Apr 17, 20216 min read

The Hudson Valley's Getting Crafty!

Updated: Apr 21, 2021

Westchester Craft Crawl is back for its 2nd biannual outdoor artist-organized tour, this time featuring 58 regional professional craft artists across 10 stops in 4 towns along the Hudson River. Save the date for Saturday – Sunday, May 15-16, 11am – 5pm, and get ready to hop in your car with some friends to meet the makers and purchase some amazing hand-crafted art. And by the way, it’s free.

How did it begin? Westchester Craft Crawl’s founder Leigh Taylor Mickelson had been working in clay for 25 years, but had never participated in craft and art shows, but in 2020, she was slated to participate in the Fall Crafts at Lyndhurst fair for the first time. When it was cancelled, she decided to do something - not just to sell her work, but to create an opportunity to interact with other artists and craft lovers. She contacted two clay friends in her hometown of Ossining, they met at the local brewery, Sing Sing Kill Brewery, and the Westchester Craft Crawl was born. Mickelson states, “My co-organizers Alexandra FitzGerald and Loren Maron and I reached out to our contacts and all of the artists were just as eager for this kind of interaction. We pulled the event together in about 10 weeks.” Last October’s event was a huge success, with over 2000 people visiting 28 artists spread out over 8 stops in three towns. “It was a safe, outdoor, socially distant opportunity for people to come shop, visit artist studios and mingle with artists and art lovers.”

This Spring, the Westchester Craft Crawl is back and has grown, expanding up into Peekskill and featuring 58 professional artists from Westchester, New York City and the Hudson Valley region. The Crawl features 10 tour stops between Tarrytown, Ossining, Croton, Cortlandt Manor, and Peekskill with each stop hosting multiple artists working in clay, wood, fiber, metal, glass, jewelry and mixed media. Additionally, the crawl features 10 fabulous Tour Stop Sponsors offering refreshments and other craft-centered stops you won’t want to miss on your crawl.

Here’s the line up and there are no rules as to where you begin or where you end. Westchester Craft Crawlers will receive a “Passport” at their first tour stop visit. If they visit 6 or more stops, they will be eligible to win special handmade prizes, donated by participating artists. Co-organizers will collect completed passports at your final stop and will have a drawing after the event. Winners will be announced on social media and posted on their website and will be contacted directly. How fun is that?

HERE’S THE MAP

To make your tour as easy as possible, here’s a Google Tour Map. Click on this link and you will see all the tour stops and tour sponsors dotted and listed.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1VhLWbMufb5mddzOHzWwITlLDS_JPXkfF&ll=41.191445616872876%2C-73.88229580000001&z=11

TARRYTOWN, NY

Tarrytown has a lot to offer in and of itself, but for the Crawl you have one chock-full tour stop at Maker’s Central, a community of makers sharing space in the heart of the town. This is an indoor location, so they will be checking temps and counting heads at the door to make sure their artists and visitors are safe. And if there is one restaurant to go to for a quintessential local experience, it’s the Tarrytown tour stop sponsor, Horsefeathers.

TOUR STOP • Makers Central - 84 Central Ave, Tarrytown, NY

- Connor McGinn (Pottery) - Bat Flower Press (letterpress & papermaking) - Dan Sabia (Woodworking, Craft Food) - C-Los Carpentry (Furniture, Woodworking)

- Pivot Concrete (Home Goods, Candles)

- Michelle Edgemont Designs (Floral Design)

- Cape Lily (Floral Design)

TARRYTOWN TOUR STOP SPONSOR:

Horsefeathers, 94, North Broadway, Tarrytown, NY

OSSINING, NY

Crafters'Ossining is the heart of the crawl and where it all started, so there are five tour stops featuring 30 artists within a 2-mile radius. So, plan on spending a chunk of time in this quaint little town. For that reason, there are also three spot-on options for refreshments and you have to hit Melita’s before you go. Year round, Melita Home Furnishings is a great resource for fair trade gifts, furniture, tableware and jewelry, but for the crawl she is bringing in three local artists, so you’ll also see them there.

