For some, Bethlehem’s annual Christkindlmarkt, the Christmas market inspired by festive German bazaars selling crafts and goods, is an annual tradition. Held at ArtsQuest’s SteelStacks and rated one of the country’s best, it features both local and global vendors in multiple tents hawking crafts, goods and snacks.
Last year’s Christkindlmarkt smashed previous attendance records, clocking in 107,272 visitors.
Regular visitors might recognize recurring vendors and may gravitate toward them. But a few lesser known, newer vendors are debuting this year in the hubbub of the bustling market.
One is Blue Frogs. Owner Joel Zanni, who hails from France and lives in Virginia, creates intricate carvings with natural materials such as wood and bone. Hand-carved bowls, knives and birds are clustered throughout his stall. He’s been carving for 45 years and comes from a long line of artisans.
“I’m the only one in my family that still carves,” he said.
Joel Zanni of Virginia, a new Christkindlmarkt vendor, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Joel Zanni of Virginia, a new Christkindlmarkt vendor, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Joel Zanni of Virginia, a new Christkindlmarkt vendor, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Joel Zanni of Virginia, a new Christkindlmarkt vendor, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Woodwork by Joel Zanni of Virginia, one of the newest vendors at Christkindlmarkt, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at Zanni's Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Joel Zanni of Virginia, a new Christkindlmarkt vendor, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Joel Zanni of Virginia, a new Christkindlmarkt vendor, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Woodwork by Joel Zanni of Virginia, one of the newest vendors at Christkindlmarkt, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at Zanni's Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Woodwork by Joel Zanni of Virginia, one of the newest vendors at Christkindlmarkt, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at Zanni's Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Woodwork by Joel Zanni of Virginia, one of the newest vendors at Christkindlmarkt, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at Zanni's Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Woodwork by Joel Zanni of Virginia, one of the newest vendors at Christkindlmarkt, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at Zanni's Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Woodworker Joel Zanni of Virginia shows one of his carving knives Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023,
at his Blue Frogs Co. booth at Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem. Zanni specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Woodwork by Joel Zanni of Virginia, one of the newest vendors at Christkindlmarkt, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at Zanni's Blue Frogs Co. booth in Bethlehem. Zanni is a woodcarver who specializes in Celtic designs, bowls and knives. He has begun carving birds as well. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Joel Zanni, who sells handcarved objects like Celtic knots and knives, speaks to customers on Thursday at Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem.
Each piece in the stall has been handcrafted painstakingly, and Zanni described how some of the more intricate carvings required expert handling of the material — discarded elk horns, teak and more — and patience.
The combination of an ancient craft fused with modern sensibility is apparent in his offerings: charcuterie boards etched with sacred Norse runes expounding on friendship, sturdy Celtic knots that double as wall hangings and bowls that use a northern Japanese technique that transforms rough edges into slippery smooth finishes.
The overlap of natural and modern beauty is also apparent at Sensational Accessories, a stall owned by Jeff Persa and his wife. Persa’s focus is “art with functionality,” and his goods reflect that ethos. Trays, cutting boards and lazy Susans are his main wares, but these aren’t your everyday versions of those kitchen staples; each of Persa’s pieces uses wood and a “proprietary” finish that makes these objects look as if one end is dipped in a milky swirl of psychedelic art.
Mixed media artist Jeff Persa is returning to Christkindlmarkt after years away. He is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Sensational LLC. Co. booth in Bethlehem. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Mixed media artist Jeff Persa is returning to Christkindlmarkt after years away. He is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Sensational LLC. Co. booth in Bethlehem. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Jeff Persa describes the creative and scientific process behind is sea-themed work at Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem.
Works by mixed media artist Jeff Persa, who is returning to Christkindlmarkt after years away, are seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Sensational LLC. Co. booth in Bethlehem. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Works by mixed media artist Jeff Persa, who is returning to Christkindlmarkt after years away, are seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Sensational LLC. Co. booth in Bethlehem. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Persa wants to make sure his work is not relegated to being wall art.
“I want you to use this on your kitchen tables,” he said. “You won’t believe this, but each of these can withstand heat up to 500 degrees.”
Persa loves to nerd out on the science of his art, talking about chemical interactions between glass, canvas, wood and seashells with as much passion as the colors he chooses for his work.
Persa’s stall feels like stepping into a tropical reef. One of his hobbies is diving, and his art is rooted in those experiences. Much of his work is blue, and sea creatures are frequent elements. He said he and his wife spend months creating seascapes that reenact his dives, and he is intent on re-creating the specific refraction of light that occurs underwater in his pieces.
“The sea and its light is breathtaking, and I want my art to be like that,” he said as he demonstrates how light speckles through one of his pieces.
Matt Szychowski feels similarly about capturing movement and light, though his work puts a surrealist lens on nature. Unlike the realistic qualities of Zanni’s and Persa’s work, Szychowski intentionally reimagines nature as bright, messy and unexpectedly colorful.
Matt Szychowski, a new vendor at Christkindlmarkt, is seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Shahuskies Illustration booth in Bethlehem. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Matt Szychowski's watercolors puts a surreal spin on nature. He's selling his work at Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem.
Works by Matt Szychowski, a new vendor at Christkindlmarkt, are seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Shahuskies Illustration booth in Bethlehem. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Works by Matt Szychowski, a new vendor at Christkindlmarkt, are seen Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, at his Shahuskies Illustration booth in Bethlehem. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
“I’m not into photorealistic art,” he said, gesturing toward a watercolor canvas of a green giraffe.
Indeed, Szychowski’s work takes what might be recognizable scenes and turns them onto their heads, altering nature into delightfully surprising art. Szychowski achieves this with what he calls “splatter effects,” where he flicks watercolor paints across a canvas to create movement.
Persa and Zanni are deliberate and methodical in their work, and so is Szychowski, in that the unknown of where a splatter might land is a deliberate and methodical part of his work. Sometimes, that leads to imaginary creatures, such as cats with trees for tails. Other times, the splatter makes water in a coastal scene shimmer.
For Szychowski, and many of the other artists at Christkindlmarkt, inspiration isn’t always predictable, much like their natural muses. “I let the splatter lead me,” he said.
Christkindlmarkt is open Thursdays through Sundays until Dec. 17. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. On Thursdays and Fridays, ticket prices are $11 each if purchased in advance through the ArtsQuest website and $12 each at the entrance. On Saturdays and Sundays, ticket prices are $14 in advance and $15 at the entrance. Children 5 and under are free; admission is free for everyone 5-8 p.m. Fridays.
