Brooklyn’s artistic talent will sell handmade ceramics, jewelry, photography, ornaments, crochetware, candles & art. Admission to the fair is free.

NYCreates will hold its 11th Holiday Craft Fair December 6-7, 2014, in the landmark Brooklyn Historical Society’s Great Hall. Of the 40 artisans, fine artists and photographers from all boroughs, 17 hail from Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Gowanus, Park Slope, Bay Ridge, Brighton Beach, Bath Beach and Carroll Gardens as well as Greenwood Heights, South Slope, Red Hook, Dyker Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant and Sheepshead Bay. NYCreates is a non-profit organization [501c3], committed to expand opportunities, visibility and marketability of NYC’s crafts artists and artisans.

Among these artisans and artists, the largest number specialize in handcrafted ceramics that reflect a remarkable range of creativity in ornaments and table jewelry to handsome mugs, teapots–even napkin rings and salt cellars. The borough also boasts a jeweler, candle maker and crochet expert as well as a photographer and fine artists who will exhibit and sell their best work in time for the holidays.

Judith Eloise Hooper, http://juditheloisehooper.wordpress.com/, describes herself as "an artist who just likes making things." She is also NYCreates executive director. She attended Pratt Institute in fashion design and has been a fashion and children’s book illustrator. Most recently she has designed tabletop collections and ceramic landscapes in her Park Slope studio.

Urban landscape artist Alicia Degener, www.aliciadegener.com, hails from Detroit but now works and lives in Bay Ridge. Brooklyn, a visual feast, is the subject of most of her watercolors, pastels, acrylics and drawings. Degener, who co-manages the Holiday Fair with Hooper, studied art at Parsons School of Design, the University of Michigan and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Alyssa Ettinger, whose studio is in the Old American Can Factory in Gowanus, threw her first pot at summer camp when she was 14. Before becoming a ceramist she pursued a career in magazine publishing specializing in home design. She works exclusively in porcelain a medium she describes as "difficult and unforgiving," www.alyssaettinger.com.     

On her website, www.falconfeather.net, jeweler Bilyana Tosic Petino writes that her jewelry is made primarily with sterling silver, soft leather cords, and semiprecious stones. Her pieces adapt to the natural contours of a woman’s body. "Jewelry should not call attention to itself or overshadow the wearer," she says” Her studio is in Brighton Beach.

Illustrator Nancy Doniger, collaborating with her husband, sculptor Eric Jacobson, will sell ornaments from their Bird collection. Jacobsen creates the birds from metal and Doniger paints them. On her website, www.donigerillustration.com, Doniger describes her style as "bold with a quirky edge." His studio is in Red Hook and hers in South Slope.

Artist Janie Samuels, born in Canandaigua, N.Y., received her BA from Bennington College, and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, N.Y. Her work has appeared in four solo and 70 group exhibitions in the US and in Southern France where she studied and worked. She has designed and built sets and co-produced plays written by her husband, Evan Gubernick and assisted Nancy Graves and Chuck Close for almost 15 years, between the two. On her website, http://www.janiesamuels.com, she describes her work as “being simultaneously political and personal, universal and intimate." Her studio is in Greenwood Heights.

Photographer Peter Houts, http://www.peterhouts.zenfolio.com, chose the subject of his work because of his love of birds which came from living on a Pennsylvania farm for 40 years. After moving to Carroll Gardens four years ago, he joined the New York City Audubon Photography Club and met Johann Schumacher who used slow shutter speeds to create beautiful abstract patterns of flying birds. From him, he learned how to create the photographs he will sell at the craft fair.

Ceramic artist Frank Saliani, http://20thavenuestudios.com, Bensonhurst, explores the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.His hand-thrown pieces are made on a potter’s wheel. He studied ceramics at Syracuse University; received an M.F.A. from Ohio University and completed residencies at the Carbondale Clay Center, the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Millersville University, and the Red Lodge Clay Center.      

Gloria Lanza-Bajo, Lanza-Bajo Designs, Cobble Hill, designs scarves, jackets and shawls for women in silk satin, charmeuse, crepe de chine and georgette/chiffon and wool/crepe scarves and ties for men. She is on the national board of Silk Painters International.

Other Brooklyn-based exhibitors include Cobble Hill Candles by Thomas Mancuso, http://www.cobblehillcandles.com; Christie Spadaro, My Mommy is a Painter, custom/personalized painted items Dyker Heights, http://on.fb.me/112UMYw; Danielle Papaleo, The Scarlett Bowtique, Dyker Heights, https://www.facebook.com/TheScarlettBowtique; Lynn Goodman, potter, Gowanus; Grace Derrick, Ditmas Park-based fashion designer; Cathy Mancuso, Chrochetina, Bay Ridge, https://www.etsy.com/shop/crochetfina; www.facebook.com/crochetfina; Natisha Armour, hatmaker, Bedford Stuyvesant & Robert Bassal, jeweler, Ditmas Park

Information: Visit http://newyorkcreates.wordpress.com/

Where:Brooklyn Historical Society's Great Hall, 128 Pierrepont Street @ Clinton, a block from the 2,3,4,5 and R subway of the Court Street stop on Montague St.

Hours: Saturday December 6, 12 pm - 6 pm; Sunday December 7 11 am-5 pm

Tickets: FREE

Sponsors: New York Foundation for the Arts and Brooklyn Historical Society