Guest Post written by Bernard Burton, Executive Director of Craft Alliance

Craft Alliance Atlantic lead another successful mission to SOFA Chicago, November 2-5, 2017 at Navy Pier, Chicago. A team of 20 Atlantic Canadian representatives participated in the Craft Alliance mission that included two components; an Educational Mission for artists/makers interested in learning about SOFA and marketing their work to USA based galleries and an Exhibition Showcase where Craft Alliance and industry partners presented an exhibition of contemporary works from Atlantic Canada.

This was the seventh year for the Craft Alliance educational mission and the second time that an exhibition component was included as part of the mission. A total of 15 people participated in the educational mission, which included non-profit organizations and artists from across the region. A tour of Chicago galleries, artist run centers and museums was included as part of the educational program.

Craft Alliance engaged the services of Studio 21 Fine Art of Halifax, NS to present the work in the gallery presented event. Deborah Carver and her staff did an amazing job in making the exhibition a success. This was the second year that we participated in the exhibition which this year featured 11 Atlantic Canadian artists. Craft Alliance along with industry partners CraftNB and Craft Nova Scotia also participated in the development and presentation of the work at SOFA Chicago.

The exhibition featured the work of Anna Torma, Peter Powning, Maja Padrov, Jonathan Otter, Jason Holley, Laura-Jean Forrester, Gina Stick, Mariko Paterson, Mengnan Qu, Violeta Izquierdo and Sydney Blum. We featured two artists with Booth Talks during the exhibition, Gina Stick and Mariko Paterson had the opportunity to discuss their work and interact with SOFA guests. Anne-Sophie Vallee, represented by Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h of Montreal also participated in the SOFA Lecture Series and a panel discussion presented by SNAG.

Craft Alliance would like to acknowledge the financial support received under the ACOA Business Development Program and the Nova Scotia Creative Industry Fund for this project.