My name is Arpan Shrestha and I have been living in Cleveland, Ohio for almost 10 years after I moved from Nepal. I owned a handicraft business back home. I had been introduced to handicraft products since I was a kid. My uncle owned a couple of stores that sold handmade souvenirs to tourists. I used to help him manage his store during winter vacations. The craftsmanship and the intricacy of the handcrafted products always fascinate me. That’s what inspired me to open my own handmade souvenir store shortly after I graduated high school. I ran a handicraft business for 11 years.
contracting job for few years. However, I was never content with 9 to 5 job as I
always yearned to follow my passion, to open my own handicraft store.
I started an online business in Amazon in 2017 where I sold toys, party supplies
and products in other categories but I still had this feeling inside that I could do
much more.
While visiting Kathmandu, Nepal this summer, I came across handmade glass bead products that are passionately crafted by skilled women artisans within and outside of the Kathmandu valley. I found that these products were beautifully made and were crocheted in different colors and patterns. The variations in colors, design and craft skills that have been put into these items really intrigued me. This is when I decided to work with the organization in Kathmandu who trains and employs these artisans that empower them to become independent. To commemorate these skilled artisans and to promote their products NepaliArtisans.com was born.
Meet Katie Ferren of Wreath Maker...
My name is Katie Ferren and I am a creative wreath maker! I live in Findlay, OH with my husband, daughter, and two dogs. I am a band director and in my free time I love to create beautiful wreaths to share with others to admire on their doors, mantels, etc. I have been doing this actively for the past year now and it is so fun to do!
I see myself continuing to create beautiful wreaths and passing my gift to my daughter and hopefully in the future her new sister or brother. I see myself dedicating my proceeds from the business to advocating for infertility coverage and supporting others that struggle with infertility. The message behind my work is Miracle Wreaths in the Making - there are miracles in everything that we make.
Meet Heidemarie Chernushin from HighD.com Communications...
I'm Heidemarie and I live in North Royalton. Have two adult sons, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. I've worked for AAA for more than 30 years and looking forward to retirement in a few years. I began doing shows about 5 years ago, but have been hiatus for the last two years helping to take care of my Mom.
Meet Lindsay Rheaume...
I'm Lindsay and I moved to Chardon Ohio from Syracuse New York (it’s a 4-5 hour drive from NYC) with my now husband because he got a job in his career field. I enjoy knitting, hiking, antiquing, and glass blowing. My husband is into blacksmithing!
Meet Jean Wendland Porter from JWP Art...
I'm a Physical Therapist by vocation, an artist by avocation. I'm untrained, and I'm learning as I go. Sometimes the left brain needs a break, so I paint. I've been drawing and painting all my life, but only involved in shows for the past 10 years.
This will be my first Avant-Garde Art and Craft Show and I am super excited to show everyone my artwork.
As I've gotten older I've gotten more involved in my community and have decided to see the world. I paint from my love of Cleveland, and my travels. I work on projects when inspired. But I have too much inventory and want to keep creating, but I need more room! I started drawing as a very young child.
At around 9 years old I had an art teacher who pushed me to start displaying my work, and had me paint a mural in my Elementary school.
When I'm sad I use a lot of black paint. This is totally subconscious; it just turns out that way. When I'm happy my paintings are full of sunshine.
I hope to retire from my job in 2-3 years. I intend to focus exclusively on travel and painting once I have more time to devote to it.
My message is just expressing myself. When I see something that inspires me, whether it's in my neighborhood or across the world, I want to put it on canvas. I also think everyone should do what they love, no matter how many people tell you it's crazy.
Meet Carly Nicholson of The NINE 5 Gallery...
The Nine 5 Gallery was started about 6 years ago. I own it with my father and my husband Pat and I run the gallery. My husband Pat is our main designer and project manager. My brother-in-law Dan is our main fabricator. The Nine 5 Gallery is made up a collection of welder/fabricators and between all of our fabricators we have about 70 years welding experience. We have a showroom featuring our home décor, furniture and art located in the RAMP level at 78th Street Studios in Cleveland, Ohio.
We have been doing this for around 6-7 years. This will also be our first Avant-Garde Art and Craft Show, which we are super nervous but excited for!
We don't necessarily consider ourselves "artists" so it's been incredibly fun delving and growing in this world. We are welder/fabricators by trade, and have translated that skill set into creating functional art pieces/furniture/staircases/
The reason we got into this business is because we were hired to do a few large scale fabrication projects for the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Downtown Cleveland. We made the "MOCA" sign that is outside the Museum of Contemporary Art. Our very first "art" project was acoustic panels inside the Gartner Auditorium in the Cleveland Museum of Art. We also designed, fabricated and installed the benches located inside the main atrium. Other projects include Destination Cleveland Visitor Center interior, Marble Room Steakhouse located in downtown Cleveland, Arhaus San Diego, and other public and private projects. One of our very favorite projects to date was working with NY based artists Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster on fabricating and installing their design, "Dialogue" which was a public art installation installed at the Eastman Reading Garden at the Main Cleveland Public Library. It was a circle of interlaced sound tubes. There are some really cool photos of it on our website!
After being involved in the museum projects, we realized our welder/fabricator skill sets could be translated into "art". I think the art/craft scene has really evolved and has allowed so many creative people the confidence and ability to follow through with creating, displaying and selling their crafts and we realized this is something we could achieve too! As I said, we don't consider ourselves artists so it has been so fun seeing the response our work gets!
A mixture of customer's ideas and our own thoughts and ideas on design. Our process is very client driven. We have an introductory meeting with our client to gather information on their project, likes/dislikes, and we provide the expertise to translate ideas into finished products. In five years we hope to continue and grow as all businesses do. We would like to continue our architectural and art growth along Northeast Ohio as well as nationally. We love taking our customer’s vision to produce beautiful and unique pieces. We really enjoy what we do and hope that shows through in our art!
2019 Medina Summer Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