TOUR STOP • Loren Maron Studio - 26 Beach Road, Ossining, NY

- Debra Abrams (Jewelry) - Michael Alexander Jewelry (Jewelry) - Arzadesign (Leather Accessories) - Adam Chau (Functional Pottery) - Fresh Cut Glass (Glass) - Loren Maron (Functional Pottery) - Wendy Lin (Jewelry) - Sharon London (Wearable Fiber) - Paz Sintes (Textile Jewelry) - Rina S. Young (Jewelry)

TOUR STOP • Alexandra FitzGerald Studio - 6 Park Ave, Ossining, NY

- Alexandra FitzGerald (Functional Pottery) - Clay N Macrame by K (Ceramics, Macrame) - Don Reynolds (Functional Pottery)

- Sherri Tiesi (Fiber/Plush)

- Woehr.D Industries (Mixed Media, Sculpture)

TOUR STOP • Leigh Taylor Mickelson Studio - 71 Stone Ave, Ossining, NY

- Jess Palmer (Functional Pottery, Jewelry)

- Hayne Bayless (Functional Pottery)

- Leigh Taylor Mickelson (Ceramic Garden Sculpture & Pottery, Jewelry)

TOUR STOP • Aron Johnston Studio - 70 Stone Avenue, Ossining, NY

- Aditi Chang (Non-Wearable Fibers, Baskets)

- Folkloric (Jewelry)

- Aron Johnston (Mixed Media, Painting)

- Lisa Medoff (Jewelry)

- Elaine Thompson (Illustration)

TOUR STOP • Gerber & Peckay Residence - 55 Van Cortlandt Ave., Ossining, NY

- Daniel Bellow Pottery (Functional Pottery)

- Col de Mar (Leather Accessories)

- Mateo Mattia (Leather Accessories)

- Susan Pillay (Wearable Fibers, Baby Clothes) - Sattva Woodworks (Woodworking)

- Tackussanu Senegal (Textiles, Baskets)

- Su Chi (Functional Pottery)

OSSINING TOUR STOP SPONSORS:

First Village Coffee, 123 Main Street, Ossining, NY

Sing Sing Kill Brewery, 75 Spring St, Ossining, NY

Melita’s Home Furnishings, 125 Main Street, Ossining, NY

Good Choice Kitchen, 147 Main Street, Ossining

CROTON & CORTLANDT MANOR, NY

These two tour stops are nestled in woodsy residential areas of Croton and Cortlandt Manor, but don’t let that stop you from checking in. Both stops, hosted by participating artists, have incredible guest artists you won’t want to miss. And our two tour stop sponsors are in the heart of the town of Croton and are both local favorites. Treat yourself!

TOUR STOP • RCI Pottery - 233 Hessian Hills Road, Croton on Hudson, NY

- Ekologic (Wearable Fibers)

- Posh Felt (Textiles)

- RCI Pottery (Functional Pottery)

- Sondra Sardis (Wearable Fibers)

- Stonecrop Beadworks (Jewelry)

- Vintage & Vine (Mixed Media)

TOUR STOP • Sherwood Forest Design - 6 Oak Lane, Cortlandt Manor, NY

- Kate Missett (Ceramics)

- Ketti North (Textiles/Mixed Media)

- Sherwood Forest Design (Painted Wood Bowls) - Mindy Kombert (Mixed Media, Ceramics) - Red Rover Clothing (Wearable Fiber)

- Selma Karaca (Wearable Fiber)

CROTON TOUR STOP SPONSORS:

- Baked By Susan, 379 S. Riverside Avenue, Croton, NY

- The Black Cow, 4 Old Post Road, Croton, NY

PEEKSKILL, NY

Peekskill is known for being artist-centered, so adding this town to our tour made a lot of sense. You’ll find artists just outside of town at the famous Hat Factory, a large industrial complex that has been converted into affordable studio spaces, alternative commercial space and open floor plans for small businesses and organizations. It is also the home of our Peekskill tour stop host, Peekskill Clay Studios, one of the region’s premier clay art facilities, which will be hosting a sale of work by its clay artists. Six additional craft crawl artists will also have their booths there, including two artists local to Peekskill. While in the area, be sure to make it to town and hit tour stop Quirkshop on Main Street, featuring handmade wearables and accessories you can’t resist, as well as two local food and bev favorites – Birdsall House and Peekskill Coffee House. They ARE Peekskill, through and through.