2026 Demonstrating Artisan

Tasha’s Own

Heritage Foodways

Maureen Anderson, teacher, goatherd, beekeeper, shepherdess, soapmaker, mother of 8 and grandmother of 13 has had a lifelong interest in farming, homesteading and herbal medicine.

She began this journey of learning when she was a child, taught many of these skills by a grandmother who instilled a love of herbs, family life and wildcrafting.

Maureen hosts workshops and classes at her historic Home Farm on sustainable living, herbal medicine making, wild food foraging and cheese making.

In March of 2020 she created the Toano Open Air Market in response to the community’s need for a safe and reliable place to shop and local farmers’ and artisans’ need for an income during the Covid closings.

Maureen is the creator of The MotherVine radio program and owner of Tasha’s Own Goat’s Milk Soap and The Home Farm.

www.tashasown.com

Darr, Molly

Parsonage

Mixed Media

Parsonage has specialized in creating handmade, sustainably sourced personal care products since 1997. Our goods are handmade from start to finish using original recipes, and our ingredients and packaging are carefully selected to maintain a minimal ecological footprint. Parsonage produces bar soaps, solid lotions, body sprays, room sprays and candles. These goods are made with all-natural, scientifically supported ingredients designed to bring intention and calm to your daily grooming ritual.

ParsonageSoap.com

Jobe, Jeffrey

Barking Dog Jewelry Design Studio

Jewelry

As a specialist in hand forged and woven/braided metal, I use a mixture of traditional silversmith, blacksmith, and goldsmith techniques and equipment to create wearable works of art with meaning, predominately through the use of a modified repousse’ technique I developed in 2002. A second technique, based upon a 15th C. technique is acid etching in sterling silver, copper, bronze, and german silver. Other techniques used include hand forged gold & sterling silver; 14K, 18K gold & sterling silver sand casting, and hand made/hand soldered bracelets & chains in sterling silver & 14K gold. I am a native of North Carolina, trained in historical archaeology, with a subspecialty in metals. I am a trained jeweler and a self taught traditional silversmith.

Most of my tools date from the 18th and 19th C. Many of the tools came from a German Jewish goldsmith who survived the Holocaust and come from the camp where he was imprisoned.

With respect to style, my knowledge base is heavily influenced by historic texts, paintings, etchings, and probate inventories while many of the techniques have been reverse engineered using methods learned as a graduate student in archaeology and museum conservation and restoration. Many of these techniques are based on hours and weeks of trial and error in an attempt to recreate lost techniques. Examples of these techniques include traditional sand casting, shot peening/burnishing, chain link construction, hand forging and folding, chasing, embossing, and metal weaving/braiding. Many of the techniques are similar to traditional blacksmith techniques, albeit slightly different. The result is a unique blend of current and historic metal smithing techniques and design.

From initial design to final polishing, all work is done by hand.

barkingdogjewelry.com

Hart, Ian

Vigilance Forge

Metal

I graduated college in 2017 with a degree in traditionally forged ironwork under the tutelage of Richard Guthrie, a Colonial Williamsburg veteran Journeyman who moved on to teach others the craft through the American College of the Building Arts. Rick instilled in me a value of creating accurate 18th century reproductions exclusively by hand, matching the construction methods, characteristics, underlying geometry and functionality of their historic counterparts. He has since passed but I carry this lesson with me through every day: to make a profit when I can, to take a loss if I must, to sleep some nights, and others not, but always to do good work.

For several years I managed a modern architectural iron shop in Northern Virginia, designing massive custom stair railings and similar projects, from conception to construction and installation. I was surprised by the lack of care that my colleagues had in terms of craftsmanship and excellence in design, not just from coworkers but also from architects and design firms that were supposedly classically trained. The jobs were big, they were interesting, but they didn’t satisfy the quality and standards of the work that I valued. Over that period I worked part time in the evenings producing my own work, until last year, when I left the company and opened my own shop full time.

People often say “as long as it works, who cares what it looks like.” I cringe a little every time I hear this. In my experience, if it looks right, it is right, and while people may not realize it, things are distracting if care is not placed into their design and creation. While B+ work may have no fault with it, the little extra decoration, feature, or degree of quality goes a long way in transforming work from acceptable to exceptional. This is my goal today; to provide people with tools, hardware, furniture and furnishings that are a joy to look at, use, and will work as well as someone can ask, not just now, but through heavy use into the far future. Historically people relied heavily on their tools and could not afford to have them break or to replace them frequently. Because of this they are perhaps the best teachers a craftsman could look to. It is not solely with misplaced nostalgia that I look to my forefathers of the crafts, but also because I believe that we might learn lessons in how to shape our future.

VigilanceForge.com

Helberg, Kristin

Kristin Helberg Artworks

Mixed Media

Helberg has always been interested in history and a portion of her artwork reflects that. Whaling paintings and whaling scenes on boxes, as well as sea monsters attacking ships are part of Helberg’s artwork.

She enjoys creating tavern signs that depict imaginary places in Early America. Having spent most of her childhood in York County, PA, Helberg was immersed in the painted hex signs on barns and fraktur art and uses those images on the decorative boxes. Years ago, she mastered the technique of Early American vinegar graining and she always features some grained boxes at the Fair.

Helberg has also created a line of Memento Mori paintings and chests, featuring the dancing skeletons and Plaque Doctors of the late Middle Ages, as well as Halloween paintings and portraits of Edgar Allen Poe and Nosferatu.

Helberg’s paintings are in the permanent collections of The National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian, the Clinton Presidential Library, the Reginald Lewis Museum of African American Art, Musee D’Art Naif in Quebec and the Carter Center of President Jimmy Carter.

KristinHelberg.com

Kesler, Jonathan

Earthly Arts

Clay

My intention is the integration of art, nature, and the ‘everyday’ life of the patron. This I attempt to accomplish via the creation of forms that may, if desired, have a broad practical functionality which so-by leads to inclusiveness with the life flow of the patron. In turn the subjective art travels with the action creating a bridge for the suggestive surface imagery to promote its theme which is, specifically, nature. Each aspect has a rebounding circular path that in its totality proffers resonance. The art feeds on itself which ‘feeds’ the patron on multiple levels. Such is my intention.

EarthlyArtsPottery.com

Kennedy, Selinda

Kennedy Redware Pottery

Clay

I am a historic redware potter since 1986. I employ historic folk art on slab technique redware pottery. I use mason stain and slip and underglazes.

facebook.com/kennedyredware

Kauffman, Justin

Kauffman Fine Furniture

Furniture

As a period formal furniture maker, Kauffman’s intention is to build furniture inspired by the designs of authentic period pieces and to impart to those pieces a beauty that can be admired and enjoyed, and a functionality that can be appreciated for generations. Kauffman’s hope is that his furniture, having been built with time-tested, period joinery and embellished with period carving, inlay, veneer, and other decorations, will emulate the quality, lasting appeal, and value of furniture from the 1700s and early 1800s. Lastly, that his furniture craftsmanship, conscientiousness, humanity, and dignity will be easily recognizable to those who own it.

KauffmanFineFurniture.com