The OddBird Art & Craft Fair, founded in 2024, highlights independent artists, designers and makers from Edmonton and beyond, while offering visitors a curated, community-driven shopping experience. The fair is typically held twice a year in Old Strathcona — once in the spring and once in the winter.
Members of the Edify editorial team handpicked a few standout makers from the vendor lineup. These selections are all about what caught our eye, stirred something personal in us and reminded us why local craft matters.
I will always have a deep connection to Blk Rose candles. My father filled my childhood home with loads of books and many of them were about Black civil rights activists. One in his collection was an Angela Davis autobiography edited by Toni Morrison. The earthy leather scent of the Blk Rose Angele candle unlocks memories of my nine-year-old self listening to my father’s stories about the ’60s. The vanilla and citrus notes of the Toni candle remind me of Sunday nights getting my hair oiled and plaited by my Mum.
My Ed’s Pick is Alyson Davies. I have always been intrigued by Alyson’s work. Her paintings are familiar and comforting and her use of either vibrant contrasting colour or exclusively indigo hues have caused me to be a regular fan and patron over the years. I particularly appreciate Alyson’s ceramic collections, which pair handbuilt ceramics with her signature organic illustrations. I’ve seen her illustrated altar shelves, sculptural candle holders and other ceramic artwork simultaneously in gallery shows and gallery gift shops around town, and I can only hope to find another vessel at OddBird to add to my collection.
Material Culture’s ceramics feel like they belong in a Tim Burton movie, where every object has a whimsical shape, colour, and spirit. Genevieve Ongaro’s playful designs turn everyday rituals into tiny moments of wonder. Every time I pour an Americano into my bright orange Marshmallow Mug, it feels like stepping into that world. I also have one of her bold, painterly plates that’s almost too beautiful to eat off of, but it makes the perfect centerpiece for a cheese plate when I’m hosting.
Grandpa used simpler cribbage boards, but these remind me of him nevertheless. At Ace Wood Co., Anthony Eslava crafts furniture, art and more, including these mostly walnut boards, machine-cut and lovingly finished to evoke cities (such as Edmonton), nature, and other custom designs likely to evoke memories of your own. When I was a kid, Grandpa and I would play on a summer evening, an open window permitting the whistle of a train tracing the rolling fields above the nearby Pembina River. He was an ornery farmer, worn out by that land, but mostly patient with my mistakes at counting points. It’s nice to be given the chance to pause to wonder why.
I’m a film nerd, so I can’t help it — my mind works in movie references. So, Nico Humby’s En Route collection immediately reminded me of Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, in both subject matter and sensibility. Humby’s collection lingers in the quiet in-between moments, the kind most people overlook: power lines strung over snowy streets or fire escapes creeping out of buildings. There’s a patience in the way he paints — like he’s capturing not just how something looks, but how it feels to be there. It’s that stillness, that attention to the emotional undercurrent of the everyday, that makes his paintings feel like fragments of a film I’d want to watch over and over.
The Oddbird Art & Craft Fair runs from May 9 to 11 at 8426 Gateway Blvd NW.
