Did anyone else notice a blurb in the paper this week about an arts and craft fair on 17th Avenue? Even though there’s a flood of craft fairs happening right now (yea!), this one caught my eye—probably because I couldn’t figure out what sort of community building was at 1727 E. 17th. Turns out it was a regular old house, as I’d suspected. Spokane artist Tresia “T” Oosting grew up there and recently helped her mom move out after 47 years in the home. The house is for sale and vacant now, so when fellow artist Dara Harvey approached Oosting with the idea of hosting an art sale there, she thought--why not? About 20 artists and crafters set up their work in the living room, bedrooms, the basement and the upstairs landing. There were even homemade cookies for sale in the kitchen (if the baker of the orange shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate is reading this, please send me the recipe. Heavenly yum. I’d love to post it here … and make a batch for myself every day for the rest of my life). Oosting says the demise of Yuletide, the annual art sale held at the Spokane Art School, there's a void in the venues available to artists to sell their work this holiday season. (The art school ceased to exist in its original format this year. Here’s a link to the latest I’ve seen on what’s happening with the programs that were once offered. It was hard to get everyone’s business cards and take photos of all the work, but here’s a sampling of what was there. ***Update: I'm having trouble inserting the photos here, but you can see a slideshow of the pictures I'm referring to here. My apologies for any confusion. **** Photos 1-3: Jacinda Tusler, left, and Tiffany Patterson, who together use the business name Polly and Ester, displayed a wide variety of pieces, from “scarflettes” to coloring books made from their line drawings. www.pollyandester.etsy.com cursewordsandbirds@gmail.com Photos 4-5: Among the work by Bernadette Y. Vielbig were these charming ceramic chickens from an installation exhibited recently at the Lorinda Knight Gallery. You can read more about the work and her thoughts on how chickens help “illustrate her observations of human nature,” as Spokesman-Review correspondent Jennifer LaRue put it, here. Photo 6: Muralist Tom Quinn showed off his other talents during the sale—his guitar and vocal skills. With his paintings as a backdrop, Quinn sang and strummed a lovely rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” (If you don’t know what song I’m talking about, watch this clip from You Tube.) Check out this August 2008 S-R story about Quinn’s murals. He can be reached at tc.quinn@comcast.net. Photos 7-9: In the living room, across from Quinn, was Spokane Falls Community College painting instructor Megan Martens. Among her work were repurposed images from art history books and magazines. She also displayed paintings she made from photos she’d taken of pigeons in Italy. Photos 10-11: Upstairs, artist Dan McCann sat under a display of his version of recycling. McCann, a maintenance manager by night, makes art dolls out of old gloves. Check out the one with the tattoo McCann is holding. He also collects unwanted Altoids cans and gives those new life, too. datmc@icehouse.net Photos 12-13: Ceramic artist and illustrator Joseph R. Tomlinson (seretomlinson@comcast.net) had several beautiful pieces on display, but one of his most awe-inspiring pieces wasn’t for sale. It was his personal journal, which was chockfull of colorful illustrations of bugs, body parts and beautiful women. Photo 14: Harvey, who organized the event with Oosting, paints and sews together these “manimals” and other creations. If you displayed your work there and I missed you, please write in so I can add you to the roll call here. Or if you were there as a shopper, let me know what you thought and what you bought. It was a unique and lovely event and Oosting says she might host more sales in the future, “if the house doesn’t sell,” she says.

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