 This is Dennis McMahon and welcome to Positively Vermont. And today we are going to be speaking with Elizabeth Boudreau of the Vermont Hand Crafters and who is going to be telling us all about a very exciting event and a very historical event coming up in the very near future. And that is the Craft Vermont exhibition. And this is going to be the 68th time that this exhibition of arts and crafts and all kinds of wonderful visual things is going to be held in our state. Welcome, Elizabeth, to Positively Vermont. Well, hi, I'm really pleased to be joining you today. It's exciting. It is, and we're pleased to have you and we're going to publish the website but there's a lot of very exciting stuff that's gonna be going on at this event but which is happening later this month. But first of all, tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, I live up in East Berkshire, Vermont. I'm an artist also. I'm a mother of three and six grandchildren. So that kind of covers my very busy schedule. I've been the director of events for Vermont Hand Crafters for the last 17 years. I joined the organization as an artist in 2002 and then in 2003, their show director stepped down and I was approached about being their director of events. And so I took the job and it's been great. I love it. It's perfect, it was made for me. That's important. Tell us about your particular genre. What do you work in? I'm a painter and a design. I do botanical. Well, I started as an oil painter and as my family grew and got busy, I couldn't leave the paint out. So then I decided I had to do something else. So I then went into making rugs and quilts and I liked it but not that much. And then I started doing floral designs. A lot of the things I grew and then they almost looked, they were, I loved them. And that's what I juried in for in Vermont Hand Crafters, floral designs, Reese and things like that. That's great. Tell us a little bit about Vermont Hand Crafters itself. How did it get started? Maybe give us a little bit of the history and maybe even mention some people who have gone into the bigger art world, so to speak, from participating in Vermont Hand Crafters. Okay, well, Vermont Hand Crafters started base in 1951 down in the Barry Montpelier area by two women who were crafters and just felt there needed to be a show of some type. And it's kind of started as an exhibition. And then from there in 1955 it got incorporated to Vermont Hand Crafters, Inc. And they started having shows and they had a couple of shows a year, Manchester, the Barry area, the, I think the Montpelier, no, the Barry Auditorium, really where there's still a show. And then it moved up to Burlington and it went to Memorial Auditorium in Burlington. And it was there for a long time. And then can you imagine when it first started, there was only one checkout. So you would pick up your item, you would get your item and then you would go to the checkout at the front of the auditorium. Can you imagine that? That's like the old days. And I used to go to it there. I used to go with my mother and my aunt. We used to go and I can remember saying, someday I'm gonna be a Vermont Hand Crafters. So that was exciting. And then it moved to what was then in the 90s, 1990, it moved up to the Sheraton, which is now the double tree right off the exit in Burlington. And it's been there since we, it's been held there since 1990. This will be only the second year ever that it, well, this is, yeah, I'm gonna, and all the years that it has started, only one year they didn't have the show. I think they regrouped before the 90s. And then, of course, this year it's online. It won't be an in-person show. So, and over the years we've had some great, great artists who've gone on to be, have big companies. Fred and Judy Danforth, they started, who has now Danforth Feuders. They were members and they remained members until they retired just last year or the year before. Completely, Danforth is still in business, but they have retired from the business. So, and then Mark Baker, Vermont Flannels, he was a member, Woody Jackson is still a member and he won't be participating in this show itself online, but you can still find him at our website. The in-person shows he's had every year. So, we've had a lot. Also, House Mouse, I'm sure a lot of your viewers remember House Mouse, they were at our show forever for years, so they started small and with Vermont Handcrafters also. Tell us, it says it's the oldest and largest jury craft organization in Vermont. Yes, it is. Tell us what jury means. Well, jury is, in order to become a member, you have to, you apply and then you have, your work is seen by a group of artists who have expertise in different fields and they're members also. And they look at, you know, the quality of the work, you know, design aspect, you know, the finished product and, you know, then they, if it meets our standards, we have, you know, we're inclusive, we're not exclusive, but we do have standards, you know, when you buy something from Vermont Handcrafters, you know, from one of our shows, our members, you know that it's a quality piece of work. So that's what jury does. Well, before I forget, we have to say when this is gonna happen and that's gonna be November 21st and November 22nd online, running from nine in the morning to nine at night. And what the experience is gonna be like for that. First of all, maybe you can give us some insight. And again, we had the pandemic, this would normally be live. How did you, how did you get from planning to run a physical onsite show to going online for the first time in history? Tell us a little about that. I know it's like watching sausage being made, but just give us a little idea. Well, you can imagine, once we realized that we were not gonna be able to have an online show, I mean, online, now I'm so caught up in online, we weren't gonna be able to have an in-person show at the Double Tree, we began to scramble and panic. We have over 200, we have about 200 members at this point, and many of them participated in that show. So we needed to find a way to have some sort of a show. So we found, we figured this out and now we're gonna do an, this will be actually our third online show. We did a little small test show in August, and then in October, we did a little longer test show, so people could get used to it. And now we're gonna, we're now we're doing our two day