September: Art, Music, and Beer!

With the summer winding down, we thought we’d calm down this month as well…but then we gave our heads a shake!

September is going to a busy month and we’re pumped to announce some awesome events and workshops we’ve got lined up this month.

On Saturday, September 17th, it will be our first time joining "Tastes of Wellington West" and we have big plans to share with you! There will be free craft beer samples from our friends down the street at Beyond the Pale Brewing and around lunch there will be free samples in-store from our neighbours at MeatPress. (If you haven’t already known about MeatPress – a phenomenal sandwich shop – it’s going to be hard to forget about them after you try).

Also during the "Taste of Wellington West," we'll be hosting a live woodworking demo with one of our makers, Our Turn Woodcraft, as they show off how to craft handmade wooden plates and bowls, as well as how to apply a natural food safe beeswax finish. The event runs from 1 to 3pm and is hosted by Our Turn Woodcraft’s Shirley and David Stapley, two world-class wood turners.

We've also recently partnered with neighbourhood artist ARPi on a brand new window installation, featuring a living plant wall, a large graffiti bird, and reclaimed wood fractal art. Now, thanks to our friends at the Wellington West BIA, we've been lucky to be awarded a grant for ARPi to spray paint a brand new giant mural on our outside wall. He will be working on it in person during the afternoon of "Taste of Wellington West," so come watch him do his thing! You can also check out his art pieces in-store anytime.

If you can’t make it out to "Taste of Wellington West," fret not as we have plenty of other events underway.

We are super proud to be the home-base for this year's West End Artist Studio Tour, featuring 16 phenomenal local artists. Join them along with friends-family for the vernissage/launch party at Maker House next Thursday September 15th from 6 to 9pm. Pick up your map of the studios, see samples of work from each artist in different mediums, and map your tour for the two-week event.  

On September 18th, we’ll be hosting a DIY class on silk screening, where you’ll basic secrets behind the trade and get to practice some printing! All participants will print their own limited edition poster and learn from one of Ottawa's best indie printers, Stirling Prentice (of Winged Beast Outfitters). All supplies provided, but limited spotsare available. Be sure to also check out the newly printed t-shirts from the Winged Beast that will be launched in store that day.

While the days are getting colder, it doesn’t mean we have to stop having campfires! We are having our second storytelling evening called “Around the Campfire: Kitchissippi History” on Friday September 23rd from 6 to 9pm and we invite you to join local historian Dave Allston, from the Kitchissippi Museum, as he shares tales of Hintonburg-Mechanicsville's industrial and socio-economic past while we all gather around the proverbial campfire in-store. Complete with related artifacts from the Kitchissippi Museum, live music, smores-on-a-stick (for the first 100 people), and craft beer samples from Cassel Brewery, it’s going to be a cozy little evening. We hope you can make it. You can RSVP here!

Finally, as a social enterprise, 2% of all sales at Maker House go to community non-profits and we’ve been thrilled to have Ecology Ottawa as our partner for the past two months (and for this September). We look forward to presenting them a nice donation next month, with the funds going to partly to their Tree Ottawa campaign. Thanks to all our customers who dropped by over the past few months. It’s because of you that the #CraftChange initiative continues to strive! We look forward to welcoming a brand new #CraftChange partner for the fall-Christmas season!