Butler Art Center market, exhibit this weekend
Visitors to the Butler Art Center can expect a lot of activity Saturday, as an exhibit and artisan vendor market will keep the facility abuzz from stem to stern.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the market will feature crafts by local artists and even a glass-blowing demonstration. In addition, an exhibit by survivors of domestic abuse can be viewed until May 7.
Shirley McCauley, board member at the center, said 15 vendors will offer goods of many mediums for their spring market event.
“Photographers, potters, hand-sewn items, homemade soaps, earrings. The coolest thing is a glass blower who will be outside during the event,” she said.
Glass artisan Andy Leitmier will be selling pieces outside the center while demonstrating technique, McCauley said. In past years, the center has had demonstrators in woodworking and pottery for events of this kind.
McCauley said other vendors with items such as books and Tupperware sellers will round out the options available.
“If you want to see high-quality crafts, you should come and browse,” she said. “Most things are reasonably priced and would make shopping for Mother’s Day easy.”
Patricia Rippee, organizer for the exhibit on domestic abuse, said the show was organized to observe National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Four artists, three of them children, will showcase their work for two weeks, Rippee said.
“Child abuse is a silent crime. We’re putting this on the forefront to get people educated and help them get out of situations they’re in,” she said. “A lot of problems you see in youth are because of abuse.”
The pieces are not for sale, Rippee added. She hopes folks will visit the Art Center to support the awareness initiative.
On the horizon, Butler Art Center will have its Members Only Show in early May and a photography show this coming June.
