'Outdoor art gallery' fills downtown Sandpoint

SANDPOINT — If you wander down one street, you're likely to stumble across fresh-as-can-be kettle corn. Down another, there are brightly colored metal sculptures to add a pop of fun to a garden. And down still another, paintings and prints create miniature art galleries.

Add in a beautiful sunny day, and you must have the annual Pend Oreille Arts Council's Arts & Crafts Fair. The annual event attracted hundreds of shoppers to the downtown streets.

A staple at arts and crafts fairs throughout the region, artist Noelle Dass smiled as a customer stopped, captivated by a print of a dog sitting cross-legged, surrounded by everything from a cat and mouse to a chicken, elephant, and giraffe.

"That's so wonderful," the woman said. "I love how colorful it is."

Dass has been doing art for as long as she can remember. While she had ambitions of creating classical realism pieces, even attending college toward that end and pursuing that genre of art, Dass said she grew to find it restrictive despite being able to do it well.

"Later in life, I allowed my imagination to sort of take over," she said. "I love animals, I love color, and I love, you know, silly things, so I allowed that to come through."

The result is a whimsical and colorful take on animals, a cat or dog staring up at the viewer with the caption, "Treats?" Or the dog surrounded by other critters, titled "The Doggie Llama." One of her favorites, "Trust the Journey," showcases a rabbit walking down a trail under a starry sky.

"That is a message I have to say to myself 10 times a day … we have to trust our path," Dass said. "You can either trust it or you're doubting, and if you live in a constant state of doubt, then that's really miserable."

She likes blending messages such as "leap of faith" into her artwork. In the case of the print with that title, a dog soars through the air, joy and belief evident as it goes after a ball, no doubt in its mind that it will catch it or worry about "what happens next."

"I love using animals to sort of portray these kinds of deep, philosophical life approaches," Dass said. "Leap of faith is the dog. He's not thinking about whether he's going to catch the ball or not. He's just going for it, leaping to get the ball."

This show will likely be among her last, said Dass, who has taken part in shows, mostly in the Pacific Northwest, for more than 21 years. Traveling the region to showcase her artwork has been both hard work and amazing, giving her a chance to talk to people who fall in love with her prints and the hard work of setting up and taking down what amounts to a miniature gallery in the course of a weekend.

"It's very much a mix," she added. "It can be really amazing, and you meet really amazing people, and you get to have the opportunity to have an audience for your artwork, which is a gift. However, it's also physically very exhausting."

Dass said she loves talking with customers and has learned to be "authentic" in her conversations, explaining how she comes up with her artwork and how her "joyful" pieces came about.

Like Dass, Evan Schaefer and his wife, Cassie, are regulars on the arts and crafts show scene, touring the region during the summer to showcase their intricately etched glasswork with images of wildlife, nature, and the outdoors, finding a home on everything from wine glasses to vases to decorative containers.

Evan Schaefer, who operates Priest Lake Art & Glass with his wife, Cassie, credits his wife for the success of the business, saying her creativity and artistry attract shoppers into the booth, wherever they are showing, as people are intrigued 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 Cassie Schaefer was artistic and enjoyed creative endeavors, Schaefer said his mom asked his wife if she thought she would enjoy glass engraving.

The couple decided to give it a try, and for the first four years, ran the business along with his parents and have been running it on their own for the past few years.

"It's like being a modern-day carney, I guess," Schaefer said before grinning. "You travel around, you set your booth up, you have this rush of people, and it's all day for a couple of days. It's hard work, but we enjoy it."

Cassie Schaefer uses a high-speed, air-powered Dremel that utilizes diamond head bits to engrave images using different depths of class to create everything from wildlife to lake scenes and more. The art form is a blend of creativity and precision, Evan Schaefer said.

The best part of the show is watching shoppers fall in love with his wife's artwork, appreciating the hard work and craftsmanship that go into each piece.

"I think being able to have her work out and being able to see people enjoy it," Schaefer said. "People walk by and they say how amazing it is. And she gets to hear that, which is really nice after the hard work and time that she puts into it."

Living in a rural area near Priest Lake, Schaefer said the winter gives the couple time to decide inventory — what do they want to engrave and on what, what colors are popular, and what did customers tell them. 

Schaefer praised the Pend Oreille Arts Council for putting on a great show, offering support for artists, and carefully balancing vendors so that there is something for everyone. For a vendor, shows are a blend of hard work and preparation.

The annual show continues today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. as more than 120 vendors will fill Main Street east of Farmin Park to First Avenue and across Second Avenue from Cedar to Church streets. The streets are closed to vehicle traffic, creating an open-air art gallery feel for the event.

Artists and crafters from all over the country — and all over the county — are taking part in this juried show. Booths offer everything from metal art and pottery to fine art to yard art and delicious taste treats. There is something for everyone’s taste and budget.

Information: Pend Oreille Arts Council, artinsandpoint.org or 208-263-6139

    Evan Schaefer helps customers at the Priest Lake Art & Glass booth, a "functional art" business he owns with his wife, Cassie.
  

    Shoppers took over downtown Sandpoint Saturday as the Pend Oreille Arts Council's annual Arts & Crafts Fair. The juried art show continues today from 9 a.m.to 4 p.m.