By TIM RONALDSON | The Haddonfield Sun
Daryl Cohen, her husband Kevin Frosch and their dog Archie are hitting the road.
Over the next three months, they will travel almost 5,000 roundtrip miles in an RV from their home in Tuscon, Ariz., to Haddonfield, stopping along the way in Louisiana, North Carolina and other New Jersey destinations.
While Cohen, Frosch and Archie will visit family in Philadelphia — they are natives of the city and of Ventnor — the true purpose behind the trip is art, with the Haddonfield Crafts and Fine Art Festival as the focal point.
“We really centered the trip around the Haddonfield show,” said Cohen, who creates and sells her dichroic glass and other artwork through her business, glassdesign.
Cohen and Frosch will be among the more than 250 professional artists and crafters who will partake in Haddonfield’s 18th annual festival, lined up on a closed Kings Highway. The event is scheduled for Saturday, July 10, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, July 11, from noon to 5 pm.
Haddonfield’s festival serves as a marketing tool for the borough, attracting estimated crowds of more than 100,000, according to event organizers. Artists and visitors alike come from close by and far away to view a wide range of arts and crafts including ceramics, glass, jewelry, wood, fiber, metal, paper, drawings, paintings, photography and wearable art.
Restaurants along the Kings Highway corridor set up outdoor cafes, and musicians and face painters entertain the attendees, while the artists man their tents set up in the middle of the street.
This year will be Cohen’s first as a vendor at the festival. She attended the event when she lived in Philadelphia but only recently got serious about selling her artwork.
Four years ago, Cohen and Frosch moved from Philadelphia to Tuscon to live closer to one of their children and grandchildren, leaving behind a career in cancer center administration and long-term care insurance. Cohen said she was determined to get back into the field when they settled in Arizona, but her hobby took over.
“Out here, in this gorgeous environment, I couldn’t bring myself to get into cancer research,” she said.
Cohen had sampled in watercolor painting for the previous 15 years, and began taking classes in glass art, which was “fascinating” to her. She began refining her skills in jewelry and dichroic glass, artwork that is cooked in kiln overnight and, when completed, shifts colors depending on the angle at which it is held.
“I find you get something totally different than what you put in,” she said. “Sometimes, I wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning and take a peak to see what it’s like.”
Soon enough, Cohen’s hobby turned into her full-time job. She and her husband began taking the work on the road, traveling to various art shows from as far out as Santa Fe, N.M., almost every weekend. Four years later, glassdesign is ready to embark on its longest journey yet, to showcase its art to Haddonfield.
“What I want up there is exposure. I want the feedback from the East Coast,” Cohen said. “I know what the feedback is out here, and I’m looking for it up there.”
More information on the Haddonfield Crafts and Fine Art Festival can be found online at www.ShopHaddonfieldNJ.com.
