Eclectic treasures for Creekside Park visitors

The showcase of fine arts and crafts that spread across the manicured lawns of Creekside Park drew in thousands of visitors on Saturday for the 17th annual Art in the Park, an added attraction for visitors to enjoy during rodeo weekend in Sisters.

More than 90 artisans displayed hundreds of pieces of original artwork, including paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, fiber, fine glass, woodwork, mixed media and photography.

People strolled through an eclectic variety of handmade treasures from metal art and wildlife photography to handcrafted silk scarves.

One of the things that makes an artist’s craftsmanship stand out among others is that there is a story present in every moment captured, and sometimes it takes an artistic eye to spot the moments worth capturing.

For caricature artists Lisa Dubitsky and husband Joseph Brady, sketching on-the spot likeness caricatures of people through their artistic eye captures that special moment by creating unique keepsakes. A caricature can take a family member’s personality and display it in a different way with a colorful representation of who they truly are.

“We are both artists from the time we were children, and we both had enthusiasm for drawing people,” Dubitsky told The Nugget. “We started Beyond Caricatures – On-the-Spot Likeness last year when we decided to collaborate out of our passion for drawing people. We use a special technique that makes our styles similar.”

Brady added, “We also use special paper from our own household scrap. We like to draw and paint using gauche media on that paper while doing a pencil drawing using a sketch pad.”

During her free time, Dubitsky enjoys painting in acrylics and has been in national juried shows. While Brady, who travels a lot, is drawn to sketching interiors of airports in ink, drawing people and their surroundings.

Many new artisans offered imaginative and unique goods for sale. One of them was Bend artist Rachel Dantona, owner of Hikerbooty, who puts together unique watercolors and illustrations that portray some of America’s National Scenic Trails and Oregon public lands.

“We are a collaborative group of artists, outdoorsmen and avid hikers. Our goal is (to) draw people to the outdoors and encourage them to protect our resources and to support our parks,” Dantona said.

She noted, “In 2015 I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and when I finished, I asked the association if they had maps of all the public land you can hike through and they didn’t, so I decided to make the illustrations myself. We have an advisory board of hikers that gives me suggestions of what their favorite areas are and then we draw out the hiking maps and paint them.”

Visitors and vendors tapped their feet to musical entertainment by Scott Brown, who plays a little bit of everything.

In between Brown’s sets visitors could hear soothing harmonic tones produced by a Native American flute handcrafted by Rupert Rez.

The flute played an integral role in the development of Native American culture. It was used for various purposes including healing, meditation, and even courtship. Many different materials were used to construct the Native American flute, and most were various woods such as redwood, cherry, or walnut, depending on the sound the player wanted it to produce.

Rez said, “I carve mine out of curly maple, walnut, cherry, purple heart. This is a hobby that I took up at 80 years old.”

Event organizer Richard Esterman was happy to have many new vendors this year.

“I have a lot of new art vendors and they are all doing great for the first show of the season with Creekside Park transformed into creativity through America’s artists and crafters,” he said. “Every year for 19 years Central Oregon Shows has strived to bring business to our community. Whether it’s tourists coming to the area or the artists, crafters themselves, they all contribute to our local economy.”