By Mark Baratelli
Below are photos of what I bought at Big Bang Bazaar, an indoor craft fair. It ook place on March 23, 2013, 11am-6pm, at the Maitland Civic Center. Admission was five bucks. It was thrilling to be in a space with so many creative people. I had a blast.
This has to be the oddest thing I've ever bought. It's a green wooden plaque holding a back-lit letter O and sporting a deer sticker. I shared on instagram the day after I bought it that I was having buyers remorse, but that's gone now. It's a weird object. I like it. And it lights up. Now everything else on my wall seems boring. Maybe I'll just buy light-up art for my walls now.
What appealed to be about this was the craftsmanship. I have no idea if it was easy to make or not. But to me, it looks like it took some skill. And again, a snail on a mushroom? So weird. I had to have it.
These are 8x10 unframed prints. What I dislike about buying unframed art is that I never remember to go buy a frame, the art sits in some folder for years and never makes it to my wall. Someone drive me to IKEA.
I greatly dislike this phrase. Don't tell me how to live my life. Shut up. But the font, the bones, and the fact that the two guys selling it were from out of town made me want it.
So weird. I had to buy them as soon as I saw them... and their low price. I could have bought one. But to me, they were a set. Once i got them home, I realized I didn't have a place to display them. How do you even display them? I don't want people to think I think they're toys. I want to present them as art. Maybe a shadowbox. Someone drive me to IKEA.
This was a buck. It was the only button in the selection that was not a reference to a video game or Star Wars. I won't wear it. I just like knowing I own it. Am I a horder?
I've seen cuter cards, but these appealed to me anyway. The one with the buttons reminds me of the dead birds that eat plastic.
And behind it all are people. Brands. Businesses. Independence maybe? Talking to the makers was the most fun of all. Asking them where they were from. If the day was going well for them. If they do custom orders.
