Sometimes a favourite mug can feel like an old friend, cupped in your hand, steaming with hot drink, getting you through the day.
Sometimes there's a painting you gaze at on the wall that is worth more to you than the wall itself. If there was a house fire, you'd be pulling it to safety as you fled the scene, clutching it like a treasure.
Sometimes there is a unique cooking sauce that is so invigorating to the tongue it caused you to learn more about all the ingredients and temperatures that work with it, you upped your kitchen confidence and nutrition, and now mealtime is the activity you look forward to most - all because of that bottle in the fridge.
These are the experiences that ring forth out of Studio Fair. Whenever the cash register beeps at one of the 100-or-so artisan boutiques in the Civic Centre this weekend, another piece of personally handcrafted art is going out into the world to make stories, touch hands and hearts, and stimulate life for someone.
It might be an installation sculpture valued at thousands of dollars, it might be a key chain, or anything in between, but every single object in the Studio Fair realm was homemade by the person you just bought it from. There is blood, sweat, spirit and intellect built into every one.
Caitlin Bodewitz grew up not far from Studio Fair. She is much younger than the art mega-show's 39 years so she has never known life without it, born and raised in the Azu Village area north of the city. She went off to launch a professional artist's career in Alberta under the name CMBPrintWorks, and last year earned herself a spot in her hometown juried fair. Her silkscreening, painting, mixed media and artistic upgrading of common worldly items was one of the hits of the 2014 edition. Organizers couldn't wait to get her back.
"We got some very positive feedback about having her in Studio Fair, and her work is just stunning," said Studio Fair's chief organizer Lisa Redpath, project co-ordinator for the Community Arts Council. "We hoped she would reapply, we knew the jury would think her quality high enough to be included again, and we're excited she is with us again this year."
Bodewitz said her work has evolved in the past year. She gets to a handful of major shows in Alberta but Studio Fair is special because of the familiarity.
"I loved to see people recognizing the Pine Pass in my work or other local scenery. I've been building a good level of interest in my work so far, but I'll wait until after this market to really know how the base is building, because people there know art and they know me a little bit. Studio Fair will be telling, I think. I'm definitely coming with a couple more larger one-of-a-kind pieces. I always bring along my Wise Words series, my Balance series, but in addition to that I'll have some special pieces I'm excited to test out on P.G."
Andrew Riddle lives and works with wood in Powell River under the title RiddleWoodWorks, but he used to live near 100 Mile House and has been a past vendor at Studio Fair. He was last here in 2008 but kept feeling the pull to come back to the north for this extraordinary event. He is curious to see how Studio Fair audiences respond compared to other artist/artisan showcases he's been to lately.
"I've been at this full-time since 1999. That is something in the art business," he said. "Definitely in the last seven years, the craft business has been on a slow decline. I don't know if the market has been getting saturated on the low end by the big-box retailers selling cheap factory items. Maybe it's just a dip in the overall economy. I don't know. But as an artist entrepreneur, you almost have to train each new customer about the difference between personally handmade arts items versus cheap factory items. At Studio Fair, that won't be the case. Most people there will know all about that. That's why they're there."
Riddle has some insulation against the biggest problem most rookie artisan customers experience: sticker shock. He has a wide range of prices, because he has a wide range of products, all of them somehow involving wood.
It takes some people awhile to grasp the quality that is infused in artist-made consumer products. Yes you can get a sweater at a big-box store for less than $10 sometimes, but it was made in a factory, punched out in bulk orders, with little regard for how long it will last in the consumer's hands. A sweater made instead by a single artisan, from hand-prepared wool obtained from local farmers, then crafted meticulously by a master maker from this community, who is accountable in person to whomever buys it - that item will be significantly more expensive. But it might be the best garment you own and become a family heirloom.
"People send my products all around the world, because they are so representative of B.C., of this part of the world," Riddle said. Cribbage boards are his main item, and salmon is his main shape, but he has a wide variety beyond those things. "I'm going to bring up a whole bunch of stuff you can't find on the Internet (he does a lot of online business) so I hope people come out to see what I've got."
Even products that are ephemeral - eaten and gone (but unforgettable) - get special focus at Studio Fair. In the past several years, the popular demands of the audience have led organizers to invite a certain number of culinary artists as well. Unique, handcrafted food products make Studio Fair smell and taste like never before.
These products, too, come with higher quality craftsmanship than their supermarket versions. Personalization and attention to detail are two of the things these products get from their masterful creators, even when it's something as simple as potato chips.
"A lot of times I hear that they taste like a chip is supposed to taste, not like a factory processed them," said Neal Harkins of Rootables Chips. He is also a chef at the Whistler Conference Centre. He makes chips out of potatoes of course, but also out of parsnips, beets, yams, sweet potatoes, taro root, occasionally baked kale, and then comes the seasonings, which really sets them apart. His flavours include white truffle, zesty bruschetta, garam masala curry, and many more.
Many of the ingredients in his handmade snacks come from California or Hawaii, but as much as possible he sources it from B.C. farms. With the whole family pitching in to help, this artisan enterprise is supporting local economies and teaching business skills to the next generation.
"I used to make them for one of the hotels I worked at. That's how I started at it," he said. "Then my wife and I have three kids in sports so we started doing it as a little extra thing to help us with those costs. Every year was bigger and bigger. We sell them at farmers' markets mostly, and now we're sold from Ladner to Whistler, sometimes four markets in a day."
This is Harkins's first trip to Studio Fair.
For Bodewitz, it's a business venture but doubles as a trip home to connect with family and friends.
"Oh gosh, I wish I was back there more," she said. "We made a big trip up in the summer, we try to come in the Christmas season, and now if Studio Fair becomes a regular thing I have added a big new reason to come back for a third time each year. I won't argue with it; it's excellent."
To reacquaint yourself with favourite artists and artisans, or to meet new ones, Studio Fair's doors are open today from
10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday
(10 a.m. to 6 p.m.), and Sunday (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Admission is $3 per day, and kids under 12 can attend for free.
