Yellow Door Art Market Catches Art Fair Fever

The dreary rain and snow did not stop a steady flow of shoppers from checking out local artists' spring selections Saturday during the Art Fair Fever Event at Yellow Door Art Market in Berkley.

Customers received 15 percent off local art, along with a free, glass-beaded magnet with purchases greater than $30. The shop sells trendy, hand-crafted art by more than 70 Michigan-based artists.

“The artists have been great about bringing spring into the store,” manager Cheryl Jones said.

The Art Fair Fever Event sprang from the need for some excitement, she said. Given that sales are slow in January and February compared to the holiday season, Jones and Yellow Door Art Market owner April McCrumb hoped the event would inspire customers to come in.

That it did. Berkley resident Pat Chamberlain brought her husband just to browse, but she ended up finding herself a hands-free key fob from Barb Witt’s Excess Baggage. 

“We’re just out having fun,” Chamberlain said.

More than half the artists were on hand to talk with customers.

Dena Gillespie, owner of Dancing Wired, even gave live demonstrations of how she makes the twisted, wired words that form window art.

Eight-year-old Skylar O’Berski talked her mom, Shannon O’Berski, into buying her one of Gillespie’s wired trees to hang her earrings on.

“I am going to put it on my bedside table,” said Skylar, while her twin sister, Jaden, flipped through whimsical paintings from Kandy Myny’s Bit of Whimsey collection.

“I like to support the community, local artists and our economy,” said O’Berski, a Berkley resident who said she visits Yellow Door “all the time.”

Two young, inspiring artists, Jack and Ella Smitterberg, came to the Art Fair Fever Event to share how their artwork was inspired by memorabilia from their great-grandmother.

Jack, 11, creates boxes, frames and trays decorated with canceled stamps. He started by designing gifts using items from his great-grandmother’s stamp collection.

“My oldest stamp was from 1964,” said Jack, who said he plans to cover old furniture tops with canceled stamps.

Jack’s sister, Ella, 9, creates magnets from vintage silverware. She began her art using her great-grandmother’s old silver.

Ella has made quite a profit, which has kept her busy making more. 

“It hurts your fingers to have to sand the magnets,” said Ella, “but I think it’s worth it.” 

Ella, an aspiring businesswoman, gives 10 percent of her profits to the Royal Oak Animal Shelter. She plans to enter the Berkley Art Bash on June 11.

The artist, who visibly enjoyed mingling with the customers, welcomed McCrumb’s spring fever-themed event. 

Lisa Frayne, owner of Effortless Heirlooms, has experienced a big increase in her sales of baby frames and canvases since she began partnering with McCrumb when the store opened in November. 

“I can’t say enough about the marketing they do here,” Frayne said. “It’s phenomenal.”

Ferndale writer Margaret H. Mason also was on hand to autograph copies of her books Inside All and These Hands. Mason shared how she submitted 100 manuscripts before her first book, These Hands, was published.

Spring successfully hit The Yellow Door Art Market early; let’s hope it moves its way outdoors.

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