip paint, shoppers could paint, bedazzle, cut, sew, stencil, and embroider free T-shirts. Consultants were standing by to help generate ideas, and books and packets with ideas for transforming T-shirts were provided. This area held my attention for well over two hours.
Free white, cotton T-shirts and ragged thrift store shirts were provided to the visitors of the Make & Take T-shirt construction area. Participants were given full, unadulterated use of the sewing machines.
Ten-year-old Cecily Bohmann models the dress she constructed from an old T-shirt at the Make & Take booth. So cute. The turtleneck is actually one of the sleeves of the shirt.
This guy and girl take old books they pick up at thrift stores and garage sales and turn them into journals. They were featured in a back issue of Venus Zine.
A-freaking-dorable. I found this cassette belt buckle in a bin, but the girl running the table couldn’t tell me much about it. All she said was it was made by someone in California. Good luck Googling that.
Artist and jewelry maker Kristin Nelson sitting pretty behind her darling designs. Her pins and necklaces maintain a common theme that reminded me of a sunny kitchen from the ’50s whose icebox has just been raided by a mob of punk rawkers.
Seamstress Milly McKee sits with her collection of bizarre cloth dolls, which look like they deserve to star in their own Where the Wild Things Are-esque children’s books.
-- Photos by Lori Finkel
Issue #31
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