Art abounds at holiday open house

Cooking up fragrant batches of hot gingerbread waffles, Janet Zuelke and her fresh Christmas greens tables lured a festive crowd and their salivating pups to the annual Sisters Art Works Holiday Open House on Saturday.

A round, red-furred Santa greeted guests from the porch of the Sisters Art Works building, pausing to deliver the crowd some yuletide cheer and pose for Christmas snapshots with a colorful assortment of dogs, all to benefit the Furry Friends Foundation Pet Food Drive.

Inside, 19 vendors and artists opened up their studios and tables to holiday shoppers looking for unique, handcrafted items with a distinctive local magic. The Art Works rooms were overflowing with a bright array of gifts, all ripe for wrapping, from fused-glass earrings, glazed designer pottery, fir wreaths, artisan soaps, art cards, painted gourds, gourmet jellies and some beautiful watercolor and pastel pieces from Art Works resident artists.

"All our note cards are made by the Sisters chapter of the Philanthropic and Educational

Organization," said member Mimi Miller, pointing out her table's paper wares. "They're a nationwide humanitarian group dedicated to the distribution of educational scholarships for deserving women.

"We have a great new cookbook, too, just printed this summer called 'Savoring Sisters,' loaded with recipes and photos all contributed by local residents and restaurants. The cookbooks have been selling like hotcakes and we're already into our third printing. All proceeds from the book go to Sisters High School scholarships."

Upstairs, Bend artist Jennifer Aylward of "Just A Little Charm" was found displaying a shining collection of inspirational copper necklaces and earrings with an intriguing bit of history behind them.

"This is all recycled copper from the old Bend Bulletin newspaper building," she explained. "It was built in 1965 and stood for 35 years before it was torn down in 2001. This was the copper flashing that decorated the roof edge and I got lucky and stumbled across the salvage company that peeled it off the building when it was demolished. It's a beautiful medium to work in; you can rub decades of patina and tarnish off it in seconds. I bought about 170 feet of it so I'll never run out and when I do I'll retire."

Back downstairs, Sisters Art Works owner and event organizer, Kathy Deggendorfer, welcomed new friends and shoppers into her studio office, alive with a happy array of whimsical folk-art paintings, art cards and coffee mugs.

"We had great success this year with our holiday platter program," she said, waving to a cheery group of old acquaintances. "We sold over half of them this morning. This open house is always so fun because you always get to see people you never see all year long. Today was phenomenal hearing the Sisters High School Jazz Choir and all the Americana kids sing. I think we really beefed up the community music effort and all the artists did a great job. Plus, it's always cool to see what new things people have created all year."