By Mitchell Peters
AMHERST - The sun was shining and downtown Amherst was filled with artisans looking to showcase their various skills on Saturday at the Amherst Artisans Market.
Jean Harrison was selling glass jewelry. Harrison has been making jewelry, and sea glass art for a year and a half. This is her second Amherst Artisans market.
“I have been collecting sea glass for years and I just decided to start doing something with it. I work at making the jewelry and spend hours collecting for it, it is a hobby. Out of all the pieces I have found red is the rarest.”
Harrison also has a small collection of beached pottery, one of her favorite finds is a small shard of pottery with painted sailboats. It is now a pin, but not for sale.
Amy Comeau also sells jewelry, and has been doing so since 2012, however she only began selling at the end of last summer.
“My grandfather made the stands for me, and I go online and buy supplies. I work at it off and on. My favorite part is the seeing all the people.”
Roseann Mackenzie was selling sea glass art and pottery. She was also doing 1 Tarot card energy readings – a skill she learned from her grandmother and has been practicing for 20 years. Her grandmother used to use a deck of playing cards for her readings.
“It’s a spiritual calling.” That ‘s what got Mackenzie into it. Mackenzie said that it’s almost as if she has a responsibility to use her gift.
This is her first fair, but she has been doing Tarot card readings both privately and for parties for some time now. She has spent hours collecting sea glass and pottery for her art.
“I’ve always had a passion for art and collecting rare sea glass and pottery. Mackenzie said the rarest thing she’s found was a piece of red sea glass.
Lisa Remington does rug hooking, with a twist. She uses a quicker method than the traditional one, and she uses a “funky-folky-style with vibrant colours.”
She has been doing it for around five years now, and this is her second Amherst Artisans Market.
“I learned in high school. A friend got me into rug hooking.”
Right now Remington’s specialty is an owl rug. She has many variations, including a grey one with less colour for those who like a traditional look.
“I try to bring a variety of items that I can customize.”
Shannon Briand was attending her first Artisans Market, and already plans to come back next year.
She makes earrings, “from a little bit of everything, beads, clay, and sea
glass.” She has been making earrings for 5 years. “I just had some supplies laying around and I got into it.”
Truro artist Daniel Hoare had his venue set up and was selling pointillism art.
“My work can take anywhere from 2 weeks to a couple years to complete. I have been doing this for eleven years now. I travel all over New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.” Hoare is able to complete anywhere from 5-10 pieces of art a year. He does them on cotton archival paper and digitally reproduces them as well.
Catherine Wile was selling 100 per cent Nova Scotian beeswax products. She said her source for the wax is a secret.
“I started about six months ago, a friend gave me a block of wax to play with as a gift.” She takes the raw wax, boils it and lets it cool off. She removes the refined wax and from there she puts it in a mold.
Jason Adams and Tammy Allen were showcasing their baking skills.
“We have the best baked goods in town. We are also known for our New York style cheese cake,” said Adams. “And the cinnamon buns,” said Allen.
“People who normally hate cheese cake have told me they enjoy my cheese cake,” said Adams.
“I just really enjoy baking it’s doing something I’m passionate about.”
