Artists shine at CCCAC sale | News, Sports, Jobs

Aidan Reilly/Daily Mining Gazette
Bobbi Shirey’s work reflects the stunning vistas afforded by a visit to the Lake Superior with striking blues and blends of color to match the sunsets.

The Copper Country Community Arts Center’s 47 Annual Poor Artists Sale featured 64 artists this past Saturday at the CLK schools gymnasium.

Tantalizing scents from soap producers and essential oils filled the air in a packed crowd around noon, while the visual compositions of photographers and painters showcased landscapes of the Copper Country, Lake Superior and wildlife in detail and vibrant colors. Ceramicists’ stacked shelves with glossy glazed bowls and figures. Woodworkers displayed furniture, ornaments and decorative hangings suitable for any Northwoods home. Writers, metalworkers, jewelers, musicians and more rounded out a cross section of regional professional creatives.

“That’s reflective of the diversity of talent in art in our area,” said Stephanie Carpenter, president of the board of directors of the CCCAC. “People are working in all kinds of exciting new media, some of whom have been at for a long time. Definitely having a range of options is important to us and making sure everyone has a space where they can set up and shine.”

And shine they did, many artists noted this event as one of the highlights of their season and their year as a whole in terms of sales, but also as lovers of art and the region.

Emery Harris of Wild Hunt Ironworks and Custom Cutlery designs knives and pendants and was happy to have seen many of his pieces out of the display cases. Participating in the sale for his third year, Harris turned to metalwork in the midst of the pandemic and found a new career. His knives are complete with hand-carved wooden handles.

Aidan Reilly/Daily Mining Gazette
Robert Viele’s jewelry uses local minerals, like Yooperlite in his necklaces and rings.

The Poor Artists Sale afforded vendors an opportunity to interact with a large number of community members and other artists in the area.

Carpenter spoke to the strength of the local arts community and the role the CCCAC plays in promoting their mission of “fostering an environment where arts and people grow together.”

“We feature local artists in the galleries and in the shop and what we’re doing with the Poor Artists Sale is trying to make once a year a larger market for vendors and for the public to come and find new artists or old favorites.”

Charles Eshbach, a photographer and author, said he had been part of the Poor Artist’s Sale since the second or third year when it was held in the ballroom at the Dee Stadium. With a background in forestry and a career in photography, Eshbach’s work featured looming stands of trees that stretched up into the canopy, detailed shots of lightning scarred logs and an ecological story book from the perspective of an eastern white pine sapling he found on his property.

The natural world was inherent in nearly every piece of art, as the region seems to inform and inspire its residents.

Aidan Reilly/Daily Mining Gazette
Savannah Hendrickson (left) and Carla Muonio of Jeffers High School volunteer to help sell greeting cards made by Copper Country Arts students, a project spearheaded by the Copper Country Education Association.

Painter Bobbi Shirey was participating for just her third year at the Poor Artist’s Sale. After having given up a 40-year career as a hair stylist, a move to the Upper Peninsula offered her the chance to pursue her creative passions. An array of intense blues, stretched out into distant horizons as Shirey reflected the power and beauty of Lake Superior. She said her desire to create is a personal feeling, but that it is also definitely informed by her surroundings.

“Our whole move here impacted my artwork, because of Lake Superior. Being here, especially at this show, I think people can connect more because they live near Lake Superior.”

Robert Viele of Silverthumb Jewelry displayed hundreds of minerals in rings, pendants and necklaces. Many of the minerals he found scouring the shores of Lake Superior. A number of his pieces utilized the U.P.’s famous Yooperlight, as well as greenstone and native copper.

Bonnie Loukus, assistant director of the CCCAC, noted the importance of the in-person experience for longstanding professionals and newcomers alike.

“Say you come into the Art Center and you buy someone’s work, well you interact with us and we can tell you about the artist, when you’re here you can see who makes the work, you get to know them, you get to ask them questions and then there’s that personal relationship that’s developed and people are more likely to support them in the future and understand where this came from and who made it. There’s a story behind it and that’s what people want.”