ARTISANS ALL

You see the evidence all over.

Whether it's an eye-catching wall hanging in a North Idaho restaurant or handmade wildlife figurines atop a friend's bookcase, the message seems clear.

The urge to create thought-provoking decorative objects burns bright in the Inland Northwest. "Our area is very craft-oriented," said Joanne Riepl, manager at a Spokane store selling supplies to painters, candle makers and others. "And we have some very talented people here." Chances are, you knew that. In this largely processed and packaged world, aesthetic self- expression thrives here. OK, not all of us are drawn to pine-log grizzly bears sculpted with chainsaws or holiday ornaments fashioned from abandoned bird nests. And certainly a case could be made that the value of such pieces is more ephemeral than lasting. But "Is it art?" isn't the right question. That's because craft objects fill a different niche than self- consciously important museum-quality works. For one thing, in the world of crafts, the opinions of scholars and critics are essentially irrelevant. If the crafter enjoys the creative process and a passer-by at a bazaar takes a shine to the finished product, well, that's all that matters. Anyone who has been charmed by some intriguing homemade knickknack at a crafts fair might understand. Sometimes it's a clever design that catches the eye. Or it could be the simple surprise or even amazement that someone could construct an elegant figure out of, say, scrap metal. There's something about certain well-executed pieces that stops people in their tracks and prompts them to ask, "How'd you make that?" Some artisans' creations are a source of steady profit. For them, pottery or macrame aren't so much a means of self-expression as a livelihood. For others, however, the payoff has more to do with seeing appreciative expressions on the faces of strangers. Of course, there's risk involved. Showing an arts and crafts project to others places the creator in a highly vulnerable position. Even well-intentioned onlookers sometimes say the wrong thing. But for crafters whose visions connect with people - even if it is just a few people - there's a satisfaction and affirmation that's hard to beat. "Did you make this?" "Uh-huh." "I really like it." "Thank you." There are those among us who have something original to say in a language that doesn't use words. Meet some of them today in IN Life. SUE ROLONDO SPOKANE Sue Rolondo makes spirit leaves out of maple, each with a personal message. "All of the leaves are made with specific buyers in mind," she says. "I have done leaves to commemorate the loss of a child, births, weddings, graduation. They are all very personal to me and to the people who order them." Her clients, numbering over 50, come from all over: Kentucky, Illinois, Idaho, Oregon, Washington. "Right now I just sell them through my Web site and by word of mouth. I am considering participating in an art show." The 43-year-old Rolondo has only been making spirit leaves out of her Spokane home for two years. "One day when I was drawing on a paper bag on the table, my daughter (4 years old at the time) suggested I use a maple leaf instead," she says. And a business was born. But the mother of two other daughters says it's more than that. "I am inspired by God, children and nature. They are inspiring to me." And compassion, the urge to create for others, helps keep her going, she says. GINGER LEETCH POST FALLS Ginger Leetch began making quilts some 30 years ago, but didn't get hooked until she took a class and started making baby quilts for her grandchildren two decades ago. Now, the 63-year-old Post Falls retiree teaches quilting and finds the craft very satisfying. "I really like to make a quilt for somebody," she says. "I just think about them as I'm doing it. "I think I enjoy teaching just about the most of everything," she says. "I only wish I had started earlier. It's kind of a spiritual thing." And it fulfills a creative urge, she says, and is relaxing. "I just like everything about it." Leetch finds inspiration in new ideas and books. She gives a lot of her quilts away to family members and friends, but also displays quite a few at her home. "I live in a padded house," Leetch says. She and her husband, Earl, have two grown daughters. ART DELBUONO SPOKANE Art Delbuono wrestles with metal. The 75-year-old retiree enjoys building giant leaf sprays, which feature a main branch or two with numerous little ones. Some hold 30 to 50 leaves, while the largest sprout hundreds, either in copper or steel. One of his big ones covers a large portion of an outside wall at his Spokane Valley home. Delbuono also builds sunflowers with copper hubs and brass petals; tea carts out of steel; single-stem flowers out of copper, brass and stainless steel; floor and table lamps, and candleholders. He began metal working some 56 years ago when he joined the Navy: "The Navy is noted for making odds and ends, and I got started then. Wherever I worked, I started something on the side." He also worked for 31 years as a welder and sheet metal mechanic at Krueger Sheet Metal in Spokane, and for another eight years at the Bunker Hill Mine in Idaho in the mine machine shop and underground. "I don't consider myself an artisan, I just do some metal work," he says. "Whatever I see, I think I can make." He likes to stay busy - "tinkering, not at hard work. ...I enjoy it. I won't stay idle." For a friend, this veteran of World War II and the Korean War put together a mailbox that looks like an old camera with