Published: July 15, 2006 09:17 pm      

Berea gets ‘hands on’

BEREA — The “Creative Hands” exhibit in Berea on Saturday was not just a place for artists to sell their crafts, but also to allow visitors a chance to have a hand in making something of their own.

The event was conducted on the College Square Green in conjunction with the Berea Craft Festival.

“This is the first year we’ve done something like this,” said Gwen Childs, director of the Berea Arts Council. “Since the craft fair is going on, we want to offer the people an opportunity to see how things are made and to get a feel for it.”

Paper making, carving, basket weaving and pottery were only a few of the exhibits where visitors could become involved in the creative process.

“This is an opportunity for people to come and get hands-on experience with crafts,” Childs said. “I think it educates the public as to what the process is of making crafts. People think it’s simpler than it is, but when you’re involved in the hands-on process of it, you get a better idea of what it takes and you develop a greater appreciation for what’s involved and the time it takes to make these things.”

Howard Burke moved to Berea to teach others his specialized craft of paper marbling. Several colorful inks are intertwined into swirls and then transferred a sheet of paper.

“This makes really pretty patterns on paper,” Burke said. “My mother’s been doing this for 15 years. As a teacher, she did many demonstrations for her classes.”

People are drawn to the booth because it is so open for hands-on creativity.

“People are able to make their own designs,” he said. “It may work and it may not work for them, but they can have a hand in it and try it anyway.”

Burke hopes to keep having opportunities to share his art with as many people as possible.

“We’ve done a few workshops, but we want to do more of them.” he said. “This is a chance to get exposed to more people.”

Anna Singleton, a Berea College sophomore, sat at her booth doing a demonstration on making “roundtrees,” which are small wisk brooms.

She has been doing the craft since August 2004 and has no plans on stopping any time soon.

“I was assigned this job and I decided to stick with it because I enjoy doing it so much,” she said. “I’m going to try and stay with it at least through my junior year and then maybe I’ll move on to something else.”

Visitors did not get to make their own roundtree, but seemed amazed at what Singleton was able to create.

“Most people think that it’s not that hard, but it is,” she said. “But, I’ve done it so much that I can make it look easy.”

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.