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Students, faculty and staff gathered in the Nebraskan Student Union atrium last week for the 27th annual craft show. Booths were set up offering a variety of handmade items for sale such as acrylic coasters, crocheted items, holiday favors, glassblowing, food and more.
This event was started back in 1997 by Lonna Weiss, administrative assistant for the dean of Student Affairs.
“I’m a crafter myself,” Weiss said. “So, I got the idea that it would be nice for students, faculty and staff, if they do hobbies and so forth, that they would be able to showcase those and sell them to the UNK community.”
The craft show is also an opportunity for art students to showcase their creations in a space outside of the Fine Arts Building with more traffic.
These creations featured at the craft show are testaments to the crafters’ passions as items can take anywhere from minutes to days to complete.
Graduate student Taylor Moore gave an insight as to how long his pieces take.
“Usually, it’ll be between an hour and two hours to make some of the bigger stuff, but there’s a lot of prep work and cooling as well,” Moore said. “The ornaments we can make pretty quick, about five to 10 minutes depending on the colors. The candy cane is a longer process where we actually make a big massive glass then pull and twist it about 30 feet long and cut them up.”
Eight to 10 vendors participate at the craft show due to space. COVID-19 also restricted numbers in previous years.
Most crafters participate simply to showcase their talents and participate in an afternoon of community, while some use this as an opportunity to aid with schooling.
“I’m working through my Ph.D. right now, so this helps me support that with books, fees, and tuition,” said Erin Pearson, associate director of admissions. “I just tried ornaments this year, so that’s my new adventure and that’s been fun.”
Weiss hopes to introduce a spring craft show to allow for an additional opportunity for students, faculty and staff to shine in the heart of campus.
“I think it has become an annual tradition, and I hope it continues far beyond my lifetime here at UNK,” Weiss said.
