Artists take over Crescent Park for show and sale

A brief gust blew through Crescent Park on Wednesday, whisking off a kiosk table the quilt Caronport's Michelle Harden had created specifically to represent Saskatchewan's strong winds.
"I'd forgotten just how strong the winds were," she told the Times-Herald. Harden recently moved back to the Prairies from British Columbia and she wanted some of her quilt art to reflect the Saskatchewan wind.
The local artist was also selling quilts with images of burning bushes on them, which she said represents the spiritual presence that exists everywhere.
Harden was just one of several artists from Saskatchewan and other parts of Western Canada selling work during the annual ParkArt show, which is the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery's largest fundraiser.
Selling cartoon paintings at the outdoor art event was Regina's Rob Bos, dressed as his alter ego, artist Stan Channing. Bos said several years ago he went through a period of creating dark and dismal art. However, at the same time he was creating light-hearted whimsical cartoon paintings.
Therefore, in order to prevent any conflict with his work in the public eye, Bos created the alter ego as the cartoon artist, although he said he just has fun with the character and doesn't take it too seriously.
The cartoons he sold on Wednesday included the Happy Little Beaver (his cartoon series main character), Robot Duck (who can't swim) and the Angry Rabbit (who is always angry).
All the way from Winnipeg, soapmaker Angela Filbert was also part of ParkArt. The owner of Bisou Bath and Soap said soapmaking definitely qualifies as an artform, considering the years of trial and error and lengthy process of combining and cooking various oils and ingredients it takes to make the perfect bar.
She said the most popular scented soap sold on Wednesday was citric chic, which Filbert refers to as refreshing for summertime.

Carter Haydu can be reached at 691-1265.