By Brian Hendershot

Join us this Thanksgiving weekend for a uniquely Sacramento experience: The Crocker Holiday Artisan Market, located at the the Scottish Rite center on H, starting November 29 at noon. The three-day art bazaar features more than 100 regional artists, dozens of performances, and a trove of culinary delights by Ambrosia Café. Attendees can also take part in a treasure hunt — complete with dozens of prizes donated by local artists — get their faces painted, and pose for photos with Santa! Each of the participating artists will be available to greet visitors, answer questions, and share details of their artistic journeys and processes.

Proceeds from the market are split between the artists, the Crocker, and event partner Creative Arts League, Sacramento (CALS). The latter offers a variety of essential community programs, including arts outreach to Mustard Seed School and low-cost art tours throughout the region. Follow the Crocker Holiday Artisan Market on Facebook or Instagram for more information.

Featured Artists

Steve Bethel (MeNTAL CREATIONS)

For Steve, his art — or creatures as he calls them — is about making people smile, something that he finds lacking in the world. Each creature is made from everyday household items. Kitchen creatures are made using beaters, spoons, forks, knives, whisks, spatulas and bowls; Garden creatures are made from shovels, rakes, clippers and claws. According to Steve, each one is as unique the person who “adopts” them.

Jay Gordin (Jay Bear Knives)

You might not think of knives as a work of art. Jay Gordin might change your mind. Jay uses 5160 steel in his Damascus blades — a forging method that produces distinctive patterns of banding and mottling, similar to flowing water. His goal is to “create a cutting tool that is as artful as it is functional. The knife has to feel good in your hand ... ergonomics and balance are important. It has to please the owner in shape, form, fit, and finish.”

Jocelyn Hastings (Jocelyn’s Specialty Soaps)

Jocelyn Hastings and Audrey Hastings (Jocelyn’s Specialty Soaps)

The mother and daughter duo create desert-themed and architecturally inspired soaps using the highest quality ingredients and vintage soap molds. The soft, pastel-colored soaps are also inspired in part by Jocelyn’s everyday life and nature.

Sten Hoiland (Sten Wire)

Sten was initially drawn to wire as a medium by Alexander Calder, an American sculptor best known for his mobiles, a type of free-moving type of sculptures. Sten’s recent sculptures are energetic and whimsical, inspired in part by his love of the outdoors and his degree in Natural Resources.

Karen Sanders-Bett and Hannah Howerton (Little Lemon Production House)

The mother and daughter duo have one goal: Empower those who feel different and make “weird” a good thing. The two women use stylized, eye-catching illustrations to create positive pop art that “celebrates stand-out” choices. The two will be selling signed children’s books, t-shirts, calendars, pillows, and plush character.

Karen Sanders-Betts and Hannah Howerton (Little Lemon Production House)

Marirose Jelicich (Marirose Chic Treads)

After many years working with metals and gems, Marirose wanted to work with something new. She settled on a material not typically associated with fashion: recycled rubber. The finished products, which she defines as “Coco Chanel meets Punk Art” are surprisingly comfortable, lightweight, and strikingly chic.

Steve Johnson (Patent Depending)

Steve is a former urban planner and future trends analyst, and a cartoonist. Despite predicting products like Google Glass or trends like pre-torn clothing, Steve has yet to take a patent out on any of his predictions. Instead, he’s content to create cartoons because they “allow [him] to be mischievous”. Much of his work is made during long trips or “boring commutes”. According to Steve, he is “unaware of any California law forbidding drawing while driving”.

Starla Ledbetter (Roo Ranch Goat’s Milk Soaps)

Starla crafts handmade soaps and lotions from her herd of LaMancha dairy goats. Five percent of all sales go to organizations like Heifer International, a global nonprofit dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger.

Steve Johnson (Patent Depending)

David and Teresa Levy (Hardwood Creations)

The Levys grew up in the pine forests of Southern New Mexico, working summers in a logging camp. The experience had a significant choice on their artistic medium of choice: wood. The pair take great care to select and create a product that is functional, artistic, and can withstand the changing climate. Their work is meant to “be seen, touched and enjoyed in everyday life”.

Sergio Martinez (Sergio Martinez Fine Textiles)

Sergio comes from a long line of Teotitlán del Valle weavers, a small village nestled in the Sierra Juárez mountains. Sergio draws from his own cultural legacy, as well as indigenous traditions from around the world to create one-of-a-kind, hand-woven rugs from churro wool, plus natural and Swiss aniline dyes.

Kirk McCarthy (Kirk McCarthy Designs)

Kirk uses niobium, recycled titanium, and electrolysis to create funky, colorful clocks and jewelry. Much of his work has a playful, intriguing design, influenced in part by his training and his own personality.

Sergio Martinez (Sergio Martinez Fine Textiles)

Bob Miller (Bob Miller Designs)

According to Bob, the first time he picked up a paint brush was to “do a landscape on the side of an old wooden peach crate he found behind his father’s barn.” Bob has come a long way since his peach crate days. He’s exhibited throughout Northern California and is the mastermind behind the Sacramento pioneer mural in the promenade connecting Old Sacramento to the K Street Mall.

Linda Sicard (Unbuttons Antique Button Jewelry)

Linda feels a certain kinship with historical objects, in part because she grew up around “odd and interesting antiques”. For the past 30 years, she has channeled that affinity into fashioning jewelry from hand-selected, antique buttons, each one ranging from 70 to 160 years old.

Top Image: Bob Miller (Bob Miller Designs)

About the Author: Brian Hendershot serves as the Crocker's primary support editor, writer, and occasional audiovisual editor. Before joining the Crocker, he was the Head of Communications at the Museum of the Red River in Oklahoma. He also sat on the McCurtain Country Historical Society's Board of Directors and previously sat on the Crocker's MASS Action Committee. He received his MA in Communications at Drury University in Missouri.