Janna Hurtzig’s Astrosatchel bags were already selling well in Vancouver stores when founders of Shiny Fuzzy Muddy invited her to display her bright vinyl creations at their second show.
“I liked the fact that it was all women artists putting together a show,” said Hurtzig, who now helps organize the event. “I liked that the Shiny Fuzzy Muddy show was based around Main Street… We all lived in and around Main Street so it was just kind of cool to be involved with something that was so local, it wasn’t just Vancouver, it was doing something right in the ’hood.”
Hurtzig never expected the small, non-profit, curated show to be running 10 years on. This year’s event takes place Dec. 14 and 15 at Heritage Hall.
“We’re not event planners. We really do it for the love and I think that’s why everybody loves the show because we’re not about taking for ourselves as the organizers,” she said. “I feel like the customers sense it. I love that we don’t charge people to get into the show. I just think that’s the best possible thing.”
Mixed-media artist Arleigh Wood started Shiny Fuzzy Muddy with jewelry designer Kari Woo (shiny), textile artist Frances Dickinson, who was just starting Frances Felt (fuzzy), and ceramics artist Laura McKibbon (muddy) in 2003.
“We were all a group of artists starting out, just starting our businesses, and we had a common goal of thinking we could put together a show and pool our mailing lists and just put something together that was independent,” Wood said.
The first Shiny Fuzzy Muddy show happened at the Artech artist live/work building just off Main Street, where Dickinson lived.
“It was just a way to have a venue that was artist-run with mixed media, mixing arts, design and craft together,” Wood said.
The four founders have since popped out five children and two have left Vancouver.
But the show carries on, partly because planning it has become easier with practice and particularly since they secured a spot at the prominent Heritage Hall at Main and East 15th.
The 2003 Shiny Fuzzy Muddy featured six artists. This weekend’s show features 27.
New vendors include Sabrina Butterfly Designs’ women’s clothing from Edmonton, A Trace of Grey Designs’ leather handbags and accessories and Dear Pony handmade eco design clothing from Nelson.
Hurtzig looks forward to checking out zed handmade’s chunky knit wool accessories and ceramics by MIKIND.
“I love their aesthetic. It has a very Wes Anderson feel to me,” she said. “I bought one of their plates last year and I look at it every day.”
She and Wood are also fans of Cathy Terepocki ceramics.
“She does layering of different images,” Wood said. “They’re contemporary and kind of folky at the same time.”
Wood has been focusing on layering photos of Westcoast landscapes with beeswax and “painterly” graphics.
Hurtzig will sell her Astrosatchel bags and her newer Winterluxe 100-per cent recycled cashmere accessories.
“The Astrosatchel bags just don’t wear out fast enough and so people need to support me again with stuff that they lose, like mittens that tend to go astray,” she said.
Hurtzig has shown her work off at numerous craft shows this season but Shiny Fuzzy Muddy is her favourite.
“Customers I’ve known for years come to the show,” she said. “You don’t feel like you’re working, you feel like you’re hanging out with friends who give you money and take away the things that you’ve worked really hard to make.”
Shiny Fuzzy Muddy runs 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 14 and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at 3102 Main St. For more information, see ShinyFuzzyMuddy.com.
