3/17/07 Tamarack, WV
If only I lived in West Virginia!
There is a fabulous state sponsored "tourist attraction" called Tamarack http://www.tamarackwv.com/ that supports working artists, sells their wares, sponsors working artists studios and is a general overall tourist attraction. What a jewel!
Text from its website....
Tamarack is the nation's first statewide collection of handmade craft, art and cuisine showcasing The Best of West Virginia.
Each time we head to North Carolina to visit our adult kids who live there, we plan at least two hours at Tamarack to take in the great art, eat a fabulous lunch and enjoy the artistic creativity found there. My husband Gene (the blacksmith) always enjoys talking to the smithy who works there.
This trip we found a fabulous new team of artists, Paul and Brenda Bonnes, of West Virginia, who colloborate to make great art combing wood, wood burning and painting. This trip I discovered their one of kind handpainted wooden box with the theme Diana: Goddess Protector of the Animals. The Sasafras wood box front is handpainted with a scene of the goddess Diana, crows, deer and the birchwoods and handcarved hinges and a handle made of handcarved cherry wood. Inside the door is a woodburning describing the boxes theme. There are two pull out drawers dovetailed in walnut and cherry (with two secret compartments underneath!) and a single shelf.
When I touched this box, I felt an immediate and intense electrical charge, like this box called out to me. I was so attracted to it, it was uncanny. I looked at the price and jumped back and walked away, knowing that the price was out of my budget. My husband said, "whoa what's going on. I've never seen you like this." He urged me to not walk away from this piece as he feared I would regret it. (I'm sure I would have.) We talked it over and decided that this would be my Valentine's Day, birthday, anniversary and Christmas present for the next two years. I believe I will store my sage and incense in this "mystical" box.
It was as if this box had been made for me and was waiting there for me until I found it. And like my friend, Marcia Perry says, "You have to risk buying others artwork in order for others to buy your work."
I think I will hang this box in entry way of my newly rennovated laundry room (between the laundry and the kitchen) where I will see it's beauty and mystery everytime I walk through my kitchen.
