MOOSE JAW — The newly branded Moostletoe Artists’ Spotlight concluded last weekend with seven local artists — Beth Barrett, Marie Ablitsova, Beth Crabb, Nissa Gieni-Wareham, Tanya MacKay, Dave Pelletier, and Jude Radwanski — showcasing some of their finest works and providing live demonstrations of their craft.
Moostletoe was held concurrently at the artisaNGrounds studio and the nearby Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery on Nov. 23
“(There’s been) a lot of positive feedback. (Guests) hope to see it again in future years and it has been a really great turnout — even with the snow,” announced Nissa Gieni-Wareham, owner of artisaNGrounds studio.
Beth Barrett was one of those artists and attended at the artisaNGrounds studio alongside her husband, David Dale.
“People have been supporting us and coming in throughout the whole day,” she said. “It’s been a fun day to do some demos and watch the other artists do demonstrations, as well as just networking with them a bit.”
Barrett said she met some new people who weren’t aware of her business and also had some great conversations with several repeat customers. To help spread the word of her new business website, OneSweetDreamPottery.ca, guests were invited to enter an online draw to win some of her handmade bakeware — a promotional effort each artist was welcome to include.
Starting at 11 a.m., artists held live hourly demonstrations throughout the day.
For her demonstration, Barrett guided curious guests through the process of shaping clay for later kiln firing as they made small ceramic plates. “I had a lot of questions from a couple ladies when I was doing that, and… (it) was quite fun…,” she said. “I also had a little girl that’s here and she did some clay (sculpting) with me. She played along… and that was fun.”
Artist Tanya MacKay showcased around an hour of progress on her latest creation, a photo-realistic hand drawing of a broken homemade candy cane she purchased in Calgary, Alta. The demonstration was just a taste, however — a completed drawing can take around 25 hours.
“I just appreciate everyone coming by and asking me questions and hopefully getting my name out so people know what I do,” MacKay said.
Another local artist, Jude Radwanski, showcased her jewelry making process during her noon-hour demonstration. “I showed (guests) how to put a pair of earrings together,” she said. “I demonstrated my wire work, (where I made) wires for the earring to hang on.”
Her earrings are made by hand and she’s trying something new this year — incorporating paper products into her design. “These are made of layers of paper. I take recycled books, dictionaries, sketch paper… all kids of different paper that’s lying around and then I paint on it and cut shapes out of it.”
As well, Radwanski unveiled her line of inspirational books which is another of her first paper products. Each book contains a few pages with inspirational quotes and makes a great gift idea.
“This one is a poem by Safire Rose, and it’s called She Let Go,” Radwanski said as she picked up one of her favourite book creations. “If I’m upset by something, I often will read this poem and it just puts me back into a feeling of groundedness.”
Gieni-Wareham said this live demonstration element was met with positive feedback from guests. “It’s something new that we thought we’d try, and it worked out really well,” she said.
“There’s been a lot of really positive feedback about having the one-stop, two-stop location and seeing all the artists in one venue,” Gieni-Wareham added. “(Guests found that) they were able to see more, whereas when they were touring around they did not necessarily want to drive (to each separate venue).”
This transition to two nearby locations also turned out to be the right move as a late-afternoon blizzard started to make driving even less desirable. With another successful year in the books, the Moostletoe Artists’ Spotlight is set to return in 2025 with details to follow.
The artisaNGrounds studio is located at 262 Athabasca Street East and the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery is located at 461 Langdon Crescent.
