Durham craft market held at Motorco

Craft Market, along with dtownMARKET, guest stars at Motorco Music Hall's Sunday Bloody Brunch events.
Durham Craft Market, usually on hiatus during the cold winter months, will set up within the warm walls of Motorco Music Hall on Sunday, March 4. It's a great opportunity to catch up with many of the talented artists and hip vendors that make up Durham Craft Market and dtownMARKET.
Motorco's Bloody Brunch is always a good time with food trucks, music and Bloody Marys The events run from noon to 5 p.m. at Motorco, 723 Rigsbee Ave. in Durham. Visit www.DurhamCraftMarket.com for more information.

15 area artists to receive Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists grants

Recipients to be honored at the annual awards ceremony Feb. 23

Durham Arts Council announced the 15 local area artists selected to receive Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Grants in 2012. The artists will be honored at the annual Emerging Artists Awards Ceremony and reception on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. in the Durham Arts Council PSI Theatre and Semans Gallery. Tickets for the evening are available.
The awards event will feature music and remarks by jazz vocalist and songwriter Lois Deloatch (Emerging Artist 1995) and dancer and choreographer Gaspard Louis (Emerging Artist 2010). The awards ceremony will be dedicated to the late Mary D.B.T. Semans, who inspired and supported the creation of the Emerging Artists Program, with her husband Dr. James H. Semans. For more information, contact Margaret DeMott at (919) 560-2720. For tickets, visit www.durhamarts.org.
The Emerging Artists Grant Program, administered by Durham Arts Council, is designed to enable individual artists who have mastered the basic techniques of their art form to complete projects that will establish or enhance their professional careers. The Emerging Artists Program is cited repeatedly by local artists as providing important financial support and significant public recognition of their professional achievements. A 2009 survey of individual artists conducted by Seattle-based Artist Trust revealed that small grants are one of the most useful resources for artists in the current economy.
Criteria for making the awards include the accomplishment and commitment of the artist, the feasibility of the proposed project and the impact the project will have on the applicant’s career.This year, a total of $23,000 was awarded. Ninety-seven applications were submitted to the program this year.
The Durham Arts Council coordinates this program in partnership with the arts agencies of adjacent Chatham, Orange, Granville and Person counties.This joint effort provides an efficient, non-duplicative administration that allows artists in all five counties to participate in the Emerging Artists Program. Significant contributions, in addition to annual grant support, are necessary to maintain the program.
The award was renamed the Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Grant in 2009 to honor Ella Fountain Pratt, who founded the program in 1984 as a joint endeavor of the Durham Arts Council, the North Carolina Arts Council and The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation. Ella Fountain's contribution to the arts—locally and nationally—are honored in the Ella Fountain Pratt Legacy Gallery in the Durham Arts Council building, which also includes an area to highlight the work of artists who have received the Emerging Artists Grant.
Counting the current recipients, 435 grants have been made to area artists during the program’s 28-year history. Past recipients include six-time Grammy-nominated, jazz vocalist, Nnenna Freelon; painter and Guggenheim Fellow, Beverly McIver; and violinist and Presidential Scholar in the Arts, Nicholas Kitchen. Novelist Marjorie Hudson won a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship this year. Poet Jaki Shelton Green, has published six books of poetry and a play, received the 2007 Sam Ragan Award and served as the first Piedmont Laureate in 2009. Film maker Ryan Koo won a Webby Award for Best Drama Series and is preparing to make his first feature film set in North Carolina.

Orange County residents who received a grant were the grant were:
• Sasha Bakaric, craft, www.sashaceramics.com
• Nuno Gomes, mixed media, www.nunogomes.org
• Gracelee Lawrence, sculpture, www.graceleelawrence.com
• Chance Murray, mixed media
• Will Ridenour, music, www.myspace.com/zymana
• Anita Woodley, drama, www.mamajuggs.com

Basket weaving workshop at Aycock birthplace

If you have ever admired hand woven baskets at craft shows and wanted to learn how to make one, the Governor Charles B. Aycock Birthplace State Historic Site has a class for you. At the Basket Weaving Workshop Saturday, Feb. 18, from 10 .a.m. to 3 p.m., you can make your own basket.
Local artist Ingrid Quick will teach participants how to make a simple open weave napkin basket. Participants will work on baskets from 10.a.m to noon then break for lunch. Guests may bring lunch or visit a local restaurant. The weaving will resume at 1 p.m.
Space is limited, and registration is required. There is a fee of $10 to for materials, which must be prepaid by Feb. 13. Call (919) 242-5581 or email aycock@ncdcr.gov to register.
The Charles B. Aycock Birthplace, located at 264 Governor Aycock Road in Fremont, interprets the life of a rural 1870s farm family in eastern North Carolina. Born is 1859, Aycock was elected North Carolina's governor in 1900. He was dedicated to education and the site features a one room schoolhouse moved there in 1961. It is part of the Division of State Historic Sites within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

