THE LOCAL ASPARAGUS ARE IN! So is the spinach! Can strawberries be far behind?
And in other Greenmarket news...Under the radar, as it were, a small but gifted community of artists and makers have begun selling their wares at the periphery of my beloved Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket each Saturday. The scattering of stalls along the beginnings of Prospect Park West are notable for their delightful originality. Not all my favorites were there today, but four of them were:
The enchanted foxes and other creatures of Estonian-born Brooklynite Kristiana Pärn seem to have wandered out of a Wes Anderson dreamscape. Her works on wood panel, prints, and stationery are gently drawn (and gently priced).
We bought one of her bunnies for the Daughter's room years ago and I think we need some foxes. If you can't make it to the plaza, she sells on Etsy here.
I love the celadon-glazed pottery of Frank Saliani of 20th Avenue Studios; love the rich, varied colors and the inviting, organic shapes. Craft fairs always seem to have way too many pottery people selling similar-looking stuff, but his work is really distinctive and elegant.
I would so give a set of these little bowls as a wedding present if anyone I knew were getting married.
Bits of wood, pennies, Scrabble tiles are all jewels in the hands of Robert Heller, whose "Planet Ert" of rings, earrings, and greeting cards carry a happily hippie-ish vibe.
His rainbow of enameled earrings moved about in the warm breeze like petals. He's on Etsy here.
Vintage-look textile patterns adorn dresses for big and little girls and an array of handsome tote bags made by Maruska Saunders, who calls her sewing enterprise "Stinky Minky." According to her website, she once made cowboy shirts for Roy Orbison.
Her work reminds me of my mother's; to this day, I can't see a cute pattern on some cotton without hearing her say, "I could run up a sundress in an afternoon." (I, alas, cannot.)
(Worth noting: no felted owls have been seen to date at this burgeoning craft market. The family and I have a bit of a "drinking game" around felted owls, which tend to figure heavily in the Brooklyn handmade scene. I love felted owls, don't get me wrong...but the borough is overrun with them! Perhaps they feed on artisanal pickles...)
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