October 2021 Newsletter

34 days till I will be with our craftsmen and makers who signed on to be at our 71st Holiday Fine Art and Craft Festival.  We will be setting the “stage” on Friday, November 5 for a fantastic festival filled with all the trimmings.  The Fine Art and Craft Festival is Saturday, November 6 from 9 AM to 5 PM and Sunday, November 7 from 10 AM to 4 PM .  Heading the list is of course, YOU, our juried craftsmen and makers with your amazing crafts and beautiful little shops that you set up that are so inviting to our patrons.    Welcoming back our patrons (because we missed them last year), we have a special little something for our first 50 patrons each day and our popular scavenger hunt along with hourly door prizes too.    There will be entertainment by Butch Imhoff and the Acoustic Road Show both days and an eat-in cafe where you will find something to satisfy your hunger pangs while doing your shopping.  And of course, we are still welcoming  art students to join us in our Student Gallery.   To all our volunteers who have helped and will help to make this weekend successful, THANK-YOU!  You are what it takes to make this event successful!

A reminder that a lot of membership renewals will be showing up in your mailbox soon.  Don’t forget to renew.  AND Reading-Berks Guild will be the highlighted Guild of the month by our PA Guild in the month of December.  We will have an area in the store with crafts made by our members on display.  The items can be for sale or not for sale.  If you are interested in displaying, reach out to me.  If you want your item to be for sale, please get in touch with our PA State guild and you will need to fill out an application for it to be on sale.  We will talk more about this at our general meetings in October and November.

So, everyone, back in your studios and do what you do best, CREATE!  See you real soon!

“You must do the things you think you cannot do.”    Eleanor Roosevelt

The show committee is working hard on our Holiday show at Kutztown University,   We know this will be a great event!

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS FOR OUR HOLIDAY SHOW, NOV 6 & 7!    

We again need volunteers (experienced or inexperienced) at the Admissions Table, Raffle Table, plus a few smiling Greeters.  We especially need volunteers for Saturday morning, but all positions and time slots are presently available.  Contact Carol Haile soon to secure your preferred job and time slot, inkpencjh@msn.com and/or call 610-374-7048.

Pick-a-Prize  

Thank you to all of our members and vendors who have donated items to the Pick-A-Prize table.  Your donations are greatly appreciated.  If you are interested in offering an item for Pick-A-Prize please email Jodi Bryza-Stevenson at jodimbs@comcast.net with information on what you are donating and she will make sure she has a space for you.  You can drop off your item to the Pick-A-Prize table at set-up on Friday or Saturday prior to the show opening.

2021 STUDENT GALLERY

The Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen will again showcase student artisans and emerging artists in its upcoming Holiday Show, Nov. 6 & 7, at the O’Pake Fieldhouse at Kutztown University.  We provide a free table, free electricity (if requested) and the priceless opportunity to showcase and/or sell items in the environment of a well-established, quality show.  More information and application may be found on our website www.rbcrafts.org.  Please direct any questions to Carol Haile, Education Chair, inkpencjh@msn.com

“Your Berks Craftsmen” was live in the brand new studio of BCTV at 401 Penn Street in Reading, PA on September 15 and it was grand.  Seriously folks, it is awesome.  We are so happy for BCTV and for us.  The studio is big and has these big windows looking out on Penn Street and well, it is just AWESOME!  Our program that evening was about our 71st Holiday Fine Art and Craft Festival featuring Show Chairperson Steve Hunter with several guest craftsmen who will be at Festival and we will again be doing another “Your Berks Craftsmen” on Friday, October 29 at 11:00 AM hyping our 71st Holiday Fine Art and Craft Festival on November 6 and November 7.  These programs can be seen our our Guild Website at rbcrafts.org, on BCTV’s website at bctv.org and we are on YouTube.  As you can see, we are everywhere.

The big happening this month at BCTV is their Octoberfest Auction.  Thank you to everyone who has donated to BCTV.  Your donation to BCTV is greatly appreciated and helps to make their annual fundraiser a success.  The auction items will be going up online shortly and bidding will start.  Go to BCTV’s website at BCTV.org for all the details.  AND it is still not too late to donate to BCTV.  Bring in your donation on Tuesday, October 5 to our general meeting and I will get it to BCTV or you can call BCTV to pick it up or if you want to take a look at the “awesome” studio, you can drop it off yourself.  New items arriving daily will be added to the auction site.  And remember, final auction night is Thursday, October 28, Octoberfest at 7:00 PM.  BCTV.org is the place you want to be.

Congratulations is in order for our 3 newly Juried craftsmen!

Ralph Pritsch:  Wood carving

Patti Umlauf:   Polymer Clay sculptures

Marty Riggleman:  Penny rugs & applique

The JCC/M committee is offering a challenge to all Chapters to display their collaboration on “Water”.  Each chapter may submit up to three works of art for the competition.  Each work must have a minimum of 3 members collaborating on each piece.  The work of art size must be no smaller than 3” x 3” x 3” but no larger than 18” x 18” x18”.  No entries will be accepted after April 1, 2022.