Orange County small business loan program provides funding to Hillsborough microbrewery

Orange County’s small business loan program recently provided support to West Hillsborough’s newest business, Mystery Brewing Company, an artisanal brewery focused on creating distinctive beer. Their approach to their craft is summarized on the Mystery Brewing website: “Our mission is to create a cornucopia of high-quality, small-batch, rustic ales for the discriminating consumer, to test the boundaries of creativity and style. In short, to make outstanding beer.”
“The County is very pleased to be able to support the growing West Hillsborough Business District," Orange County’s Director of Economic Development, Steve Brantley, said. "This fine company will be a great new addition to the vibrant culture that helps define this community.”
Mystery Brewing is also one of the collaborators behind a new retail venture offering supplies for homebrewers. Nash Street Homebrew is also located in West Hillsborough and will carry home brewing equipment, ingredients and recipes, and serve as a resource for all levels of homebrewers.
The loan program is a revolving loan fund designed to foster small businesses development and expansion of local companies that may have limited access to conventional financing. This program is open to small businesses located in Orange County with gross revenues of less than $3 million. The program is managed through the County’s Economic Development office and administered by a volunteer board of directors composed of local business owners, bankers and staff representing several Orange County departments. For more information on this program, contact Dottie Schmitt of Orange County Economic Development at (919) 245-2327 or at dschmitt@co.orange.nc.us.

Southern Village holds holiday craft and gift market

The businesses of Southern Village and the Southern Village Farmers Market are pleased to announce the Farmers Market’s last hurrah—the annual Holiday Craft & Gift Market. The special holiday shopping event will take place on Sunday, Dec. 4, from 1 to 4 p.m., and will feature the hand-crafted gifts of 20 vendors. The event will take place in the usual Farmers Market location on Aberdeen Drive at Market Street in Chapel Hill.
Holiday shoppers who want to find unique gifts while keeping their money in our local economy will be pleased to find an appealing assortment of items, ranging from hand-crafted food gifts to goats milk soaps & shampoos, to wood cutting boards, jewelry, dog and cat accessories, children’s clothing, tutus and accessories, and birdhouses. There will also be books by local authors and music CD’s from local musician Danny Gotham. Valley View Farm will be here with their Angus beef & pork products for your holiday menus. Big Bundts will have an assortment of freshly-baked, holiday-themed baked goods and will provide pick-up of previously placed special orders.
Honeycutt Trees will be on the Village Green again this year selling Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands, fresh from the North Carolina Mountains.
We’ll be providing KidsZone fun for children, complimentary light refreshments for our shoppers and a free gift bag or basket to shoppers spending $25 or more (while supplies last.)
The event will also be a benefit for PORCH, the local non-profit organization that provides food to hungry families in our community. Collection baskets will be on-site at the market, and visitors are encouraged to bring canned goods or other non-perishable food items to donate.
Visit us online at www.southernvillage.com/events for a complete listing of vendors and what they’ll be selling at the market. Visit www.porchnc.org to learn about this organization. Visit www.bigbundts.com to place an order for baked goods.

Location: Aberdeen Drive at Market Street, Southern Village, Chapel Hill, NC
Date & Time: Sunday, December 4th, 1 – 4 pm
Admission: FREE
Contact bcarr@mcarolina.com with any questions.
Inclement weather announcement: In the event of a weather cancellation, an announcement will be posted on our website and on our Facebook page (Market Street Southern Village.)

Local craftsman makes frames by hand

Frames by Edward Wright, a local frame-making shop, crafts pieces by hand—and in a unique way. Artisans work on frames from start to finish rather than working in an assembly-line style. They also mix their own materials. Knowing what's in the materials allows the artisans to undo steps if necessary to tweak a certain finish or fix a mistake, adding more room for creativity and experimentation.
The shop encourages this experimentation in its customers as well. With 200 to 300 samples to choose from, there are enough set styles to satisfy many-an artist. But if you want the gild of this one, the back of that one, the color of another one and the carve of yet another, well, the artisans can make that work!
For more information, see the Wednesday, April 27, edition of the News of Orange.

Sell your wares at the Burlington Farmers' and Crafters' Market!

Local farmers, artisans, crafters, bakers, sweet makers and other creative types are cordially invited to apply for vendor space in the 2011 Burlington Farmers' & Crafters' Market which will open in May.
The Market is hosted by Burlington Outlet Village and takes place on Sunday afternoons from 1 tp 5 p.m.
For details, please e-mail our Market Manager, Kim Draluck, at cornerstonecraft@bellsouth.net
A vendor application can be downloaded from our website here.