show, and it works really well. And I'm very pleased, of course, it's not the same, but I'll kind of, you know, it was being in person, but it's good. And almost everybody that's attended has enjoyed it. So I'll tell you a little bit about it, but if you will bear them with me, I kind of have to read it because it's so new to me. So first you wanna go to our website to join, which is Vermont, www.vermonthandcrafters.com. And then you can register, you can go now and register for the show. There's a little thing that says register here. And once you go there, if you pre-register, you're gonna get on Saturday, you'll get a noticed. And so that it's happening. And then you just click on that and it'll take you right to the show. So each member will have their own online booth, and you can scroll down through all the booths and see if there's someone you like to see, or you can filter through by medium, like if you wanna just see jewelry, you can do that. But my suggestion would to be see everybody, as always. Each booth will have photographs of the artist and their work and a link to their website. You will be able to chat with the artist and ask them questions if you choose because there will be text, you can do it by text, or you can actually do it by video. You can go right in and talk to them. And I'm gonna tell everyone that a lot of our artists are missing that personal contact. So don't be afraid to chat with them. They are thrilled when somebody either video, either goes into the chat room and chats or even texts them because they wanna talk about their process and their work and a lot. So don't be afraid to do it. And there will be also a live stream through the whole show highlighting different artists. We're gonna have artists coming on and demonstrating live and or showing you their studio, some of their work. It's up to them what they wanna do. And we have a full day full of that, that's gonna happen. And also in between those, we have just different videos, taped videos of artists doing work and things like that. We also will have door prizes. At our show, we were known for fabulous door prizes. We always say it's our way of saying thank you to everybody for supporting for my hand crafters for all these years, 68 years. And so anybody who registers to sign, well, you have to register, you're automatically registered when you come to the show, is eligible to win a door prize. And what you'll get is a photograph of the door prizes that are available once you're picked. And you get to choose which door prize you like out of the photograph. That way everybody gets something special that they love. So that's how it's gonna work. You just go to Vermont Hand Crafters. And if you go on Saturday or Sunday, you'll see a big button that says shop here. And you just push that and you'll take it right to the show. Wow. How many artists are gonna be participating? Well, at this point, we have about 55, but people are still signing up. So that's a good variety. And there is a large variety. It's gonna be fabulous. That's really sounds exciting. How are they doing that? Let's say like Frog Hollow or someplace like that. You can have a little video presentation or how does it work with each artist? Okay, now we're different than Frog Hollow. They're like a gallery and we're just, we're like a small business organization. So our members, yeah. So the artists are gonna have, just like we have, they're computer setup, just like we're doing. It'll be like zooming. It's on a platform called StreamYard that we do it. So, but it's the same idea just like what we're doing now. Well, people who are attending be able to communicate with each other with a meeting. I know when you have a Zoom meeting, there are participants listed and you can look people up and maybe the chat. Is there anything? Yes, yeah. That's definitely what you can do. There are chat rooms they're called. So if you go to their booth, you just can, they'll have a button that says, push here to chat and you just push the button and you can talk right with the artist. And, you know, most of the, a lot of the artists will be available to talk or chat with all throughout the show. Some may take breaks here and there because it's a long show, but you'll be able to see who's live and who isn't live. That's really something else. It's amazing. I went to a conference recently ran by the Winston Churchill Institute Foundation and they were doing it internationally. And they had, in between the various lectures and various seminars that were being held about Churchill's life in England and here they had the little videos of things. Is there anything like that, little stories about what's going on that will play between the, and in that case, it was playing between the lectures. Yeah, throughout the whole two days, there's going to be different videos of different people demonstrating, of different people talking, doing live. It's fun. I know what the other shows, some people just said, oh, it was so interesting just to watch the live screen of what was happening. And then also we'll show different door prizes. So you can see some of the work and then you, if you like, you can go right to there at that artist booth. Tell us about the door prizes. I believe you may have some of them there. Oh, I do have some of them here. So, well, let's see. This one is from Christine Pratt. This is a beautiful, look at this. Isn't this gorgeous? It's a beautiful scarf. Fantastic. Oh, I know, I just love this. Wrap it right around yourself. That's great, that's great. Now, this is a door prize. Here's another door prize. This is a little felted purse, hand-felted coins, things like that. Who made those? Who made those? Oh, sorry. This was made by Kate Lutz. Positive pearls, pearls, pearls. And let me see. Oh, another, we have, this is Arnica. It's a flower-based sore. It's for sore muscles and joints. This is a whipped cream. It's like a cream that's whipped and you put it on. It is great for arthritis, I use it. It is an age-old tried-and-true natural therapy for bruises. That's the other thing, you can put it on a bruise and it takes the discoloring right away. And I have this, it's like this. I have it in bath salts. It's so fabulous, it's great. Let me see what else I have here. Oh, look at this, this is another, this is, can you see this? Yes, yes, that is really clever. Jason Kenwood and his daughter