Coming from a background in design, graphics, metal arts, and leather work, Jenifer Nakatsu Arntson makes quality hand-built vinyl goods such as hand bags, wallets, checkbooks, and accessories. Her materials are animal-friendly and her finished products are stylish and modern. After working in leather for many years, Jen has switched to working entirely in vinyl but approaches design and construction with the same attention to detail, quality and function she learned when apprenticing to master-level leather craftsmen and metalsmiths. She is now an Austin-based artisan but has lived in Kyoto, St. Paul/Minneapolis, and Tokyo. Jen's work is also available in Austin, San Francisco and New York boutiques. Her website is www.nakatsudesign.com. Jen is also an active member of the Austin Craft Mafia, and Babes in Business Bonanza. When she is not at the studio, she is on her way there.
I have been enjoying Pinterest quite a bit and it’s very addictive, the links are double-curated so there are a lot of good pins! I mostly peruse the DIY/Crafty boards, and have a bunch of projects pinned to do with my kiddos. Currently we’re making jet packs from empty soda bottles. The 3 liter bottles are very nicely rounded and make excellent tanks!
The Blue Genie Art Bazaar is an Austin tradition during the holiday shopping season (disclosure: I’ve been involved since it started 13 years ago, and hubby is a Genie.) The Blue Genie Art Bazaar features the handmade work of over 130 local area artists and craftspeople. It’s a great place to buy exceptional imaginative, quirky, and beautiful art and gifts (paintings, sculptures, jewelry, clothing, accessories, glassworks, ceramics, prints, photography, and plenty of items you can’t find anywhere else). I do most of our holiday shopping there and gift recipients have been thrilled. Open 7 days a week at 10:00am, the event runs from November 27th through the 24th and admission is always FREE!
And Blue Genie now has a retail space in the Oasis complex, open year-round and featuring a hand-picked selection of artists and craftspeople who have participated in the holiday bazaar. Last year the Oasis had a temporary ice skating rink, and visiting Santa and elves near the gallery.
Thanks for supporting local artists and craftspeople!
Now in its 13th year, the Blue Genie Art Bazaar features the work of over 130 artists and craftspeople. This year the Bazaar runs November 30 through December 24.
Blue Genie Oasis offers a space for up and coming local artists to sell their art year round in an organized professional workplace. Each artist with merchandise in the Blue Genie Oasis Gallery store is hand selected by the artists at Blue Genie. All live and work locally in central Texas.
“The gallery store helps artists create a name for their selves and gain popularity, and liberates them to be in their studios creating more work to meet the demands of commissioners. Blue Genie has helped many local artists get their feet off the ground and become successful.
Our vendors offer all sorts of imaginative, quirky, and beautiful products: paintings, sculptures, jewelry, clothing, accessories, glassworks, ceramics, prints, photography, and plenty of miscellany and surprises that you can’t find anywhere else.
Our hopes with Blue Genie Oasis Texas is to encompass the joy of the Art Bazaar and to support our vendors year round in creating specialty made goods for you and your family.”
We could not have done it with YOU! Please come help us celebrate.”
I am so very excited to announce I’ll be teaching a new class at Stitch Lab, Capes & Masks! It’s been great fun putting this project together, and I’ve wanted to work with Leslie and the other wonderful folks there for a long while.
The Kid Masks and Capes class at Stitch Lab (flyer PDF) has been opened up to adults as well, attending with or without kiddos. The next class is scheduled for this Thursday 8/9/2012 8:30 am – 12:00 pm. “Students will make a super hero or princess cape and mask for hours of creative play time crusading and make believing! (4 or 5 students per class , One (1) 3.5-hour class. All materials provided in class!!)
Prerequisite: Kids Intro to Machine Sewing, Kids Sew Fun Camp, or equivalent experience. Adults and kids ages 7 through 10 welcome!”
I’m also teaching Kids Tote Bags on Friday 8/10/2012 8:30 am – 12:00 pm. “Students will make a lined, reversible tote bag with a pocket! You’ll feel like a rock star carrying your very own bag, made by YOU in the fabrics of your choosing! (4 or 5 students per class , One (1) 3.5-hour class. All materials provided in class!!)”
Adults and kids ages 7 through 10 welcome!
I took a millinery class a while back with Laura Del Villaggio and made a fascinator (little cocktail hat/headpiece) incorporating the tiny collection of feathers passed to me by my grandmother and mother. Laura is very knowledgeable about millinery history, materials and construction and made the sinemay hat bases we used in class. Here is a photo of mine in progress, before stitching…
My project in the pinning stage
Put it on your calendar, Laura will be teaching this class again October 20th (in time for costume and dress-up holiday parties!), as well as a top hat class the same week (more info here, use ‘search by instructor’ pulldown > Laura.) I’d love to take the class myself, the samples I’ve seen are great.
The 2011 Blue Genie Art Bazaar is up and running, and looks fantastic! The Blue Genie folks have made this space look spectacular, it really does get better each year. The show runs every day (10am-10pm) through December 24th (10am-6pm). Everything at this show is handmade, with over 140 local artists, artisans and craftspeople represented.
As always admission is free! Make plans to visit Austin’s most creative holiday bazaar with your friends and loved ones to check things out, then c’mon back as many times as you want for those incredible one-of-a-kind gifts your friends and family picked out. The Marchesa has a cash bar, and plenty of free parking!
Here’s the skinny:
The Marchesa Hall & Theatre
6226 Middle Fiskville Rd
Austin, TX 78752
(Map or here) (website) (news story)
December 1st – 24th
10 a.m. – 10 p.m. throught Decc 23, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Dec 24!
*This is a FREE event. Go have a beer and check out the really cool stuff there! There will be DJ’s, a bar and lots of amazing goodies to choose from.
Thank you so much for your continued support, and feel free to pass on this info to friends you think might enjoy the event!
Please have a safe and joyful holiday season,
xoxoxo
JNA
This one always cheers me up.
If she has a version of Jolene I haven’t found it yet…Leslie Hall was a live dancey-dance guest at the Yo Gabba Gabba Live I took Y to.
Welcome Gator out frontSignage and mural installed
Thursday Blue Genie Art opened a retail shop at the new Oasis complex (Austin Business Journal article) — long-time Austinites who remember the old Oasis with big wooden decks before the huge fire will be amazed at the new incarnation. The new space is like their annual Blue Genie Holiday Bazaar (now in it’s 12th year?) with a more gallery boutique feel, with work from local artists and bazaar veterans and the eclectic funkiness the bazaar has become known for.
I have a display of work there and have been quite busy in the studio preparing for the holiday season..
C'mon in!
Blue Genie @ the Oasis on Lake Travis (Facebook) 6550 Comanche Trail, Austin, TX 78732 ph: (512) 582-0176 Open 10am-9pm daily
Kiddo #1, his Godmother M, and I went to the Blanton for a lunch date, and to check out the Stacked Wave installation I’d read about. Seeing it in real life, experiencing the actual scale was very cool.
Y’s favorite piece was the installation How to Build Cathedrals, with black netting drapes, 600,000 coins, 800 communion wafers, 2000 cattle bones, and 80 paving stones. We had to clear out when Y got too into it (literally).
We should make it out to the museums more often. Y forgets that not everyone is a ‘maker’ as a good percentage of our friends are artists as well. He was sad when he thought boys/men didn’t sew, but i said I can teach him to sew when he’s ready age/focus/hand-eye… but if I come across a good used starter machine I’ll set it aside for him. If it’s pink he can put skater stickers on it, or give it a custom paint job and pimp it out.
