Author: Roselyn Mendez

(This schedule is subject to change.)

February 16-18 Mythicon 2024 Gettysburg PA

March 17

March 23

March 30

April 12-14 Ocean Renaissance 2024 Ocean City MD

April 27 Earth Day Festival Shepherdstown WV

May 4-5 May Day Faerie Festival Essex MD

May 11-12 Virginia Renaissance Faire Spotsylvania VA

May 18-19 Bringing in the May Berkeley Springs WV

May 25-27 Philadelphia Renaissance Faire Philadelphia PA

June 1-2 Virginia Renaissance Faire Spotsylvania VA

June 8 Flutterby Fairy Festival Winchester VA

June 22 West Virjeni’s Summer Solstice Shepherdstown WV

June 29 Shepherdstown Streetfest

July 5-7 OTMST Summer Show Shepherdstown WV

July 20 River House Artisan Market Capon Bridge WV

July 26 Fae of Wrong Charm City Meadworks, Baltimore

August 17-18 Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival

August 24-25 Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival

September 14 VA Witch & Pagan Pride Fredericksburg VA

September 21 Westvirjeni’s 2nd Annual Fall Festival

September 22 Sacred Roots Autumn Equinox Herbal Harvest Fest

September 27-29 Mountain Heritage Arts and Crafts Festival

October 5-6 Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival

October 12-13 Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival

October 18-20 Ravenwood

Oct 25-27 Ravenwood

November 2-3 Delaware Renaissance Festival Townsend DE

November 9-10 Over the Mountain Studio Tour

November 16 Fairiefolk Festival & Fairy Scary Ball Baltimore MD

November 29-30- Dec. 1st Shepherdstown Holiday Marketplace

December 7-8 Merry Makers Market Martinsburg WV

December 14-15 Merry Maker’s Market Martinsburg

December 21-22 Shepherdstown Holiday Marketplace

It is December 29th 2023. We are in the last few days of the year when things feel dreamlike and a bit unclear. I found a few descriptions of this time before the new year as Liminal Space and realized how much I live in that space as an artist.

lim·i·nal

/ˈlimənəl/

adjective

TECHNICAL

1. occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.
2. relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.

As I plan for my year ahead, lining up which shows and festivals I will create pieces for, I visualize a body of work.

It is a moment of decision and trepidation. I build and design out of wisps of thought and idea. Cloudlike ephemeral designs, some far grander in scope than I’ve created before. I juggle shards of humor and deep mournful stories, pulling a thread, attempting to discard a ridiculous idea only to have it flutter up beating its wings insistently against my cheek. All of this occurs at the edges of my consciousness.

I’m still bidding the last year farewell, still tucking away the lessons I’ve learned and a new one is tap tapping at my front windows, whispering loudly enough that I can’t ignore it but indistinct enough that I can’t quite focus on what it is offering.

For the past 10 years I have had the pleasure of being a tour member on Over the Mountain Studio Tour. It is in it’s 34th year and is the oldest studio tour in WV.

As we head into our tour weekend I find myself thinking about why belonging to this varied and changing group of artists matters.

As artists we tend to spend much of our time in a solitary space. To be in the process of designing, fabricating, refining our work it is necessary to focus inward. And then we open our doors, or lay our wares in front of our audience. To belong to a group of artisans is for me a middle space. Being among other artists is a place where the vulnerability of making craft can be understood. To be among others who have a daily or weekly, a regular practice of creating artwork, who can offer encouragement, suggestion or gentle critique from a place of understanding is a powerful thing.

I have the job each year of promoting the tour’s artists on our Facebook page and writing press releases. It allows me a deep dive into each artist’s new works, to pull our community into thinking about art if just for a moment. It allows me to stop and appreciate the process and progress of a very diverse group’s works. And to marvel at each individual’s skill and elegance of design, their sense of humor their thoughtfulness and their ingenuity.

And it allows me to reflect that back into my work with a renewed sense of purpose.

I hope you will join us this year for our tour.

The stories of plants are endlessly compelling. Plants are survivors, innovators, collaborators. Plants are healers, killers, food, medicine, intoxicant and murderer. All the best of human stories center around the natural world. The allegories that explain our existence often utilize the elemental properties of plants. I have been working on a series of metal-smithed, hand-fabricated brooches and crowns, necklaces and earrings that focus on the most infamous and lovely of plants, fungi and flowers.

This schedule will shift in the next few months as I plan my year. I look forward to an exciting schedule of markets and festivals in 2023

1/28/2023 World Oddities Expo Pittsburgh

2/17-19/2023 Mythicon Gettysburg

3/04/2023 World Oddities Expo Richmond

4/14-16/2023 Ocean Renaissance Ocean City MD

4/22-23/2023 Festival of Legends Apex NC

5/6-7/2023 May Day Faerie Festival Rocky Point, MD

5/20-21/2023…. Bringing in the May Berkeley Springs WV

6/17/2023 Under The Sea in WV Charles Town WV

7/08/2023 MythMusica Parkton MD

7/21-23/2023 Over the Mountain Studio Tour Summer Show

7/29/2023 Wedding Expo, Pendleton Hall, Charles Town WV

8/19-20/2023 PA Renaissance Festival

8/26-27/2023 PA Renaissance Festival

9/2-3/2023 PA Renaissance Festival

10/7/2023 457th Annual Fredericksburg Troll Market

10/21/2023 Monongahela Witch Fest

10/28/2023 The River House Artisans Market

11/11-12/2023 34th Annual Over the Mountain Studio Tour

11/24-26/2023 Shepherdstown Holiday Marketplace, Entler Hotel

12/2-3/2023 Winterfest Art Market, Charles Town WV

12/9-10/2023 Shepherdstown Holiday Marketplace, Entler Hotel

12/16-17/2023 Shepherdstown Holiday Marketplace

2024 Shows So Far!

Mythicon: Feb 16-18 2024 Gettysburg PA

Ocean Renaissance 2024 April 12-14, 2024