TAMPA — Presented by American Craft Endeavors, the Tampa Craft Festival on Water Street will be presented on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 601 Water St., Tampa.
An explosion of creativity takes over Cotanchobee Fort Brooke Park in downtown Tampa in this premiere event. Featuring handmade artworks, craft artistry and a green market, visitors will enjoy a beautiful stroll in this serene oasis surrounded by captivating creations.
This scenic waterfront park offers a lovely green space situated along Garrison Channel, directly between the Tampa Bay History Center and the Hillsborough River. Cotanchobee Fort Brooke Park serves as an oasis of serenity in downtown Tampa area.
Among those scheduled to take part in the inaugural Tampa Craft Festival on Water Street is Todd Casey.
Casey is a Tampa-based craft artisan who was working full-time in home remodeling and carpentry when a friend asked him to make a cutting board. Using beautiful mixed wood blocks, he created his first in what would become hundreds of unique boards and functional works of art. Designing under the Mr. Square Designs, Casey’s creations go beyond “checker-board” to optical illusions and intricate artistic abstracts using contrasting woods, varnish and oils.
First time craft exhibitor Eyca Moticska was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She moved to Merritt Island in 1997 and started as an apprentice to noted pottery artist Greg Wooten in 2023. Her skill quickly developed and Moticska opened her own business in 2006. Starting in 2010, Moticska joined Harry Guthrie Phillips in their own pottery and sculpture studio gallery, and, with his influence, she began incorporating sea life forms into her pieces. Now, her work begins with an initial drawing before she uses her wheel-thrown clay and several rounds of glazing and firing. Despite the incorporation of glass and other materials, every one of her pieces are fully functional and oven, microwave and dishwasher safe.
Fine art photographer Neal Nachman is one half of the award-winning husband-and-wife team behind Artistic Creationz. They have been photographing in the Tampa Bay area since 1998. Nachman will be taking part in the festival.
Nachman has 35 years of professional photography and specializes in capturing avian and other wildlife, as well as noted celebrities and music icons.
Tampa craft artist Lori “Lolo” Kilczewski grew up in Chicago before relocating with her family to Tampa. Her “Peaceful Stitch” line of hand-made bags and baskets use premium, recycled braided cords that give a fun “twist” to the traditional yarn. Lolo started crocheting in 2022 while caring for her mom who was having health issues. Her crochet work became a type of meditation. The self-taught weaver spent hours watching videos to perfect her process. Festivalgoers can find her creations at the event.
Jill Allen, owner of Tide’s Porch, creates handcrafted, custom sea glass art and décor made from treasures the tide left behind. Every piece of sea glass has a past. It started with something ordinary, a bottle, a jar, a piece of colored glass, and spent years being shaped by waves, salt, and sand until the ocean handed it back as something extraordinary.
“Growing up on these shores, I’ve always found a deep sense of peace in the quiet moments before dawn on the beach,” Allen says on her website. “Tide’s Porch is my way of sharing that serenity with you. Every shard of sea glass and weathered piece of driftwood has a journey — I see it as my job to give it a home where that journey can be celebrated.”
Also taking part in the inaugural festival will be Aryanna Fox. Fox is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist whose work exists at the intersection of dreams, memory, and the unseen. Working across mirrored surfaces, hand cut forms, layered resin, ink, pigments, and sculptural forms, she creates immersive works that feel less like representations and more like fragments carried back from another realm.
“I don’t create imaginary worlds,” Fox says on her website. “I bring fragments of them back with me so their energy can exist here.”
About American Craft Endeavors
American Craft Endeavors produces some of the nation’s most exciting high-end juried craft shows in many of Florida’s vibrant downtown areas and popular tourist destinations including the Downtown Stuart Craft Festivals and the Downtown Venice Craft shows. All crafters are hand-selected from hundreds of applicants to ensure a superior event featuring diverse art media and the highest quality of original handmade crafts.
For additional information on the Tampa Craft Festival on Water Street and other shows, visit www.artfestival.com or call 561-746-6615.