Meet Your Maker: Bee's Knees Studio

Things we love: Painting
Bee's Knees Studio is a one-woman art explosion brought to you by Richmond-based artist Erica Vess. She's not much for writing bios, but she does have a plan for world domination which involves owls, cuteness, and the color blue. That's all she's at liberty to say at the moment.


With work ranging tiny 2" paintings to oversize fine art prints, from whimsical children's paintings to sleek modern design, there is something for everybody!


Why we love her
"Certainly, I have something for every budget. While my larger original pieces range from $95 to $300, the bulk of my stock is much more affordable: my tiny original paintings are $20, and the majority of my prints are $15 to $30."


Easy on the eyes and the wallet! Find Erica's work Holiday Heist next Saturday!

Besitos,
Vanessa

Meet Your Maker: Artmonger

Six years of art school in New York never lent a hand to watercolor skills. I can only sit back and admire the work of talented artists like Michele Banks of Artmonger.


Michele creates beautiful paintings, collages and handpainted greeting cards. We are so excited to have her work at our show!


Michele Banks got her start as an artist in the late 1980's when she decorated her cubicle at Price Waterhouse in London with repetitive images of comic-book figures. Several years and three countries later, she quit management consulting, got married, had a baby (the sublime Isabella) and got back to those repeated images. By now she had advanced to clip art images of coffee cups and fish.


By 2000, the kid was in pre-school and Michele got to work in a serious way. Now she tackled subjects such as snails, hippos, fans, frogs and pigs. She even took an art class. In 2001, Michele had her first show, at Tryst, a cafe in Washington. She has been showing steadily in the region ever since. By 2003, Michele had mainly switched from collage to watercolor painting, although she still throws in some collage elements now and then!


Find Michele's wonderful watercolors online and next week at Holiday Heist!

Besitos,
Vanessa

Meet Your Maker: Beth Pohlman

I must admit, I am so fond of silver. I'd be lying if I said that the Mafia doesn't covet every piece of jewelry that Beth Pohlman creates; her designs are the perfect balance between nature and design and stands out in all the right ways.


About her jewelry
"All of my work is designed and handmade out of sterling silver, making every piece unique and slightly one-of-a-kind. My designs are influenced by modern, minimal design and lush organics; I like to think of my work as organic geometry."

So just to be clear, for anyone who wants to know, these earrings are on my holiday wishlist:


And this necklace:


And these:


And that:


And that's it. I swear. For now.

Shop for me- I mean, for yourselves and your loved ones- at Beth Pohlman's booth at the Holiday Heist Craft Show!

Besitos,
Vanessa

Meet Your Maker: Creativ* Bee Designs

Wait...Is that a Typo?
No. Creativ*Bee Designs is spelled differently from the norm, because Creativ*Bee Designs is just that...different from the norm..Who wants to be like everyone else?

Creativ*Bee Designs began in 2003 as the creative outlet of Raleigh artist & graphic designer Brandi Bowen. Her designs vary from one of a kind, hand painted silk scarves to her original oil paintings and ink drawings to reworked vintage pieces into original and unique jewelry.



The Jewelry
Only hand-selected semi-precious gemstones, pearls, vintage Czech glass,
brass, wood, and other natural elements, genuine sterling silver and gold filled findings are used in our design.



The Silk
Only 100% Silk is used in our Hand-Dyed Silk Scarves. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Artist
Once upon a time there was a little girl that loved to draw and paint and do anything artistic.
Years later the little Bee decided that she wanted to pursue her love of color and type and went to college to major in graphic design and photography. While in school, Bee soon discovered her love of jewelry design and fibers. Naturally, the little Bee had an idea and in 2004 launched her own business Creativ*Bee Designs.
In addition to her line of jewelry, Miss Bee also freelances and currently has several works of art in area art shows. Miss Bee has won several awards along her journey as an artist and designer. Currently, she can be found creating in her North Carolina studio or somewhere out and about looking for inspiration for upcoming designs.

What's Next to Come?
We will be adding Limited Edition Apparel, one of a kind Fiber Art pieces, Greeting Cards, Paintings and Limited Edition Photographs.



Is your name really Miss Bee?
No. Since she always creating something artsy in her studio, Miss Bee is a nickname that her friends gave her, and it just seemed appropriate.

We are excited to have Creativ*Bee Designs, along with 35 more talented artists at the Holiday Heist Craft Show!

Meet Your Maker: Block Party Press

Polymer clay: The words evoke memories of sitting at my kitchen table, playing with Sculpey and cheering at the success of my baked-hard project (which usually were inscence holders; simple, as I'm no scultpor).

Those memories are a distant cry from Block Party Press, where artist Tamara Shea creates polymer clay jewelry, accessories and home decor by carving her own stamps and adding color with acrylic paint.


She also creates tree collages out of old catalogs and digital colored pen and ink drawings, which are available as prints, cards and other goodies.


Why we love her
"As with many artists, I have been drawing and making things for as long as I can remember. Sometimes my brain overflows with more ideas than my hands and my wallet can keep up with. I love texture, patterns, contrast, color (especially red, white & black and any pastel color paired with chocolate brown)."


"For fun, I love creating art with recycled items(trash). I am self-taught through much trial and error and a SAHM of 2 boys, although I guess I am a WAHM now. I hope you enjoy my creations, as much as I enjoyed creating them!"


Block Party Press will be partying with us at the Holiday Heist Craft Show next Saturday! See you there!