billows. Delbuono also created a Christmas tree out of car manufacturer emblems taken off wrecked and broken-down vehicles. It's about 5 feet high, a solid mass of symbols decorated with clear lights. Spaulding's puts it up in its lobby at Christmas. He's sold a few pieces - when someone asks to buy one. Mostly, though, he gives stuff away. Last month, he and his wife, Rosemarie, celebrated their 53rd anniversary. They have two daughters and five grandchildren. SCOTT TAYLOR SPOKANE Scott Taylor turns old truck mufflers and scrap metal into fish wall hangings. About seven years ago, he became inspired by some metal sculptures he saw in Portland, thinking "I can do something like that." His first creation was a palm tree. Then the self-professed "fishing nut" turned to his passion for art ideas. Holding a chunk of metal one day, he envisioned how to shape it into a fish. But he can't explain why he did it. "I just wanted to and I don't know why. I thought it would be neat to make something nice and hang it over the mantel," he says. Now the 32-year-old makes several species, each as realistic as possible. "I really enjoy doing it and it makes me feel good to take a beat- up old piece of exhaust pipe and turn it into something that's shiny and realistic looking," he says. Plus, all his troubles get set aside when he works on them. Taylor, the service manager at Husky International Trucks, displays some at home and gives others away to friends and relatives. Once, he had one hanging in his office when a customer saw it and insisted on buying it. But that's the only one he's sold so far. He and his wife, Siri, live in Spokane's Shadle Park neighborhood with their son, Trevor, 6. RONNA ROBERTSON MOSCOW Ronna Robertson's passion is lace. The Moscow fiber artist crafts many kinds: tatted lace, which is knotted; bobbin lace (also called pillow lace), which is woven; Tenerife lace, which is created on a round form like a web; Battenburg lace, another needle lace like Tenerife; and knitted lace, which is a loop lace made with a very fine double-pointed knitting needle and thread. And those are just a handful of the laces she creates. She says she enjoys "being able to play with different kinds of fibers, beads . . . and colors." Robertson also makes pine-needle baskets, weaving them from the eight-harness floor loom at her home. The 55-year-old first discovered the world of lace while in her 20s. Soon after marrying, she found a tin box in her husband's family belongings that contained a tatting shuttle, thread, several finished pieces and one in progress. She was fascinated with the find and became determined to learn how to complete the unfinished project. Now, creating is a big part of her life. She enjoys the challenge of putting together different laces and coming up with something new. "I frame a lot of my pieces," Robertson says of her designs, many of which are 8-by-8 inches or a bit bigger. She has some 10 hanging in her home. She says she gives away a lot of lace. "I like to use it for gifts for people who understand how it's made." She also adds strips of lace and collars to clothing, and she makes table runners, among other items. Robertson also teaches weaving, lace-making and pine-needle basketry in Moscow at The Needle Nook and the University of Idaho. She says she gets great satisfaction "being able to learn something to pass along to another generation." She's also the six-state regional director for the International Lacers Inc., an organization with some 1,700 members. She sells some lace through her church, where the profits are given to Habitat for Humanity. She also sells some through the Palouse Hills Weavers Guild when the group has a show (the next one is Nov. 19-21 at The Needle Nook). The retired math teacher and her husband, Don, are the parents of two married daughters. CELIA BENZEL RITZVILLE Celia Benzel quilts - just about anything. Dresses, vests, jackets, T-shirts, table runners, pillows, baby quilts and bed quilts (oblong, square and round). She says it's a great release from stress and a comforting activity that is functional and practical. "I came from a family that quilted," she says. "It's a traditional family activity." She began sewing at age 7 and quilting at 17. Now it's a business, too. Benzel describes herself as the "owner, creator, buyer and janitor" of Garden Gate Quilt and Craft Shop in Ritzville. But since she finds quilting relaxing, it's doesn't seem like work, she says. Plus, she enjoys sharing quilting ideas with others. Benzel displays some of her creations at home and at her shop and gives some as gifts to people who are special in her life. But she doesn't sell any. She will create a custom design to sell, but she keeps originals for special gifts. She and her husband are the parents of a 10-year-old son and twin 5-year-old daughters. ROBERT JASPERSON SPOKANE Robert Jasperson is a man of many hobbies. He carves biplanes, jets and other airplanes out of wood; sculpts clay mushrooms; makes pencil drawings of animals; and builds birdhouses as gifts for friends and neighbors. He's also a photographer and writer of essays and short stories. Plus, he refinishes antiques. "I have a lot of fun with it and it stimulates my 8-year-old grandson," Jasperson says. "My father passed away four years ago and he inspired me to reach inside and see what I have there. We all have that ability." He got his creative urge some 23 years ago with antique refinishing. He's busiest this time of year. "I made golf gag gifts for six brothers last year. At Christmas, I'm