Article from the June 15th Nashville Tennessean Weekend Section which featured
Jessica's work on the cover and inside.

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American Artisan Festival's standards rise
Audience expectations challenge organizers of 37th annual festival


BY JONATHAN MARX

Staff Writer



The conventional wisdom about aging is that as we
get older, we become more conservative, less likely to take risks. For
Nancy Saturn, organizer of the long-running American Artisan Festival,
the opposite is true. As she prepares to launch her 37th annual event
this weekend in Centennial Park, Saturn faces the challenge of keeping
standards not just high, but also adventurous and forward-thinking.

"The
audience expectations are higher, I'm constantly being told that," she
says. "So every day, I'm engaged in an ongoing effort to keep this fair
of a certain quality, to keep it interesting and ever-changing."



An outgrowth of Saturn's American Artisan store —
an alluring repository of fine handmade items that has helped brighten
many a Nashville home — the festival is expected to attract between
40,000 and 45,000 to the park this weekend. (A friendly reminder:
Parking on the grass will not be tolerated.) On view will be the work
of 170 craft artists from across the country, working in a wide array
of media: ceramics, wood, textiles, jewelry, paper, leather, sculpture
and all manner of functional items, from birdhouses to knives to
furniture.

So how does Saturn maintain that vibrancy, that freshness?

"The
fair becomes edgier, less conservative, so that there are more
participants who seem to fall more on the artist side of craft. Things
get a little funkier, a little more original, is all I can say."

As
an example, Saturn cites artist Vicki Niolet of Bay St. Louis, Miss.,
who makes unusual mixed-media constructions that combine handmade
objects of clay, wood or paper with cast-off items picked up at yard
sales and thrift stores.

"The best form of
appreciation of my mixed-media constructions is a loud laugh, or even a
grimace," the artist says. "At least if I get a reaction, negative or
positive, I've made the viewer respond and interact."

The
inclusion of artists such as Niolet at the festival is part of a shift
— or, better put, an expansion — in the direction of the American
Artisan store, which has opened a more traditional art gallery on its
second floor.

"While I'm not changing the craft
fair into an art fair, I am including work that crosses a line I've
never crossed before," Saturn says. "It adds a wonderful atmosphere to
the festival and keeps it spicy."

Innovation, tradition intersect


The American Artisan Festival has become a strong
draw for artists and patrons alike because it bears the hallmarks of
Saturn's taste. Even after more than three decades putting on this
yearly event, she remains as involved as ever in the search for
artists, conducting Internet research and traveling the country to look
at their work in person.

Among those artists
who've become regulars at the store and the fair is the Austin,
Texas-based ceramicist Sunyong Chung, who draws on a traditional
Japanese technique known as nerikometo create platters and bowls with
intricate, colorful images worked into the surface of the clay.

Chung
is a member of the Handmade Austin Women collective, and this year she
invited several of her fellow members — jeweler Stephanie Lindsey,
ceramicist Melanie Schopper and clothing designer Chia Guillory — to
take part in the American Artisan Festival.

"Over
the years, Sunyong was lured to the festival out of friendship and an
interest in coming here," Saturn says. "Now she is a leader in her own
community, and I have learned to trust someone of her position to help
me with this event. I can bend the rules that way, and it is an honor
to have members of her group coming this year."

One
thing that Saturn, Chung and many of the American Artisan artists share
is an understanding that craft thrives on that combination of
innovation and community spirit.

"Cottage
industry links all of us in Handmade Austin Women," Chung says. "Making
things by hand is an ancient tradition that needs to continue. So we go
from what's been done, and then we renew it in some ways. That's why
contemporary art is so important — we're always pushing that edge,
seeing how we can redefine or revisit it."

For
all the talk of innovation and pushing forward, however, Saturn affirms
that the American Artisan Festival will feature many returning
favorites, among them Indiana-based kite maker Richard Langdon; David
Levy of Davis, Calif., who makes intricate wooden games; and kite
makers Twin Oaks from Louisa, Va.

"We definitely
cross a lot of lines with this event," Saturn says. "That's what makes
it so much fun. And, as always, we'll have music, food and ways for the
family to be together."