Three Kalamazoo Artists to watch
three kalamazoo artists to watch: featured at the Jerico Faire
Looking for things to do in Kalamazoo this weekend? These artists will be at the Jerico Faire event alongside 50+ other artists and makers at Jerico, located in the Edison neighborhood. The Jerico Faire draws in a great crowd of shoppers, art enthusiasts, artists, and makers from around the southwest Michigan region.
In this first artist highlight, we are featuring three artists we love and have had the pleasure of working with throughout our seven seasons of the Faire. We have a feeling you’ll love them too.
Ellen Vandermyde, Voyage with Ellen
Ante Meridiem 20”x16” Acrylic on canvas, Ellen Vandermyde
Ellen is a multi-disciplinary artist focusing on painting and drawing. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University. Her images capture tiny moments of life that feel like ones you hope to never forget. Something as simple as the way the sunlight is reflecting on your face through the rearview mirror or the expressions of friends as they gaze into the bonfire. Her colorful works focus on illuminating the wonder of the day-to-day and explore semi-autobiographical themes of memory, identity, relationship to place, and connection to nature. Her tiny paintings and stickers are some of our favorites.
2. Sara Rio, Sara Rio Ceramics
Sara creates handmade ceramic sculptures and functional wares rich in color and made with love. Her work explores links existing between the past, present, and future of classic table wares and food preservation. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University. Her ceramics are both functional and beautiful combining bright colors and natural earth tones together with stamp work and hand carving. Her emphasis on traditional kitchen tools offers unique pieces not seen by most ceramicists. Her crocks and fermentation weights are some of our favorite pieces.
3. Taylor Scamehorn, The Heavy Light
Taylor’s use of many mediums gives her work a genuine quality that solidifies her as a person who is constantly envisioning the next piece to make. She reuses materials to make a lot of her work, whether it’s blending up paper to make pulp for handmade paper or weaving recycled objects into baskets, making a variety of decorative and functional art with sustainability in mind. Her products include woven baskets from single-use plastics and eco-dyed cotton scrap, block-printed slow fashion, hand-bound journals with recycled paper, and illustrations/photography in antique and refurbished second-hand frames. Her hand-bound journals and block-printed bandanas are some of our favorites.
Shop these artists artwork & wares at the jerico Faire
Join us for the Jerico Faire - a seasonal faire featuring a collection of 50+ local makers and artists for shopping, interactive art, live music, and food! This event is FREE to the public. Each Jerico Faire is hosted on the Saturday closest to the seasonal solstice or equinox. Check out our upcoming events below. We hope to see you!
