Southern Makers brings out community of artists

There was no shortage of talent at the Southern Makers fifth annual event this weekend. 

Over 100 Southern artists and makers gathered at Sloss Furnaces from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday to showcase their talent, art or goods at the 2017 Southern Makers festival.

Southern Makers is a brand, platform, nonprofit and event dedicated to southern artists and makers promoting themselves and their work. Through collaboration and networking, Southern Makers facilitates exposure and long-lasting relationships for artists in the South, according to its website. 

The makers, who were all hand-picked for the event, included screen printers, contemporary artists, jewelers, fashion and industrial designers, architects, entrepreneurs, brewers and winemakers, woodworkers, authors, painters, chefs and many more. The Alabama Brewers Guild curated the Southern Makers Beer garden to include over a dozen regional breweries. Guests were also invited to scratch out their own design block and have it poured to form an iron casting that they could take home. 

The Urban Arts Dance Competition, Take It To The Streets, also took place all day Saturday, where dancers from Alabama Dance Nation competed in a dance tournament. Alabama Dance Nation includes over 35 accomplished street dancers that came from six different states to compete. The winner won $300.  

The guiding principal of Southern Makers, according to their website, is to draw attention to and celebrate southern creativity that is sometimes overlooked by larger regions in the Northern and Western parts of the U.S.

The Southern Makers event was presented by Southern Accents Architectural Antiques supported by Goodwyn Mills Cawood.

To learn more about the festival, go to southernmakers.com.