Bruce Garrabrandt of Lancaster County is surrounded by his colored pencil drawings at the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen’s 73rd annual Holiday Fine Art & Craft Festival at Kutztown University. (SPECIAL TO THE READING EAGLE – SUSAN L. ANGSTADT)
Janet Fasnacht’s fingers fluttered furiously, moving so quickly it was hard to even tell what they were doing.
She worked with the speed of a master, of someone whose movements seemed to happen almost subconsciously. And in many ways they did.
That’s what more than two decades of practice will do.
The Lancaster County woman showed off her well-honed skills Saturday morning seated at a spindle spinning wool. The objects she created with that wool — hats and gloves and scarves — received a lot of attention during the opening day of the 73rd annual Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen’s Holiday Fine Art & Craft Festival.
But not as much attention as Gus got.
Gus, sitting a few feet away from Fasnacht on a stool, was a 2-year-old English angora rabbit. He was the source of the wool that she spun, and the undeniable highlight of her stand.
Guests of the festival couldn’t help but stop by and stroke Gus’ luxurious fur. Fasnacht seemed to understand. After all, her whole family has a soft spot for angoras.
“We have about 20 rabbits now that have their own cages in a climate-controlled barn,” her daughter, Miranda Fasnacht, said. “They all have their own personality and are part of our family.”
Janet Fasnacht, who owns and operates Janet’s Handspinning, was one of 65 artists invited to take part in the festival, which continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the O’Pake Fieldhouse at Kutztown University.
The festival is juried, which means the exhibiting artists had to be found worthy of entry by presenting their work to a panel of judges from the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen.
Proceeds from the event, held in partnership with the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center and Kutztown University, benefit the educational programs of the local guild.
It’s a great opportunity for local craftsmen and artists to show off their skills.
The Fasnachts didn’t set out to be artists. Miranda Fasnacht said the family began showing angora rabbits more than 20 years ago and quickly realized they could put the wool they groomed from the animals to good use. That’s when Janet Fasnacht taught herself how to use a spindle.
Most angoras naturally shed their coat. The Fasnachts use a commercial dog blower to blow the coat out and then hand harvest the wool, pulling the loose fiber from the rabbit.
Janet Fasnacht said she kind of fell into selling her pieces after she entered a scarf into a local fair and a woman approached her about buying it.
“Everything kind of snowballed from there,” Janet Fasnacht said.
All sorts of artists
The festival included all sorts of artists, from ones making clothing to ones crafting pottery to ones carving wood.
Bruce Garrabrandt sat surrounded by his artwork at a booth not far from Fasnacht. His pencil drawings shed a light on humorous situations and feature playful puns.
One of his pieces, “Grilled Chicken,” depicts a chicken being interrogated by two police officers. “Sausage Links” shows three pigs on a golf course. In a series of Mr. Potato Head drawings, the character finds himself inside his worst nightmare — a bucket of French fries — or on an unfortunate road trip to Idaho.
“I used to be a serious artist, but I got over that,” Garrabrandt said. “This is a lot more fun and you don’t see a lot of humor in art, so I create random acts of artistic nonsense.”
He said he knows he’s onto something good when his wife rolls her eyes.
“She rolls her eyes so much that people think it’s a medical condition,” he said with a smile.
At another booth, Cheryl Bower showcased her flameworked glass creations.
The Lycoming County artist uses a glassblowing technique to make jewelry, figurines and ornaments. She has been honing her craft for the last 15 years, first learning the trade by taking classes at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York state.
“No piece is like the other,” she said. “It takes a lot of time to make just one piece, but it can be a lot of fun seeing how it turns out.”
Worth the trip
Pat Egleston and Shana Heimer traveled to the festival from Clinton County specifically to see one of the featured artists.
The friends had come across Metal Illusions at a previous show and fell in love with the fanciful lawn sculptures created entirely out of repurposed flatware, metal and steel. So when they saw the artisans were making an appearance in Kutztown, they decided to take a road trip.
“We started our Christmas shopping early,” Egleston said, holding up a large flower made out of twisted spoons and forks.
“Yeah, but you also got something for yourself,” Heimer added with a smile.
“Well, I had to get this praying mantis because it was just too cute,” Egleston said as she displayed the bright green metal bug with dinner knives for wings. “I know I should be shopping for other people, but this one is mine.”
Butcher and Beth Martofel are the artists behind Metal Illusions. The Lancaster County couple have taken part in the festival for more than a decade and look forward to putting their artwork on display at the event.
“The people are what keeps us coming back,” Butcher Martofel said.
The couple creates the brightly-colored pieces together. They make flowers, butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, frogs and much more for those who want to add a touch of unique artwork to their flowerbeds. But they also have some holiday inspired pieces like nativity scenes, poinsettias, Christmas trees and snowflakes.
“I can make something out of anything,” he said with a chuckle. “I realized one day that I could take something like a fork and figure out a way to twist it into something that looked like a bug. And people seem to like it.”
Visiting the festival has become a holiday tradition for Gretchen Wawrzyniak. The Womelsdorf woman said the event is the official start of the holiday shopping season and that she is guaranteed to see something new that catches her eye every year.
“I love the festival because everything is completely handmade,” she said. “You can see that all of these artists put a lot of time and effort into what they create. And they are really proud of their work.”
Wawrzyniak said she strolls from one booth to the next, stopping to check out the craftsmanship that went into making the pieces on display and often gets the chance to talk to the artists about how they create their masterpieces.
