Art on display at Paradise Center

Artists in Sanders County last week had the opportunity to show people their work at the Paradise Center, where visitors could see and buy paintings, wood carvings, photographs, ceramic pieces, jewelry, leatherwork, or glasswork.

Ten artists from Plains, Paradise, Thompson Falls, Superior, and St. Regis spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday selling their goods at the Paradise Center. Two new participants this year - the Clark Fork Valley Artists and the Iron Horse Trading Company - participated, along with repeat artists Karrie Baldwin, Karen Thorson, Sue Hummel, Julie Thomas-Buckhouse, Ed Moreth, the Plains Carving Club, Andy Gonzalez, and Ilene Paulsen, who has coordinated the event for the last five years. There was no admission charge for the event and people could purchase snacks, drinks or lunch or just view the various artwork.

"I loved seeing the professionalism and quality of work of the artists," said Paulsen, a Plains resident who had watercolor and acrylic paintings ranging from 8x8 inches to her newest painting, a 22x30 watercolor of a flock of sheep called "The Lord is My Shepherd." Throughout the weekend, she could be seen working on a 40x30 acrylic painting of a Texas longhorn that she plans to title "The Brindle."

Thorson, also of Plains, had the largest piece with a 42-inch tall oil painting titled "Old Mill." It was Thorson who started Artists in Paradise nine years ago. Thorson had a variety of oils, watercolors, earthenware clay, and fused glass. "This year, I'm doing some transparent glass. It's a whole different style from what I've done historically," said Thorson, who has Art Studio 376 at her Plains home.

Several of the artists demonstrated their work during the event, including members of the woodcarving club. Carver Karen Ryan worked on a candle and a small birdhouse. Dave Brandon chipped away at a duck and Darrel Sorenson carved on his rhinoceros and a "tie bucker," an 11-inch tall man carrying a 14-inch railroad tie, which he plans to display in the Paradise Center's new roundhouse building. The Plains Carving Club had a collection of pieces on display from Brandon's three-inch star to Sorenson's 70-inch tall decorative walking stick.

This was the second year for St. Regis resident Thomas-Buckhouse to take part in the annual event with her handmade jewelry. She occasionally worked on pieces of her jewelry while showing her custom made earrings, bracelets, keychains, dream catchers, and rainbow ornaments. People watched Hummel work on her sketch of a bull moose for a graphite drawing. For the second consecutive year, the Superior resident had a mixture of egg tempera and oil paintings along with pencil drawings.

The event also included a scavenger hunt, where small items were "hidden" at each booth for people to find. Completely filled out sheets were drawn on Saturday afternoon and the winner, Carolyn Scott, received $100 cash.

This was the second year for the show to include an "in memoriam" booth to honor a past artist, Raquel Gonzalez, a Plains artist for more than 50 years. Andy Gonzalez had more than two dozen pieces of original art by his late mother, including oil paintings on sections of commercial saw blades. This was the second year for Thompson Falls resident Karrie Baldwin with her original oil paintings, prints, cards, calendars, and her book, "Prayers For the Earth."

The Olsen couple of the Iron Horse Trading Company had an assortment of handmade leather products - earrings, bookmarks, hair clips, and keychains. Jordan takes simple baseball caps and paints leather patches on them. The Clark Fork Valley Artists is composed of just over a dozen artists from Thompson Falls, Trout Creek, Noxon, Whitepine, St. Ignatius, and Plains. Paulsen and Baldwin are members of the club. They displayed watercolors, oils and pastel paintings.

"It went really well. I'm so thankful for the variety of artists that we had," said Paulsen. "We had a nice flow of traffic, especially on Thursday and Friday," she said. Paulsen noted that the art vendors hope to make money with their products, but it's also a way for them to show their work and to get to know fellow artists.