make these, all out of nuts and bolts and they're all soldered together. Isn't that fun? Fantastic. I have a, oh, this is- You showed us a big one before. Or you showed us a big item before. Oh, that's not a door prize. That is actually one of the artists that's gonna be here, but I'm gonna show you. This is some CP metalworks. Isn't that beautiful? Fantastic. It's a tree of life. So these, this artist is gonna be at the show. Don't miss them, their work is great. They have a big pieces like this. They also have a welcome signs. They have spirit signs, you know, that say love and hope. They have dog, they have little dog bone or paw ornaments. They have a variety of great things. Let me see what else I have here. Oh, this is a door prize. This is a Vermont specialty door prize. Wow. It's a whole box full of Vermont products. Wow, that's fantastic. From Green's Sugar House. Wow, that's- It's a whole thing of Vermont. Can look at this. Wow. It's got maple syrup. It's got their balsamic salad dressing, which is delicious. It's got buttermilk pancake mix, put your maple syrup on. And fresh Vermont blackberry jam. Isn't that great? Yeah. And that's a door prize. It's a piece of Vermont. Let me see what else we have here. Oh, this is by Pika Works, which is Joan McKenzie, a beautiful moose. She does all kinds. It's a print. She does all kinds of different animals. If you've been to the show, people often will see her work there. Oh, I also have Vermont calendars by Jonathan Hart, which is a great Christmas present to send to someone who doesn't live here anymore. Let me get it out here. I have two of them, amazing Vermont calendars. And this is by Jonathan, these, the photographs. This is the barn one. There's different barns, photographs of beautiful barns all throughout Vermont. And this is just a Vermont scene, all different Vermont scenes. And he does the wall calendars. He does the desk calendars. He does pocket calendars. So also makes a great. We have, we have these from Carol. This is Carol McClory. It's a beeswax candle. It's another door prize. Her husband, Steve, they are, this and this gorgeous, everything nice. You want to make sure you see their work. Oh, some beautiful earrings. Daryl Storrs, she's a print maker. Aren't these beautiful? They're hand printed on paper. And then she paints them. Let me see what else I have here. Some other, oh, here's another. This is a Vermont print. Oh, wow, that's really something. Isn't that beautiful? Can you see it good? Without the print. They're getting a little glare, but that's good. Yep, this is the matted, let it smell, a beautiful deer, so Vermont. And she also donated cards. So you could also choose some of her, her cards. That is nice, oh, fantastic. Yeah. And then this is a fused glass ornament. Oh, yeah. With the holly berries, put it in your window. And I have from Mita Streck, Mita Streck Studios. Oh, wow, very nice. This is a little angel and it's carved and hand painted. And she has fun things. Oh, look at this. This is a lap blanket hand woven by, this is by the woven lamb Sue Mechner. Very nice. These are just door prizes that people can get just for real soon. These are just door prizes. And I don't even have them all. I mean, I'm getting some every day. That's very exciting. Now, how does, I mean, is there a registration fee? The minute, when you sign, when you register, when you come to the show, they ask you for your email. That's how you register with your email. And the minute that goes in, you're registered to win a door prize. So then we randomly just pick out of the computer, our, you know, computer guy, which is, you know, Matt Herb, whatever they, we call him. He randomly picks names. So we'll probably have 30, 30 door prizes for the two day show. So people are always amazed at the last show. We had, I think, 15 door prizes and no one, you know, everyone says, oh, I never win anything. Well, guess what? You could at our show. Now, when you have a typical show, which is on the ground, how many people attend over the course of the year? Oh, about 5,000. So you anticipate getting more online or how are you going to? Well, we'll see. We're actually, we're, you know, of course, now with the web, with, you know, now, not the web. What did we call it? Social media. Can you tell my age? Now with social media, we, you know, we're advertising on us on social media. We have so, and that, you know, was seen all over the country. And at our last shows, at the October one, our one day event, we had people visit our website, the different websites and the show from all 50 states. Wow. No, I don't think we had anyone from Hawaii. So I take that back. But we did from Alaska. So is that, can you imagine? I can imagine. This is the first time it's been done online in any form then, right? Yeah. Yeah. So this is very, very exciting. Can you imagine it's going to be quite a job? It's a whole new, a whole new experience, but it's working and it's exciting. And it's really important because, you know, Vermont artists are struggling because there's no shows. We haven't had any shows. I mean, there's been a couple, but they're small. And, you know, they're always outdoors. So, you know, this is actually the fall is Vermont hand crafters or yeah, Vermont artists show time. So without the shows, you know, things are a little tight. So by coming to ours, it's a great way to support your friends and neighbors. That's what we call our Vermont. You know, they're our friends and neighbors. The artists are our friends and neighbors. That really sounds very exciting. And I want to thank you for giving us all the details here on Positively Vermont. Well, you're welcome. And hopefully we'll see what happens and get you back in the future. And good luck with this. Oh, thank you. And it's going to be sounds really a very exciting event. So thank you, Elizabeth. And this has been Dennis McMahon for Positively Vermont. My guest has been Elizabeth Boudreau, the director of events for the Vermont hand crafters talking about their forthcoming show called Crafts Vermont which is going to be held online Saturday and Sunday, November 21 and November 22. And you can get information on their website and everything is available to you. So thank you again, Elizabeth. Thank you. Come and see us. We will. Thanks very much. This is Dennis McMahon and this has been Positively Vermont. Thank you for watching.