Rita Seif Featured in St. Louis At Home Magazine

Stocking the shelves on the retail side of Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design (6640 Delmar, 314-725-1177, craftalliance.org) isn’t hard for Angie Villa, its manager and buyer. Many of the products find her. Take ceramist Rita Seif. “She came through the door one day and told us about these pieces, and we have been in love with them since,” Villa says. “Most of our local artists come to us.”

Depending on the season, the merchandise sold is anywhere from 30 – 40 percent locally made. Proceeds from the sales fund Craft Alliance’s exhibits, classes, and artists-in-residence. The prod­ucts cover all craft media: clay, glass, metal, fiber, and wood. Jewelry is the shop’s top seller.

“The items in the shop tend to do best when they are grouped together in a collection,” Villa says. “Basi­cally, we are looking for some things that are interesting, well-made, and kind of fun.”  Some shoppers stroll in looking for a specific local artist. “The artists’ com­munity is so tightknit,” Villa says. “The people who are in here have some sort of tie-in with Craft Alliance or St. Louis people who have gone to school here, people who grew up here, people whose families live here.”

Hanging on the wall are framed artworks created freehand with a sewing machine by Kelsey Viola Wiskirchen, a former Craft Alliance artist-in-residence and a current teacher there.  Other artists, including Augusta, Mo.-based glass blower Sam Stang, are widely recognized. Yet another local talent, Yael Shomroni, started out taking classes at Craft Alliance; now she sells her pottery there. “She usually works with this cobalt-blue glaze, her signature,” Villa says. ‘And they are all totally func­tional, which is amazing.  “We love to have things people can use and enjoy in their daily life.”

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