Have you been to The Met yet? Hmm, maybe I had better clarify because it’s probably not “The Met” that you’re thinking of. This is the new Metropolitan Weekend Artisans Market that has just opened up in downtown London, Ontario. This past weekend was its grand opening and I had the opportunity to go there with my women’s group.
The Met (so named because it occupies the space formerly occupied by the Metropolitan discount department store) isn’t “fancy” from the outside, but upon entering, I was enthralled with the amazing artwork and other items presented there. The goal behind The Met is to promote arts and culture in the London area by providing a venue for the region’s rich pool of talent in the form of artwork, handmade and recycled items, vintage and rare treasures, and those of a local or historical nature.
Here are some examples of what I saw at The Met:
This is the work of the children who attend Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute, a private school here in London. Don’t you just love the colours and abandon that children use when creating art?
The horse is one of my favourite pieces!
http://www.nancycampbell.net/index.html
Hawthorne onDisplay had a booth here with a lovely variety of paintings, prints, and other items. Their studio is located at 551 Colborne Street, 519-433-6466. Their Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/HawthorneOnDisplay Their ETSY shop: www.etsy.com/shop/HawthorneOnDisplay
These two little canvases (about 2 1/2-3 inches square) are from Hawthorne OnDisplay.
These two girls, Michelle of Bezanson Design and Nicole of Eco-veg Footprint, were positively adorable! Some of what Michelle creates is artwork that was mostly created by dripping paint (you can see one of her pieces to the far right and one over to the left). Nicole does, among other things, recycled art from old newspapers and magazines – you can see some of her postcards and bookmarks in this photo.
Here are two of the postcards I purchased created by the artist above. Nicole also collaborated on a PanAmerican Vegetarian and Vegan Cookbook with Jessica O’Neil. I purchased it and can’t wait to try out the recipes because they sound positively delicious! Check out Michelle’s blog here: http://bezansondezign.blogspot.com/ and Nicole’s blog here: http://ecovegfootprint.blogspot.com/
I love the textiles she creates here. They are all made from recycled natural fibres and are hand-dyed with vegetable and nut based dyes. The brown stripes in the pillows at the top centre of the picture were created by walnut dye. Check out more of her work at http://www.goodlinesdecor.com
The Met is located at 140 Dundas Street between Richmond and Talbot. Hours are Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm and Sundays from Noon to 5 pm. The website gives information about vendors for the upcoming weekend as well as forms if you’d like to apply to become a vendor. This coming weekend there will apparently be pottery making demonstrations! Http://www.metropolitanmarket.ca
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