Craft Alliance — Attraction in St. Louis

A fixture of the St. Louis art scene, Craft Alliance is a combination of a retail store, art gallery, pottery studio, and general art school. Unless you're a student coming for classes or studio, you enter through the retail store. It has a variety of items ranging from kitchen stuff (salad turners, bejeweled cutlery, bowls, tea sets) to apparel and accessories (purses made from old street signs and other recycled materials) to craft-type arts (glass bowls, wooden turnings, ceramics). The items for sale normally do not include paintings, drawings, and the like. As befits the name of the store, most of what is sold is useful, craft items, not intended just to be placed somewhere and admired.

Towards the rear on the left side is an area of heavily discounted items — usually stuff that has been there for awhile. I have bought a number of great pieces for ridiculously low prices from that section. It is well worth checking out.

There are two galleries. At the rear of the retail store is a small gallery which usually features themed works by local artists, especially students. The work is usually quite good. To the side of the retail store, accessed by a connecting door, is the larger gallery. It also usually follows a curated theme, but normally features the work of artists with regional or national reputations. Some but not all of the art is for sale, but much of what is for sale is priced out of reach of the ordinary shoppers.

The Craft Alliance is very popular and at peak selling times can be quite crowded. It is staffed by cute women who are invariably knowledgeable and helpful. Definitely worth a stop whenever you want to get a special, out-of-the-ordinary gift...

My daughter's gifted me a wood turning class at Craft Alliance for Christmas, one of the best gifts ever. I've been a woodworker since the late 60s. I have an almost full wood shop, and I enjoy my time every minute I'm working there. Turning is something I always wanted to try. Craft Alliance is a modern, clean, safe, facility, and has all the necessary equipment and tools to a plathora of diverse crafts. Our instructor Joy shared her knowledge and expertise with a class of five students with a wide range of expertise in wood. She was able to relate to all students, and from the attached pictures, you can see the success...

We went for Emerson Family Saturdays event. It said its for ages 5+...but I personally think it should be ages 6 or 7 and up. Hard for 5 year olds to keep interest in crafts that are that advance. Had a good time in all, but my little one was ready to go after 30 minutes...especially since there was a 15 minute delay and lots of talking at the beginning. FYI this was a...