Tickets on sale August 1st | Kids 12 and under FREE!        October 3-5 | 10am-5pm | Waterford, Virginia

Waterford Fair

81st American Crafts & Historic Homes Tour

Locations

Oliver, Amy

Monkeytown Pottery

Clay

I have been a potter for over 30 years, my focus is on form and function as well as surface design. I mix and use colored slips on bare clay to carve and sculpt illustrations, often featuring nature, trees, mountains and many recurring animal characters from the forest. I strive to make beautifully crafted functional art, I want my pieces to be part of everyday life and use.

I have always been fascinated by Art that tells a story. Therefore many of the pots I make tell a story, with many returning characters. Some of the characters you might find are tortoises, owls, ravens and birds, bears, deer, foxes, bunnies and horses all have special meaning to me and hopefully the viewer. They interact with each other, they seem to be having very full lives outside our windows, I like to think that they are a witness to a moment in time. The tortoise represents the slow moving of the earth but also the witness. If he’s in the story his shell will be showing another memory in time. Dinosaurs, and many mythical “monsters” show up in the stories as well, because who knows and why not. Who knows what the tortoise sees out there. Maybe it’s Bigfoot chopping wood. Maybe it’s just a friendship between an owl and a horse. Every pot tells a different story, I can tell you what the characters mean to me, but it’s up to the viewer to decide the story.

www.MonkeytownPottery.com

De May, Robert

De May Studios

Mixed Media

I’m Robert De May

My dad loved to draw pictures and encouraged me to draw.  When I was in high school, I took an art class as an elective, and loved it.  I became interested in painting with watercolors.  My teacher encouraged me.  However, after graduating, my interests in painting were replaced by higher priorities like college, a degree in electronic engineering, a 35-year career in IT, a 15-year entrepreneurship in antique and high-end furniture restoration.  As I grew very close to full retirement, in January of 2021, I tried watercolor again.  A friend liked my first work so well, she purchased it.  I’ve been told I have talent.  I enrolled in an on-line watercolor academy and surprised myself by the successes of each of my assignments. My instructor praised my prints and I had become an artist.

My art business has been designated as a “Trusted Art Seller” with The Art Storefronts Organization, which means you can shop with confidence, and know that I stand behind the quality and value of my products.

My Inspiration

I found out that if it’s in a photograph, I can usually paint a picture of it.  I am inspired by nature, wild life, pets, horses, and old run down barns.  As an artist, I love painting landscapes in the country, old buildings, and farm animals.  I grew up in the farm country of western Pennsylvania.  I remember trekking through the woods, swimming in the Alleghany river, and, when I was only 10, driving farmer Thomson’s tractor while others loaded up hay bails on the wagon I was towing.  I love dogs.  I currently have two border collies, I have painted both of their portraits. I just love creating these images and continually surprising (and sometimes disappointing)  myself by my creations.

My Medium

I love the challenge of a successful watercolor painting. I have tried pen and ink, charcoal, pastels, acrylic, and have settled on watercolor painting.  I use the white of the paper as one of the colors in my color palette.  Watercolor does not project perfection nor does it require perfection from the artist, but it does challenge the artist to strategize his work.  Watercolor does not allow an artist to over paint, or to change colors. 

www.DeMayStudios.com

Banker, Ellen

Hannah’s Whim

Mixed Media

Everything in life is art. That has been true in my life ever since I can remember. Currently, I am working in mixed media—acrylic paint, vintage paper and, sometimes, found objects. However, for years I worked in textiles, specifically I hooked rugs
and am the author of Hooked on Words, published in 2018 by Ampry Publishing.

Once in a while, some textile form appears in my current work—an actual piece of wool or an image of a quilt or a rug or a sheep. I am drawn to antiques and images
of anything vintage but my great love is for Windsor chairs. I’m very lucky to live in Williamsburg, Virginia, with inspiring history all around me, but I once lived in Waterford which will always be in my heart.

Email

Armistead, Jeff & Ben

Phoenix Hardwoods

Wood

We have been crafting timeless, quality woodcraft furniture and accessories for decades. Using local Virginia Hardwoods and a discerning eye for detail, each piece is thoughtfully designed and made in our Southwestern Virginia woodshop.

Phoenix-Hardwoods.com

Anderson, Maureen

Tasha’s Own

Mixed Media

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.TashasOwnHerbarium.com

Supraner, Scott & Vicki

Hawksbill Pottery

Clay

Hawksbill Pottery is distinguished by a colorful pallet of studio mixed glazes.   These stoneware pieces are high fired to 2300 degrees.  They are food safe, ovenproof and dishwasher/microwave safe.  Some pieces are thrown on a potter’s wheel while others are hand built with slabs and extruded pieces. Embossments are made from stamps that are hand carved from clay, then fired and impressed into wet clay.  Our glazing technique is similar to a “batik” process.  Wax is painted as a resist between layers of glaze to create colorful designs and patterns.  The pieces are painted free hand with a brush giving spontaneous life to each piece.  We believe that this direct process infuses the object with human energy. 

The ceramic wall reliefs are composed of handmade interlocking clay tiles specifically made to create each image.  Expanding on traditional ideas of tile work and mosaics, the work describes a new form which is both painterly and sculptural. 

www.hawksbillpottery.com