SANDPOINT — Stroll down one street and you’re likely to stumble upon freshly popped popcorn corn. On another street, colorful metal sculptures add a fun touch to any yard. And on yet another street, paintings and prints form miniature art galleries.
Add in a beautiful sunny day and you don’t have to miss the Pend Oreille Arts Council’s annual arts and crafts fair. The annual event attracted hundreds of shoppers to the downtown streets.
Artist Noelle Dass, a fixture at arts and crafts fairs across the region, smiled as a customer stopped, intrigued by a print of a dog sitting cross-legged, surrounded by everything from a cat and a mouse to a chicken, an elephant and a giraffe.
“This is so beautiful,” the woman said. “I love how colorful it is.”
Dass has been involved in art since she was a child. Although she had ambitions to create works of classical realism and even went to college and devoted herself to this art movement, Dass said that although she mastered it well, over time she found it limiting.
“Later in life, I let my imagination run wild,” she said. “I love animals, I love colors and I love, you know, silly things, so I let that come through.”
The result is a whimsical and colorful depiction of animals: a cat or dog stares at the viewer, captioned “Treats?” Or the dog is surrounded by other animals, captioned “The Puppy Llama.” One of her favorite images, “Trust the Journey,” shows a rabbit running down a path under a starry sky.
“That’s a message I have to tell myself 10 times a day… we have to trust our path,” Dass said. “Either you trust it or you doubt it, and if you live in a constant state of doubt, that’s really miserable.”
She likes to incorporate messages like “leap of faith” into her artwork. In the case of the print with that title, a dog soars through the air, joy and faith evident as he chases a ball, with no doubt that he will catch it and no worry about “what happens next.”
“I love using animals to represent these kinds of deep, philosophical approaches to life,” Dass said. “The leap of faith is the dog. He doesn’t think about whether he’s going to catch the ball or not. He just goes for it and jumps to get the ball.”
This exhibition will likely be one of her last, said Dass, who has been participating in exhibitions for more than 21 years, mostly in the Pacific Northwest. Traveling the region to showcase her artwork was both exhausting and amazing, with the opportunity to talk to people who fell in love with her prints and the hard work involved in setting up and dismantling a miniature gallery over the course of a weekend.
“It’s a mix,” she added. “It can be really great, you get to meet really great people and you get the opportunity to attract an audience to your artwork, which is a gift. But it’s also very physically demanding.”
Dass said she enjoys talking to customers and has learned to be “authentic” in her conversations. She explains how she comes up with her artwork and how her “happy” pieces came about.
Like Dass, Evan Schaefer and his wife Cassie are regulars at craft fairs. During the summer, they tour the region to display their intricately etched glasswork featuring images of wildlife, nature and the great outdoors, which can be found on everything from wine glasses to vases to decorative containers.
Evan Schaefer, who runs Priest Lake Art & Glass with his wife Cassie, attributes the business’ success to his wife. Her creativity and artistic ability draw shoppers to the booths wherever they are displayed, as people are fascinated by what the couple calls “functional art.”
The couple took over the business about six years ago from Schaefer’s parents when they decided to retire. Knowing that Cassie Schaefer was artistically gifted and enjoyed creative endeavors, Schaefer, his mother said, asked his wife if she thought she would enjoy glass engraving.
The couple decided to give it a try and ran the business together with their parents for the first four years, but for the last few years they have been running it alone.
“It’s like a modern-day showman, I guess,” Schaefer said, grinning. “You travel around, set up your booth, have this rush of people, and it goes on all day long for a couple of days. It’s hard work, but we enjoy it.”
Cassie Schaefer uses a high-speed air-powered Dremel that uses diamond head bits to engrave images at varying depths, creating everything from wildlife to lake scenes and more. The art form is a mix of creativity and precision, Evan Schaefer said.
The best part of the show is watching buyers fall in love with his wife’s artwork and appreciate the hard work and craftsmanship that goes into each piece.
“I love that she can show her work and see people enjoying it,” Schaefer said. “People come by and say how great it is. And she can hear that, which is really nice after all the hard work and time she puts in.”
Schaefer, who lives in a rural area near Priest Lake, said winter gives the couple time to learn about inventory — what they want to engrave on what, what colors are popular and what customers have told them.
Schaefer praised the Pend Oreille Arts Council for putting on a great show, supporting the artists and carefully coordinating vendors to ensure there is something for everyone. For a vendor, shows are a mix of hard work and preparation.
The annual show continues today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 120 vendors will fill Main Street east of Farmin Park to First Avenue and down Second Avenue from Cedar Street to Church Street. The streets will be closed to automobile traffic, giving the event the feel of an outdoor art gallery.
Artists and craftspeople from across the country – and the county – take part in this juried show. Stalls offer everything from metalwork and pottery to fine art, garden art and delicious treats. There’s something for every taste and budget.
Information: Pend Oreille Arts Council, artinsandpoint.org or 208-263-6139
Evan Schaefer helps customers at the booth of Priest Lake Art & Glass, a “functional art” shop he runs with his wife, Cassie.
Shoppers took over downtown Sandpoint on Saturday as the Pend Oreille Arts Council’s annual arts and crafts fair took place. The juried art show continues today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
