Halloween has always been bizarre but now, in Prince George, it also has a bazaar.
The dark and creepy side of the arts will have a moment to shine in the black lights, at the first ever Spooktacular Halloween Bazaar. The two anchor vendors are also the main organizers. Dayna Slater of Boneyard Skullptures and Kellie Gunderson of Dark Art Oddities are the wyrd sisters who conjured up this art show and sale. The two operate commercial-scale creation studios at their homes. Both specialize in using (legally and ethically obtained) animal parts as an artistic medium and discovered quite by accident that they lived on the same street only two doors from each other.
Now they are setting up a one-day shop at Art Space and inviting all their handmaker friends to join them with macabre and mysterious manually-made merchandise.
"I hope, because it is the Halloween season, that people come with an open mind, wanting to enjoy themselves," said Slater. "This is craft fair season, and it's usually about Christmas things or frilly things or country things, but this is not the usual craft fair stuff. You've probably never seen a craft fair quite like this one."
They had no trouble filling up the entire space available for vendors. The audience - because it is as much about exhibiting their art as it is selling it - will be treated to about 20 different display tables, all of them from the loose genre called Vulture Culture.
"I think it's going to be a great mix of creepy and cute," said Slater, who emphasizes that the wares are not at all gruesome or ghastly. There is a lot of spookiness and eeriness but the solid stress is on creativity and the darkly brilliant local hands that made this unique array of art.
"We will have abstract work, papercraft, there's an artist that does unbelievable felt work, there is a leather crafter, metaphysical items, even crocheting and knitting. It's pretty diverse. I think people will be really entertained. I know if I make any money there, I'll probably spend it all before I leave the room," said Slater.
She and Gunderson are nonetheless the headliners, both of them with rich reputations for detail and flare in an excruciatingly difficult medium. They are using the event as an opportunity to tip their hats one to the other in mutual respect, and to differentiate each other for the patrons.
"We have been careful about what events we display at, because we never wanted to step on each other's toes," said Slater. "This time we will vend side by side so people can see we are not at all the same in our art, even though we work in the same genre."
The Spooktacular Halloween Bazaar happens Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Art Space (upstairs at Books & Company). They have an information page on Facebook.
