Glitzy ornaments mark Bank Left show

Ornaments of a most rare nature will hang and twirl for spectators in a month-long art sale and show at the Bank Left Gallery in Palouse. Twelve artists, most from the Palouse, have stitched, glued, snipped and colored Christmas ornaments for the “Cloaked in Wonder” show. The gallery each year holds a themed Christmas art show. The theme this year is recycled material.

The show runs Dec. 4 to Dec. 31.

Every artist made their decorations, using largely discarded material like doll heads, tin cans or baby clothes.

For example, one ornament was made of a real, 100-year-old petrified bird set on a metal star.

Artist Dottie Kite, who works at the Open Eye Consignment shop in Palouse, said the black bird was taken from a 1910s Victorian hat.

The bird, which is rock hard because of a thick glaze over the body, is set on a star which Kite cut from a tin can. It is selling for $32. Kite’s mother, Heidi Kite, plucked the bird off a Victorian hat.

“It’s been on her shelf at home for years,” Dottie Kite said.

Upstairs in one showroom of the gallery, is a sparkly scene of gold-laced snowmen and frosted doll heads. This show, called the White Garden Studio, is the brainchild of two local artists who let their imaginations run wild.

A doll snowman is decked with a gold-laced frock, a beaded gold horn and a body made from what appears to be a plastic water bottle. Gold colored coins and buttons adorn his head.

Artists Judy Finch of Palouse and Pam Colbert of Moscow, both retired, are life-long friends who agreed to put the show together.

“It’s just so refreshing to me to walk into a room that isn’t all new from China. Do you know what I’m saying? It has more character to me, more charm,” said Finch.

If she sells something, that would be great, Finch said. If not, she and Colbert found their reward in spending hours working on the intricate pieces.

Gallery owner Nelson Duran said he wants visitors to come in throughout the month.

“I just want people to be able to have fun. Forget about serious things in life and focus on the playfulness,” Duran said. Part of witnessing art is about being happy, he said.

“These [ornaments] will never be mass-produced,” Duran said.

Duran’s dinner and concert events Dec. 18 will celebrate Christmas.

Also called Cloaked in Wonder, the menu includes Italian panna cotta, red wine, French pastry and Caprese salad. Cost is $35 person. All the food is hand-cooked by Duran.