Art in the Park serves up wide variety of crafts

A showcase of fine arts and crafts that spread across the manicured lawns of Creekside Park drew in scores of folks to enjoy 75 vendors at Sisters annual Art in the Park event, during rodeo weekend in Sisters.

Folks strolled through an eclectic variety of handmade treasures from metal art and whimsical bird houses to handmade upcycled metal art.

Junk to Jems designer, Marianne Prodehl, a new vendor from Bend, handcrafts jewelry using mixed metals.

"I really do craft old junk metal into jewelry," Prodehl said smiling.

Prodehl has been upcycling metal into stunning designs of jewelry for four years. Her studio is at The Workhouse in Bend, a creative space with open active work studios.

"It all started in the garage. One day I decided to cut up my husband's old red toolbox. I designed earrings out of that old metal," Prodehl said. "Discarded copper wire from a job site became hoops and pendants. I learned how to hammer and solder. I mix a lot of metals into my designs."

Prodehl loves rocks and gems and has incorporated them into metal rings and pendants.

Mountain Bear Trading owner Doug Mountain Bear Stack, from Sutherlin, Oregon, handcrafts everything from elk-hide jackets to blacksmithing high-quality hand-forged knives and tomahawks. He's part Cherokee and related to Daniel Boone, the American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman.

"My aunt did our whole family tree and I am related to Boone on my mother's side," Bear Stack told The Nugget.

"I make my products from elk and other animal hides. And every animal I hunt I use for food. I use every part of the animals to craft clothing, tools and jewelry," Bear Stack added.

He learned how to hunt and fish at age four. He designs jackets and pants out of elk and deer hides and sews them all together with an 1800s treadle sewing machine.

Visitors and vendors tapped their feet to musical entertainment provided by Jim Cornelius.

New vendors Peter Sibbett and his wife, Jeannie, from Tacoma, Washington, showcased hundreds of solid cedar wood puzzles underneath their huge tent.

Sibbett, his wife, and their four children work together to make jigsaw puzzles out of Peter's amazing photos. They use salvaged and re-purposed cedar, white fir and maple logs. The whole family contributes to these wonderfully unique Northwest puzzles.

"I take big slabs of wood and hand-slice them into boards," said Peter. "I mount my photos and cut the patterns into jigsaw-puzzle pieces that go into a cedar box that I designed and had patented."

"Peter and I travel thousands of miles each year capturing wildlife, glacier lakes, city skylines and more. I have always loved puzzles, and when my passion for puzzles met my husband Peter's skill in engineering and photography, Sibbett Studio was born," Jeannie said.

Oscar Martinez and Fabiola Alavez from Bend brought homemade items from Mexico.

"Our family who lives in Mexico sends us clothing and other items to sell," Alavez said.

The couple also belongs to The Bend Aztec Dance Group and performed a traditional Aztec prayer and ritual dance with Isaiah, another member, on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, to a crowd of spectators.

"The ritual dance we performed is more of a lifestyle practice dance," said Isaiah. "We perform dances throughout Oregon and are based in Bend. The dance has a lot of elements of teaching philosophy and a history of the forgotten people of the Aztec."

The dancer's regalia, or costumes, were handmade by each performer. Each headdress was made from pheasant feathers.

"Each feather represents a prayer or a specific teaching," Isaiah said.

Event organizer Richard Esterman was happy the weather held up with only a few sprinkles throughout the weekend event, though he acknowledged that the chilly conditions reduced traffic from last year's numbers.

"Regardless of the weather, it's a fact that events like this bring curiosity to travelers and locals alike. I enjoy bringing people together in a creative atmosphere in the hopes the arts and creativity will not be lost by modern technology."