Arts and Crafts

A few weeks ago we went to the artisan show at Guardiagrele. Of course, the word artisan makes it sound like a craft show. Believe me, it was anything but.

Thinking back to the craft shows I went to in the states, they were chock-full of knitted works, simple wood crafts made with pattern cut-outs, some baked goods, and the occasional items made out of junk (wind-chimes made out of flattened bottles, etc.)

I’m not trying to insult anyone who does craftwork, but there simply is no comparison here. This is art, no doubt about it. We’re talking ceramics, paintings, woodwork, instruments, metalworking and even jewelry.

Here’s a picture of a wooden sculpture I thought was interesting. No pattern used here….

And some handmade instruments (anybody looking for a lute?)

Here’s a handmade wrought-iron bed. It was hard to get a good picture of it since it was in the hallway, but you can still see the work that went into it.