Summer Faire brings crowds to Sisters

If there were worries about high gas prices keeping people home over the holiday weekend, they were allayed by attendance at the Sisters Summer Faire last Saturday and Sunday. Crowds were on par with previous years, according to Jeri Buckmann, coordinator of the event.

The Faire is sponsored by the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce. Buckmann has guided the event since 2000.

She said all of the vendors she talked to "did really well."

Buckmann said there were 95 booths, featuring handcrafted products, unique gifts and art works.

There were popular children's activities and live music featuring folk and cowboy music from Tony Lompa and flute music from Zesar.

Sisters resident and fine artist Barbara Berry was one of the presenters. Berry said she began drawing before she could write and now pursues her passion on a full-time basis.

She and her husband, Don, have lived in Sisters for 11 years. She has her studio at her home in Tollgate.

Berry loves Southwestern and Western art, since she also lived in New Mexico and Colorado.

She has a degree in art education from the University of Northern Colorado. She teaches private and group art lessons, classes at Central Oregon Community College, the Art Station and through SOAR (Sisters Organization for Activities & Recreation).

Her versatile work is done in many media including acrylics, oil and water colors. She wrote a book called "Water Colors 101."

Her current work includes what she calls a "Visual Haiku (Japanese poem)" that is done quickly and on a small canvas. She said the old painting masters used this method to learn painting techniques.

"People will recognize aspen trees as my work," she said.

Berry also paints plein air, which means "open air" in French.

Berry also does graphic design work for any project. She designs posters, and did one for the Sisters Rodeo in 2006 and the Summer Faire next year.

Her work can be seen at Soda Creek Gallery in Sisters, and in Bend at Sage Gallery or Mirror Pond Gallery.

The couple has one grownup daughter living in Pennsylvania.

Her business is called Raven Wing Graphics, http://www.barbaraberry.com.

Another artist at the Faire was Molly Kubista, who offers an unusual combination of art and history. She gathers old ledgers and other documents and paints Western scenes on them that reflect her Native American heritage.

The ledgers are usually from the 19th or early 20th century. Long before computers or even wide use of typewriters, companies and institutions employed people to keep track of all financial transactions and records.

The ledgers are written in beautiful script, with each flourish and swirl even and artistic in its own way.

Some of the ledgers she had were mining certificates from the Shaniko Mining Co., priced at $50 in 1922. Another set were the bookkeeping records for the Oregon Oil Refining Co., in Portland, done in 1892.

Kubista uses colored pencils, pen and ink, and acrylics to create her art. She allows the details of the ledger writing to be visible under her scenes.

Some examples of her depictions are a rider on a horse, hunting and battle scenes, or a treaty signing.

To preserve value, she makes no prints or copies of her work.

"Each piece is an original," the Crooked River resident said.

A problem is obtaining ledgers, since paper is thrown out or gets wet, she added.

Her work has been shown at the Smithsonian Institution, the Portland Art Museum and the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles.

Her work can be seen at Fred Meyer in Bend.

She grew up in the Seattle area and moved to Central Oregon 25 years ago.

Kubista doesn't have a Web site as she can't turn on a computer, but, as a member of the Samish tribe in the Seattle area, she noted, "I can kill a deer with a bow, take its brains out and turn it into a purse."