Nontraditional nutcrackers by artist, Mary Myers.
A maker of hand carved nutcrackers, Virginia artist Mary Myers has taken the art to new levels over her artistic career, from feature stories on the pages of many nationally recognized magazines to being named a Best American Craftsman in “Early American Life”. The list of accomplishments is many, having even carved a tree topper nutcracker for the White House in 1996.
The American Folk Art Museum licenses Mary’s antique replicas from their collection of nutcrackers, ornaments, and table toppers. And she demonstrates her craft periodically in the Colonial Williamsburg Foundations store. In 2013, the famed Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum in Bavarian Leavenworth, Washington featured her talents.
Mary’s work will be available for wholesale buyers in the Market Square Artisan Gallery from February 7-9, 2016 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.
“We look for unique and unusual products to bring to our buyers. Traditionally, the toy soldier is the stereotypical nutcracker. But Mary’s collection includes unique themes like patriotic Uncle Sam, Ben Franklin and Lady Liberty, whimsical cowboys and cowgirls, fairies, angels, iconic storybook characters, colorful mermaids, and Thanksgiving mainstays of pilgrims, turkeys, and native American Indians,” says Kathy Goodrich, president of Market Square Shows. “Her offering is beyond the ordinary and very diverse.”
So, how does one begin a career in carving nutcrackers? Although nutcrackers have been around for centuries, it was German toy-makers and woodworkers in the Erzgebirge region who began carving the earliest versions of the distinctive soldier-dolls we know today, according to Slate.com.
In America, they became popular after WWII by GI’s in West Germany sending them home as gifts.
For Mary, her inspiration grew from a failed attempt to find and purchase a nutcracker to her liking. Instead, she sketched one of her own design, carved, painted and antiqued it. After showing it to a buyer from New York City’s American Folk Art Museum the orders started flowing in.
“I hope that my work will make people smile and find their child-like feelings from days gone by,” says Mary. “Making a living from designing and carving nutcrackers from my imagination is my greatest accomplishment.”
Market Square Shows showcases unique, one of a kind home décor products in the traditional, farmhouse, primitive and vintage styles. Learn more about buying and exhibiting at Market Square Shows at www.marketsquareshows.com.
For more information about the nutcrackers created by Mary Myers visit her website at www.marymyersnutcrackers.com.