Monday, September 26, 2011

Chrystal Higgins - October - The Purple Pomegranate




The Purple Pomegranate, a fine craft specialty store, is featuring work by Whitefish basket maker, Chrystal Higgins during the month of October. Chrystal took her first basket weaving class in 1997, instantly became hooked, and started teaching others how to weave in 1999. Chrystal specializes in unique gourd and contemporary baskets, as well as antler baskets, a great deal of which is special order consignment baskets. Always striving to expand her knowledge, she constantly experiments with new materials and techniques, in a multitude of basket forms.


Chrystal's original basket designs have been awarded numerous Best of Show awards, as well as winning several local, state and national awards. Partly because she always sneaks in lots of tips and techniques during class time and strives to make basket making a fun and stress-free time for all of her students, Chrystal has been given the nickname of "Montana Wild Woman" by her basket-weaving buddies and students.


Meet Chrystal during Whitefish Gallery Night, Thursday, October 6th, 2011 from 6-9 PM. Chrystal’s work will be displayed during the opening and throughout the month of October.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Horseshoe Nail Jewelry from Lisa Rideout



We are featuring work by Whitefish jewelry artist, Lisa Rideout during the month of September. Searching for a change of lifestyle for she and her son, Lisa Rideout decide to move from her home in Kansas City, Missouri, to Montana about eight years ago. As she readied herself for this huge change, her cousin gave her a cross made out of horseshoe nails to hang on the car’s rear view mirror. It became the symbol of family, strength and hope for their new life as they came across country, through the Rockies to the Flathead Valley. That trip was a long one and the horseshoe nails that dangled from the mirror became a great source of inspiration to her as she found a new home and settled in Whitefish.


One day, about five years ago, she discovered a box of rusty horseshoe nails in a friends barn sale and she snapped them up in a second—establishing the first inventory for RideOut’s HideOut, the name of Lisa’s creative business. She made gifts for family and friends from the horseshoe nails, and then moved on to selling necklace designs with the other jewelry she created as a hobby. Today, Lisa’s wearable art has grown from men and women’s neckware, to bracelets, to children’s necklaces and accessories. Each horseshoe nail is hand-crafted to fit a specific design in her product line, with the more elaborate pieces including colored wiring and crystals for that extra bit of bling we all love to show off once in a while! Her designs continue to evolve and change as customers repeat her visits and as new people discover her work.