Homemade organic soaps, poetry booklets, tote bags among artistic projects
The smell of brown sugar and citrus oil lingered throughout the museum, with slow-jam oldies and bold-colored furniture cozying up tables covered with sewing kits, tote bags and hundreds of beads.
The grand foyer of the Columbia Museum of Art took on a whole new semblance of cool Tuesday night for “Craft. Bar. Happy. Hour,” one of the museum’s staple community events.
Think Sangria and knitting — all at the same time.
The event, designed to be a more intimate setting for local crafters or people looking to test their artistic chops for the evening, brought a new flair to the local knitting club or art class. With drinks and hors d’oeuvres up for grabs, everyone was invited to bring their own crafts and share each of their artistic products.
Laurie Aker, the featured crafter for the evening, was responsible for the soothing scents, demonstrating how to make your own all-natural organic soaps, bath salts and body scrubs.
Aker, who serves as marketing manager at Earth Fare, ran through each of her aromatherapy ingredients, including lavender, rose and sweet orange. She gave those in attendance soap-making lessons, all with two burners, a few cookie cutters and bowls full of her organic and skin-healing ingredients.
“It’s so much fun to play around with different combinations and ingredients,” Aker said. “And, it’s so personalized when you give a gift like this.”
Crafters could make their own lavender bath salt or sweet orange and clove sugar scrub, complete with take-home cups, and had the opportunity to buy the demonstration circles, or hearts, of soap from Aker for a 100-percent donation to Sustainable Midlands, Earth Fare’s current nonprofit partner.
Aker also teaches similar soap, scrub and salt-making classes at Earth Fare, free of charge. Some of the crafting setups represented a bigger work, or mission, with a group of local artists and writers teaming up for a project titled “Saint Sebastian: From Martyr to Gay Starlet.”
The group, which is hosting a bigger night of art for this project next Thursday, sold hand-sewn books of poetry written by Ed Madden, an English and women’s studies professor at USC.
Each piece of poetry was written in response to different works of art which will be showcased at the Saint Sebastian show, in conjunction with Gay Pride Week, including print works by Alejandro Garcia-Lemos and film by Santiago Echeverry.
“Gay pride is very social, sometimes political, but we want to add an art element to the week,” Madden said.
Joelle Ryan-Cook, the deputy director at the art museum, and her seventh-grade daughter Isabelle Cook were part of the tag-team sewing the Saint Sebastian poetry books.
“I was roped in to help when I was 7, and I’ve been here ever since,” Isabelle said.
Isabelle doubled-up her crafting for the evening, also working on stitching over designer logos on fabric she had bought.
“Last time I was here, I was knitting, and I love to sew,” Cook said. “It’s really fun to see what other people are doing, go home and say, ‘oh, I can do that, too’.”
Open to all ages, another local crafter turned the night into a family affair. Amanda Weiss, who crafts as Three Bad Seeds with her husband Joshua and daughter Marley, camped out with her felt and iron, working on a stuffed snake.
And, for those who aren’t as naturally crafty, Craft. Bar. Happy. Hour had totes bag or travel pouch craft kits available for $12. With different images, including Big Ben, hot air balloons and horses, attendees could craft their very own tote, with all the creative freedom of the self-made crafters.
“For every craft night, I’ve designed a new kit, and I always try and pick something accessible, and for all ages,” Kara Gunter, the event facilitator, said.
Whether crafters were working on their tried-and-true crafts, taking a spin at the tote kit, or spending more time socializing, the event had a certain local and artsy mood. And, Otis Taylor, The State’s arts and entertainment reporter, added to the set vibe spinning all the classic records, including James Brown.
Each Craft. Bar. Happy. Hour event is limited to 35 crafters, to preserve the intimate, chilled-out environment. The evening costs $20 for non-members and $15 for museum members.
The next craft night is scheduled for Jan. 24 with featured crafter Jenny Mae. For more information, and for more art-related events, including figure drawing and ceramics classes, visit Columbia Museum of Art’s website at www.columbiamuseum.org.