real busy. I want to set a good example for my family." He never sells anything. "It's a personal thing to me. When I make something, it goes as a gift," he says. "My dad taught me if you do something for profit it takes some of the fun out." Jasperson and his wife moved here from Montana six years ago. They have two children, a 31-year-old daughter and 28-year-old son. Away from home, the 24-year Postal Service veteran delivers mail out of the Manito Post Office. TOM EDWARDS SPOKANE Tom Edwards designs and produces charms, most in sterling silver but some in gold, bronze and brass. Some of his charms sport moving parts. Designs with a quilt theme - sewing machines, scissors, thimbles, etc. - are his biggest sellers, he says. "I like to produce quality, detail things that people would like - not mass-produced," he says. Edwards learned some jewelry-making in high school and continued the craft in college. He honed his skills while working at a jewelry manufacturing company in downtown Spokane for years but decided to go out on his own after he and his wife, Jane, had children. Tom, 40, now works out of his South Hill home and at his nearby shop. Jane, 38, travels to about six big craft shows a year around the country to sell Tom's work. At a typical show, hundreds of pieces will sell, with prices mostly from $6 to $30, but some up to $70. They sell little in the Northwest, though dozens of pieces are now on display at Wonders of the World in Spokane's Flour Mill. "Bills have a lot to do with it," Tom says of his full-time jewelry work. "The creative part is what I like. Manufacturing is not so much fun. Selling is fun, too." In a typical week preparing for a show, Edwards will produce 200 to 300 pieces a day. He does go on some trips with Jane, but not while their youngest child, a sixth-grader, is in school. Their other two children are in college. One of Tom's other creative outlets is sand sculpting. He's won several contests, one earlier this year in Coeur d'Alene. Jane has her artwork, too: woodcarving and embroidery. She carves Santas, Nativity scenes, snowmen - mostly small pieces no taller than 6 inches. She doesn't follow any patterns, though. "I just make it up as I go along," she says. SUE ROHRBACK MILLWOOD Sue Rohrback paints - at city parks, along the side of the road, anywhere. She's been just about everywhere within 20 miles of Spokane, either with her camera or easel. She makes portraits and scenes in water media (watercolors and gouache) and acrylics. Rohrback also teaches painting at Spokane's Corbin Art Center and works on commercial illustrations between sessions. "I just have fun," she says. So what's her creative inspiration? "It makes me whole, like a musician needs to play music to be fulfilled. I get a lot of fulfillment out of teaching. "I make my living out of it, too," she says. "It's a nice way to make a living - doing your passion and getting paid for it." Rohrback first came by art through a learn-to-draw book she received as a present as a child of 10 or so. "The results I got from that, I was off and running. I started pursuing it seriously in college. Once you have the basics, you grow from the artist that's within. You express your soul. You share that with people and you hope they enjoy what they're seeing." She also enjoys creating art with others. "I gather a group of friends, usually on Thursdays," she says. Anywhere from five to 12 go out and paint. "We grow as we look right ahead of us and see what we need to paint," Rohrback says. You can see some of her artwork at Colburn's Gallery in downtown Spokane. The Millwood mother of three boys has been married 24 years, only admitting to being old enough "to be happy to still be living." JOANNE RIEPL SPOKANE Since learning tole painting eight years ago, Joanne Riepl has become so skilled that she now teaches the art. Tole, once practiced solely on tin, now is most familiar as decorative wood painting and involves watercolors and pen and ink. "I lean toward country-cutesy types of things," Riepl says of her artwork. "Anything you'd put up in your house as decoration." The 48-year-old, who has lived in north Spokane all her life, has been creative since childhood. "I've always liked to draw from the time I was a kid. My sister and I would design paper dolls and I just expanded out from there." Riepl says tole painting is "very relaxing." Plus, "It's an easy thing to teach other people." She finds inspiration for her art in her grandchildren, reading and from other people's ideas. "Stories that I've read will put a picture in my mind of things. I've always been a visual person." Now, she's putting out her own pattern packets. "It's gratifying to have someone else want to buy your designs," she says. "Someone recently asked me to autograph something. That was a real thrill." Riepl says she's a fast painter. "I always like to get something finished because there's always something else to do. It's not as time-consuming as cross-stitch or knitting. I can have something done in an hour." But she doesn't like to sell her artwork. "I usually make things and give them as gifts. I have a lot of it hanging around (home). I occasionally sell with a friend at a booth, but I don't want to put myself in competition with my customers." Riepl, who has three children and three grandchildren, works at Columbia Cycle and Hobby in Spokane as the craft department manager. JANET DOUGHTY AND FAWN BRASHEARS GRAND COULEE,ELECTRIC CITY Janet Doughty and Fawn Brashears create "nut people." Truth be told, they're nut