Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cynthia's gourds every year for some time now and I haven't yet succumbed, but it's only
a matter of time.
Upstairs is Color Creek Studio, where Linda Smith presides over beadwork ranging
from beaded silk in a wooden frame that has all the texture and substance of a painting by
Monet to earrings and bracelets and brooches and necklaces that look as if they have
grown organically, unsullied by human hand. Lisa Dogget-Stenic of Anchorage falls in
love with a lace agate necklace, bracelet and earrings. “I just sold a huge account, I de-
serve this,” she says, adding a little plaintively, “I was doing so good, this was my last
stop.” Mary Hertert's dyed silks make glowing statements in deep reds and oranges and
blues and greens, some set in wooden screens that I instantly covet for my living room.
And here is Bonnie Buckham, who finds vintage cotton and linen tablecloths and nap-
kins and dyes them and starts them on new lives. “When I get them they're worn and
stained and nobody's using them,” Bonnie says. She uses very little water and scrunches
up the fabric in the dye pot so that the colors increase and decrease in intensity and some-
times change altogether across the fabric. “I'll go on record as being one of Bonnie's
groupies,” says Patricia Hicks of Anchorage. “I've already got maybe six tablecloths of
hers, I've lost count. It's just a wonderful idea, recycling these beautiful linens.”
Recycling seems to be a theme at Bad Girls. Collen Coulter over at Art with a Past Life
has two figurines with spoon faces and fork tine hair, jewelry made from watch parts, and
frames made from broken ceramic shards. “All formerly junk,” Colleen says cheerfully,
“now it's junk with attitude.”
Corlis Taylor and Lisa Behr from Fairbanks are present with a collection of used
blazers they have, yes, recycled into wearable art. “I thought, what could I do to make an
article of clothing that was one of a kind?” Corlis says. “We decided we had to start with
something ready made, to save on labor, and second hand, to save on costs.” The blazers,
scrounged from Value Village and the Salvation Army and garage sales, literally blaze
with excitement. No two are alike. A cropped brown jacket is trimmed with fabric re-
covered from a discarded Japanese kimono and trimmed with mother of pearl buttons.
“Lately we've been buying fabric off eBay,” Lisa says. Rhonda tried on a green raw silk
blazer with a kind of calypso/jungle trim accessorized with a green and gold brooch. A
