Local Artists Show Crafty Side at Handmade Arcade

Eryn Paat and Allison Glancey are friends and fellow artisans who are gearing up for this weekend’s Handmade Arcade, an event where the local DIY movement gathers, grows and sells its latest creations.

Glancey of Forest Hills, a printmaker who makes rock posters for indie favorites like The Detroit Cobras, The Decemberists and Belle and Sebastian, is heading into her fourth year as a vendor while Paat of Regent Square, a bead jewelry maker, is preparing for her first.

“For me, it’s important because it’s a huge opportunity to actually sell my pieces and have other people enjoy them and share them, especially now that it’s something I can focus on and really put a lot of effort into,” Paat said. “I am just hoping that I can get my name out there and maybe have some people interested in my pieces – and it’s just fun.”

Handmade Arcade is free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Convention Center downtown. Now celebrating its seventh anniversary, Handmade Arcade will feature more than 120 vendors selling their own crafts, arts and clothing.

Paat makes beaded jewelry, using new and vintage beads she finds online and at various sales.

“I love going to flea markets or thrift stores and finding something that looks kind of like junk and then I take it apart,” Paat said. “I like to find the old and the new and mix it up.”

Glancey got involved with the event in 2006 when she used to print her art out of Artist Image Resource on the North Side. Today, she has her own studio in Friendship, where many of her prints hang on a wall.

“It still attracts the same type of high quality artisans who are in the DIY sort of crafty movement, even if they don’t identify as that in terms of the larger part of the scene,” Glancey said. “They attract an amazing group of artists, people who are really dedicated to the craft and a lot of people who work by themselves. It’s a chance to come together and just see what other people are doing and see how the handmade movement is exploding – to the point that now the event is at the Convention Center.”

Glancey said she is especially excited for the event because it gives her a chance to sell locally. Most of the time, she is out of town selling rock prints or working online.

“I was participating in a website that was a lot of rock poster artists and started posting there,” she said. “A promoter saw them and asked if I wanted to try and do some rock posters for some of the venues he was working with and it went from there.”

Glacey said it’s hard to believe she gets to call this “work.”

“It’s weird to get to work for some of your heroes,” Glancey said. “It never gets old and it’s never like, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’ I always think, ‘Oh my God.’ That feeling never dissipates. You wake up one morning and have an email from your favorite band and you think, ‘Are you kidding me?’”

She often takes a walk with her dog before replying to those messages because she can barely contain her excitement.

“I recently worked with Sara Bareilles and it’s super awesome but really bizarre,” she said. “There’s a really cool connection though because I think a lot of musicians are really into things that are made by hand and have meaning.”

Glancey said she is looking forward to connecting with fellow artists and enjoying the event once again this year.

“It feels really nice to get to do that and seeing what everyone else is up to -- the variety is stunning,” she said.

For more information visit www.handmadearcade.com.