ornaments. But everybody calls them nut people. They're so popular in the Grand Coulee area that many folks have a collection - not just one or two. Some cover their whole Christmas trees with the mother-and-daughter creations. Once, Doughty, 64, and Brashears, 46, tried to quit making them, but their fans objected - strongly. "People made me feel so bad that I'd be breaking tradition," Doughty says. The creation process is fairly simple. Mother and daughter use walnuts for the body and hazelnuts or filberts for a head. They halve and clean out the walnut and glue it back together. Then they glue the (nut) heads on and paint and decorate the figure to create all kinds of characters. Every year they try to figure out what's popular and make nut ornaments in that theme. They've done Raggedy Ann, squirrels, skunks, snowmen and women (Frosty and Crystal), Mr. Claus, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds with sheep, the Three Wise Men, Christmas bears, cowboys and cowgirls, and Winnie the Pooh characters. Their enterprise began over 20 years ago. "It was something to do and we wanted to get away from the things everyone else did," Doughty says. But there's a longer history: When Doughty was a girl growing up outside Sheridan, Wyo., her mother used to make Christmas ornaments from nuts "because we didn't have a lot." One year, her mother asked her to make a snowman out of nuts - an idea that caught on again a generation later. "A lot of it's a labor of love and I don't want to break tradition," Doughty says. At first, they gave the nut people away to friends, but the ornaments proved so popular they started selling them. Nowadays, they sell them at two holiday bazaars in the Grand Coulee area. Doughty, who lives in Grand Coulee, has four children: Fawn and three sons. She works at A.E. Wright Elementary School in Coulee Dam. Brashears works for the post office in Nespelem. She and her husband live in Electric City and have a daughter and two sons. BILL SANDERS SPOKANE Bill Sanders assembles bronze sculptures of lifesize African figures. The 63-year-old single retiree has always been an artist, painting and using a variety of other media. But bronze sculpting, he says, is "easy for me." Plus, the art form has one big attraction for someone seeking long-lasting fame: "It's more eternal." He's been working with bronze for the past two decades because, he says, it's "something to do." He keeps his work on display at his Spokane home, though he says all are for sale. There is one hitch - the lions weigh some 500 to 600 pounds. TOI MULLIGAN SPOKANE Toi Mulligan first began creating floral arrangements while growing up in Vietnam surrounded by flower vendors. Only about 9 years old, she couldn't resist the beauty of the flowers. And she still can't. The 56-year-old owner of the Gilded Lily Florist Shop in Spokane says of flower arranging: "I like to create beauty for the world to enjoy." Plus, there are those personal rewards. "I enjoy it so much," Mulligan says, that she can lose herself in it. Although she spends quite a bit of time on marketing for her shop, she finds opportunities to create some arrangements to sell in her store and to keep for herself at her North Side home. She and her husband, Philip, have one son, Shawn, 21. Mulligan also works as an interpreter, speaking Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin, and is one of the founders of the Vietnamese Buddhist Temple. LEE HARRIS BONNERS FERRY Lee Harris began drawing as soon as she could pick up a pencil. Years later, at age 12, she took art lessons. Nowadays, the Bonners Ferry resident sculpts in marble, alabaster, natural-shed moose antler and snow. "I was raised in Montana and I had a creative restlessness in me," Harris says. "My father was an avid outdoorsman, and he provided me with antlers and hides and recognized my artistic abilities." Montana's natural beauty also supplied some inspiration. "I can't not create and be happy," she says. "I need to create or something is missing." She focuses on wildlife and western themes. "They usually have action of one kind or another - cowboys roping or herding, jumping fish, grizzlies squaring off. "People like moose antlers. Some are used as handles on baskets a friend makes," she says. The married grandmother works out of her studio at home. Art is her business, too. She has shows coming up in Del Ray Beach, Fla., and at the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Mont. "I try to look at it as a business and keep the joy," she says. She sells most of her work, but not all. "I set them up around the house as I make them," she says. "There are certain pieces I won't sell." SARAH SWEET MOSCOW Sarah Sweet delights in creating tapestries. The 37-year-old Moscow homemaker says her wall-hanging artistry "evolved from looking for a way to draw pictures with fiber." "It's the way I make pictures - using yarn, not paint," she says. Sweet, who first started tapestry work eight years ago, finds it endlessly interesting. "My tapestries are built of the people and places and fiber that fill my world, frequently to the point of overflowing," she says. She says of tapestries: "I find them to be intensely feminine - tapestries curve, they flow, they can even keep you warm. There is also something particularly satisfying in the rhythm of building a tapestry." She sells some, keeps others at home and displays still more in shows all over the world. Sweet and her husband are the parents of a 9-year-old son.

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