Welcome to my shop! I suppose we should start from the beginning of the evolution of GWT. Don’t worry, I’ll try to be concise so we can move forward to the good stuff. Since you are likely just meeting me, you’ll need to know that I have had many professions in my life; business owner, camp cook, recreation director, coffee roaster, artist selling at craft fairs,
to the latest incarnation: artist and gallery owner.
Running a shop with only one person can be a real challenge! I often wonder if I didn’t get the memo; then someone leaves one! Hope to be able to have an employee soon, but until then I make myself available by phone, email, and facebook when I’m not in my shop. That is why I want to keep everyone posted through this blog. If you don’t happen to be around the area, you can still enjoy the shop. And if you are coming in, I want to be able to be there, so please, feel free to contact me in advance.
After 12 years running a very successful coffee roasting business in Whitehorse, Yukon, I made a move to the Okanagan Valley of BC, specifically Penticton for family reasons. This was a chance to reinvent myself after a turbulent 4 years that saw me more and more unhealthy and unhappy with the day-to-day grind (yikes! sorry, I have a penchant for puns), and get back to what made my heart sing…Art!
Joan with hooked portrait by Zola Dore
A friend invited me to join their traditional rug hooking group. I had just started learning this craft before my business life got too crazy, and I was eager to get back to it. What I found myself immersed in was a group of passionate artists that had truly found their medium. Not only were these women talented, but also high spirited and FUN! Each supported and inspired the others to do their best, and combined with a great resource library, there was always an answer to the next conundrum. Having their company ignited the passion for fibre arts in me again, and lead me to the next step of opening the studio and gallery.
My goal is to create an environment that, when you walk in, feels homey and colourful. I suppose 18 years of long, dark winters in Northern Canada infused me with a need to surround myself with bright, joyful colours! And most of all, my passion is to show how craft IS art, that it isn’t just doilies and tissue box covers. The artists and artisans that are featured in the Gallery share this love of colour and texture, from Jeanine Baker, a Yukon glass artist whose sense of humour and whimsy is apparent in everything she creates, or Mary Beattie, another Yukoner who “paints” with needle felting, to local Okanagan artist Barbara Younger, whose mixed media dolls will captivate your curiosity and heart.
While you browse through the galleries and categories, I hope you feel the inspiration that I feel from these beautiful pieces of art. Whether its the timeless craftsmanship of a well-made vintage furnishing or vibrant colours of the Northern artists’ works, there may be something to “furnish your imagination”.
I also recommend that you to connect to the facebook page to see many other postings. “Like” the page to keep seeing what’s newest in the gallery.
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