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The Appalachian

The Student News Site of Appalachian State University

The Appalachian

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The Appalachian

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Local crafter weaves way to Art Crawl

Local+crafter+weaves+way+to+Art+Crawl

T

his Friday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. junior art education major Caitlin Swick will present and sell her crafts at Lucky Penny on King Street. Swick specializes in the craft of weaving, specifically wall hangings and tapestries.

The event is part of King Street’s monthly art crawl, where local stores and the Turchin Center stay open late to host special sales, items and presentations the first Friday of every month.

This will be Swick’s debut. She is excited and confident that Art Crawl will help bring a larger interest in her work, she said.

Inspiration for Swick’s brand, “Meraki,” came while taking weaving I in the fibers section of ASU’s art department, she said.

“Meraki” in Greek means “essence of one’s self left in one’s own work,” Swick said. Swick chose the name based on a specific experience.

“I was at my community worship night at church and as I was painting on a canvas, a woman I did not know approached me,” she said. “She told me how much she liked my painting and then gave me a slip of paper with the word ‘meraki’ written on it and told me that my painting reminded her of that word.”

Since then, Swick has been inspired to put her essence into her crafts.

She specializes in wall hangings and tapestries made of various materials from synthetic fabrics like acrylic to natural fabrics such as cotton.

Small items take up to three hours to make and larger items can take up to 12 hours, she said, stating, “The process itself is my favorite part.”

Swick is “always looking to expand.” In one fiber class she made hand bound books, she said. The books are still prototypes, but she hopes to be able to perfect the craft and sell the items.

“I am always looking to see what else I can make,” Swick said.

Melina Daniels, inspiration and a local potter who specializes in making dinnerware said she helped Swick get on track for producing and selling her own crafts by entering Swick into the Artesian Market in July.

While Swick is still in the beginning stages of her Meraki brand, items  will be available for purchase on the site “squaremarket” in the near future.

Various pieces of Meraki crafts can be viewed on the Meraki Instagram page: Meraki_weavings.

Swick will be at Lucky Penny showing and selling her crafts from 6-9 p.m.

Story by: Katie Murawski, A&E Reporter

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