STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK The red wine stains still show on the barrel staves that Jack Sanborn used to build his rocking chairs. And, to reference their origin, he’s included cutaways for wine glasses on the arms of the lawn chairs he’s made from the staves. “I buy the barrels mostly from wineries in Central Washington,” he said. “They use them for six to eight years, then I buy them repurposing them into Adirondack-type chairs.”
|
Christopher Yancey worked on a sculpture featuring a favorite subject of his—dragons.
|
|
Sanborn, of Wildgrain Woodworking, is showcasing handsome patio furniture and an array of other woodcraft, including wine barrel tables, pub sets and swiveling bar stools, at the Ketchum Arts Festival this weekend at Festival Meadows on Sun Valley Road. The festival continues today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, July 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free children’s activities and live music are included. On Friday the festival lured hundreds of people who toured Colt Turpen’s tiny house furnished with his original woodwork and watched windsocks flutter in the breeze. Christopher Yancey of Weston, Idaho, meticulously chipped away at a sculpture depicting a dragon standing on a pedestal trying to protect its eggs from a Jack in the Beanstalk type climbing on the side of the pedestal.
|
Jack Sanborn and his children took a moment to enjoy his unique chairs made out of wine barrels.
|
|
Yancey, who uses a special paper and clay mix that he developed, has been sculpting since a youngster when he sculpted his mashed potatoes into fanciful forms. As an adult, he began sculpting miniature scenery and terrain that he sold to tabletop wargamers after he tired of working for a dental lab sculpting crowns and bridgework. “I like things that remind me of childhood and fun and fantasy,” said Yancey, who also does custom relief murals and portraits. Marie Sexton, who splits her time between Sun Valley and Santa Barbara, showed off her statement pendant necklaces, which boast such pendants as a vintage Italian Guardian Angel coin and a Tibetan horse that she collects on travels around the world. “My five-in-one necklace is one that you can wear five ways,” she said.
|
Barbara Kline showed off one of her Wagon Days works featuring some of the beautiful buttons in her mother’s button collection.
|
|
Barbara Kline showed off artwork boasting Ketchum’s Big Hitch ore wagons, along with a handful of elegant buttons from her mother’s button collection. “All the wheels on the wagons reminded me of the buttons. They used to make such beautiful buttons. I even have some square buttons on some of my pieces,” said Kline who makes fanciful photographs by combining two images. “Buttons are so fun and kids are all about buttons.” Alison Rosen was among several vendors hawking creams and edible items. Her new items include her African black soap, which she concocted using a powder from Ghana containing elements of plantain skins and cocoa pod, along with other ingredients.
|
Marie Sexton creates a line of Taylor J. Grant Design jewelry.
|
|
“It’s a game changer,” she said. “Touch my face. See how soft it is? This is the kind of thing you need in a climate like ours.”
|