The Juried Artisan and Craft Show at this year’s Hebron Harvest Fair, September 8-11, 2011, will feature over 40 artisans from the New England Region and New York. All products at the show are handmade by the exhibitors. Some of the featured artisans include Chong and Judy Lim – Island Designs, Scarborough, Maine; Don Hart, Ledyard, CT.; John Houle, Hamden, CT; Leonard and Regina Eldridge, Warrensburg, NY; Gary Elias, Woodbury, CT; Robert Zarcone, Moodus, CT; Jeanne Kent, Washington, CT and Constant Waterman, Stonington, CT.

Island Designs will be exhibiting and selling cards and pictures made from handmade papers and engravings. Owners Chong and Judy Lim reside and create their images on Great Cranberry Island off the coast of Maine. Their art is a real team effort. Chong is a graduate of Minneapolis College of Art and Design with a major in printmaking. He does the designing for most of the artwork. From the original idea he makes the working drawings and carves the design into a metal plate. Judi also studied printmaking and painting in college. She does the presswork (the actual embossing and coloring). She also makes some of the paper they use and marbles other papers as well. The Lim’s say that their “primary focus is embossed and handmade paper. We create the original design, carve metal plates and emboss each piece in our studio. We also do all our own framing and make many of the homemade papers that we use. Our images are highly representational, sometimes bordering on surreal, with a style somewhere between Eastern and Western. The emphasis is on clean, fine, and delicate detail. We believe that we are preserving centuries-old traditions of metal-plate engraving and paper embossing. We use machinery, equipment and technologies from an earlier period in our history.” Chong will be demonstrating his plate carving work at the show. The quality and fine detail of their work is a must see at this year’s show.

Don Hart Woodcrafts is a small operation based in Ledyard, CT. Don makes all of the items that you will see on sale at the fair, including kaleidoscopes, pens, pencils, key chains and bracelet assistants. Don has been a woodworker and wood turner for many years. By day, Don is a Network Operations Director for a Connecticut company. Nights and weekends Don “turns” all of his product and then sells them at selected galleries and Juried Shows. “This is my hobby,” Don will tell you, “what I do for fun and to relax.” Don never fails to mention his wife Patti. “She is a big part of what makes this all move along.” You can find Patty helping Don at all of the artisan and craft shows.

John Houle also works with wood for his designs and believes “art should be unique. It should make a statement about who we are and about our passions.” John says “art should be touched and experienced and Burnt Offerings are created for just that purpose.” John creates one of a kind images in wood, using heat and wood to create unique artwork, similar to the way our ancestors used burnt wood (charcoal) to depict their everyday lives on cave walls before there were other media. John uses Birch wood with its tight grain, to allow for intricate and extensive detail and texture. His work is the result of bringing pyrography and acrylic wash together. This technique greatly enhances his creations by allowing you to touch the scales of a bass striking a plug, feel the plumage of a preening bird or touch the rocks beneath a wave washed lighthouse. Unlike many wood burning pieces, John’s work tends to be of a larger size, with most pieces being 12 x 24 to 18 x 24 with larger pieces available making them ideal for wall hangings."

Leonard and Regina Eldridge, Endless Rainbow Gems, from Warrensburg, NY have been jewelry makers for over 30 years. There specialty is sterling silver jewelry with gemstones.

Gary Elias, Elias Designs, Woodbury, CT, is a silversmith/goldsmith. He has been making jewelry for over 35 years. His designs are unique and timeless. His specialty is custom designed jewelry.

For 35 years, Studio - Z - Leather in Moodus, CT has been designing and creating a fine line of high quality hand crafted leather accessories as a labor of love. Artisan Robert Zarcone uses the finest quality domestic leather and a variety of exotic skins from around the world to create vibrant and functional leather goods, including travel bags, belts, wallets, hand bags, evening bags, card cases, hipsters and tote briefs. From soft and supple calf skin, embossed crocodile to exotic lizards, snakes, ostrich, shark and alligator, the perfection of Richard Zarcone’s craft is obvious.

In addition to the exhibit and sale of these and many more fine handcrafted items there will be demonstrations by the artisans all day during the fair. Wheel turned pottery, chair caning, glass making, paper making, cake decoration, weaving, spinning and knitting are among the daily demonstrations. The schedule will be posted each day inside the fairgrounds.

Nationally known Gourd Artist, Jeanne “Morningstar” Kent and Author, Illustrator Constant Waterman will be displaying and selling their work and signing their books. Jeanne Kent was named Spozowialakws (Morningstar) by an Abenaki Elder many years ago. It means: "One who leads others out of the darkness into the light...a teacher." Jeanne is descended from Abenaki, Nipissing, Montagnais, and Algonquin People from the Quebec area of Canada. Her father was French and Indian, her mother German. Her art work contains Native American symbols and designs of the Northeast Woodland People with focus on the Wabanaki group. Her medium is gourd art. Currently, she is working on a series of gourd designs which she hopes will provide a visual language for the woodland People. Jeanne has received both state and national awards and participated in one person shows and group shows throughout CT, NY, NH and MA. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and a Master in Art Education from the University of Hartford. She taught art in public schools for twenty years. As teacher and artist, Jeanne has presented programs on Native crafts and history, to educators and offered courses at the University of Hartford Extension Service. Jeanne Kent will speak on gourd art and sign her book, Gourds: Seeds Of inspiration, on Saturday at 2:00PM inside the Juried Arts and Craft Tent.

Constant Waterman will be displaying his illustrations, pictures and cards, in the Show Gallery and will be signing his books: The journals of Constant Waterman, Landmarks you must visit in Eastern Connecticut and Vincus The Invisible on Sunday, September 11.

Matthew Goldman, num de plume, Constant Waterman, lives in Stonington, CT and has worked as a toolmaker, a woodworker, and a land surveyor. He attended Union College in Schenectady and has taken courses in drama at URI. He has written serious drama, black comedy and farce. Three of his one-act plays have been staged and his full-length comedy, "Shades of Darkness, Shades of Light," was included in the 2002 Tennessee Stage’s Playwrights" Festival in Knoxville. His full-length drama, Starting Over, received honorable mention in the 2002 Writers Digest competition. His full-length black comedy about elder abuse, "The Cat Lady," received two Equity staged readings at HRC Showcase Theater in Hudson, NY. He was one time editor of the poetry quarterly, "A Letter Among Friends," which flourished for several years in Groton, Connecticut and has published a number of poems. Since July, 2005 his memoirs entitled, "From the Journals of Constant Waterman" have appeared as a semi-monthly column in "Messing About in Boats”. His work has also appeared in "Good Old Boat" and "Windcheck." His latest book is "The Journals of Constant Waterman”.

Come to the Fair to meet all of the artisans exhibiting their work and see the quality products made by these fine artisans. For a list of artisans at this show go to http://www.hebronharvestfair.org/pages/listofvendors.html.

Enjoy the entertainment, food and events at one of the largest fairs in Connecticut – the Hebron Harvest Fair, September 8-11, 2011. Go to http://www.hebronharvestfair.org/ for more information on the fair.