French Lick Resort to host four traditional arts artists

Four Hoosier artists who practice traditional arts will demonstrate their creative processes as part of the French Lick Resort’s celebration of National Preservation Month.

The fascinating demonstrations will take place outside the Indiana Artisan store, one of the resort’s fine Promenade Shoppes.

Marla Dawson, Ellettsville, will open the Saturday series, when she will weave fashionable and functional textiles on a floor loom. “I work hard at my craft and it is a major part of who I am. I seem to be able to bring out the best in the fibers I choose,” said Dawson, whose distinctive colorways have become her signature. “I only use high-quality yarn and fiber to spin my own yarns.” Dawson will demonstrate from noon to 4:00 May 4.

Long before plastic food containers and shopping bags, Hoosiers used baskets to hold or carry their possessions. Bev Larson, Lafayette, incorporates generations-old designs to create sometimes nontraditional but always stunning motifs for baskets of all sizes and interesting shapes. Raised in Terre Haute, Larson rightfully prides herself on the pieces of Indiana that she weaves into her work. “I use sticks from Indiana farmers’ fence rows and wool from the sheep of some of those same farmers. Indiana woodworkers make the wood bases for my baskets,” she said. Larson will demonstrate from noon to 4:00 May 11.

Joe Krutulis makes some of the most popular items sold in the Indiana Artisan store – wood mobiles and jewelry– because he relishes the promise that fallen, often overlooked branches hold. Krutulis finds his raw materials while on daily walks around his Martinsville homestead. He gathers limbs and branches taken down by storms or natural aging, takes them to his shop where he identifies the character of their unique grain structure and decay patterns, fills cracks and holes with crushed turquoise, coral or other colorful minerals, and shapes the pieces into naturally beautiful jewelry or unique mobiles. “I love trees, and I love the woods” said Krutulis, who will present Finding the Beauty of Wood at 1:00 and 3:00 May 18. “Indiana’s forests have so many beautiful tree varieties—sycamore, dogwood, hickory, maple, redbud, box elder, cherry… all providing material and inspiration.”

Alice Jane Smith, Madison, honors the tradition of making fine books by hand. A lifelong reader and journal-writer, she makes artful hand-sewn books. Smith employs a variety of dying processes such as batik and marbling when she decorates end papers and covers that practically make her books sing. She finds unique ways to create pattern and texture for her elegant covers, making each a one-of-a-kind treasure to own and joy to open. Every book is bound by hand; she chooses the technique based on how the book will be used. For a flexible spine that makes the book open flat for journaling, she uses a curved needle to make a Coptic stitch; when she wants a book to open like a photo album, she chooses a stab stich. Smith will demonstrate binding by hand from noon to 4:00 May 25.