STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Mick Whitcomb scours the country for relics like 1800s surveyor’s equipment to create utilitarian sculptures out of 19th century machines and scientific instruments. He adds light to many with exact reproductions of Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla’s incandescent bulbs.
Justin Key began exploring the sands of Colorado and New Mexico after moving to Henderson, Colo., from Wisconsin a few years ago.
He fell in love with the stark forms created by sand and sand dunes, which he describes as “a hellish landscape—a collection of particles beholden to the wind an ever-shifting mass of chaos.” Still, he said, they are beautiful, and that’s why he’s showcasing them at the Sun Valley Arts and Crafts Festival running through Sunday at Ketchum’s Atkinson Park.
“Walking through sand dunes is like walking through the brushstrokes of a painting,” he said.
This year’s arts festival has plenty of new artists to peruse. Among them Joshua S. Rodine, who says he drew inspiration for his colorful plants-in-a-vase glass works from the nature outside his home near Ashland, Ore.
And blacksmith Peter Clark creates heavy-duty blue-tinted carbon steel saute, chef’s and fry pans at his Homestead Sprigs Farm and Forge in Northeast Oregon along the Oregon Trail.
There are a handful of local artists, as well, including Christopher Brown with his exquisitely detailed pencil sketches of iconic images like the red barn in Sun Valley. The booth of Stanley woodworker Sean Peterson is always bustling with people checking out his wooden bowls, which bring a bit of nature into the home.
Hailey artist Barbara Kline, meanwhile, has expanded her unique line of hand-colored photographs to include works depicting the Sun Valley Opera House and Sun Valley Lodge.
The festival continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14.