There’s not mushroom for improvement

Perfect your weekend with a visit to the Salishan Artisan Faire

By Andrea McCabe

Oregon Coast TODAY

Thirty four tents offering inventive ideas molded into distinctive products lined the parking lot of the Salishan Artisan Faire on a recent Friday morning. Each week the market, held every Friday and Saturday from spring through fall, portrays the unique characteristics of the Oregon Coast, from tie dyed sweatshirts “made by real hippies,” to polished agates embedded into pineapple scented candles to homemade jams and salsas.

Manager David Wolf appreciates the atmosphere of this small, coastal fair.

“It has a really nice vibe,” he said. “From my own perspective as well as many other vendors that have approached me with this perception, the market has a nice community here.”

Wolf believes the artisan fair is a way for locals to invest in their community.

“I think it's really crucial to give people the option to buy locally,” he said. “It gives them an opportunity to give back to the place that they live.”

Along with managing the market, Wolf and his partner, Nissa Parker, run Faewerx, creating artwork using natural materials such as flowers, sticks and obsidian.

Also at this year’s fair is Talitha Gibson’s in her first season selling Cosentino's Confections. She enjoys the unique sense of community the market provides amidst the creative vendors.

“I really love the atmosphere,” she said. “I have only been here a couple of weeks but the folks have been really kind to me by making an effort to say ‘hi.’ It has been very nice.”

Gibson bakes and sells vegan and gluten free treats such as “Better Fingers,” panforte and fresh marzipan. Gibson was inspired to start Cosentino’s Confections by her mother, whom she claims is the best baker she knows and who created all of the recipes Gibson uses.

“I try to choose recipes that don’t need substitution so they don't taste vegan or gluten-free, they are just naturally that way,” she said. “Everybody deserves to have something nice, even if they have restrictions.”

Coliene Roberts, who sells handcrafted wire-wrapped jewelry, is another vendor who values the individualistic culture of the Salishan Artisan Faire. Her sister Molly Roberts helps with the business side of Coliene’s Mystical Wrapped Stones. Roberts’ jewelry pieces are shipped from lapidary artists worldwide. Ammonite, ammolite, moldavite and fossils are a few of these valuable specimens exquisitely wrapped in copper, sterling silver, fine silver, gold, rose gold or brass.

“My creations are different combinations of those rare and precious stones,” Roberts said. “You take three stones and put them together and you bring a fourth thing to the table. That is the mystical part. The magic that happens is really what happens when I meet and come in contact with people who are then inspired by my work.”

Roberts has been wire wrapping for more than four years. She is self-taught, having only watched a few YouTube videos before taking off with her own designs and styles. Each wire-wrapped jewelry is a new piece of art, as she never duplicates a design.

“I trust in my hands to do the right thing and to communicate what the stone has to say,” she said. “A lot of thought and reflection is going into this.”

Sierra Bretzer is another vendor who puts much thought and reflection into her mushroom-themed stained glass at Coastal River Creations. She has been incorporating real mushrooms into stained glass after becoming entranced by forest mushrooms eight years ago when she moved to Oregon.

“They are just so abundant here,” she said. “And they only really heavily fruit for about a month in the fall, so I wanted a way to visit my mushroom friends year round. I wanted to be able to preserve them. That is how they meandered into my art.”

All of Bretzer’s stained glass is second hand. Her recycled window panes are found locally and her mushrooms are foraged nearby in the coastal forests.

Bretzer joined the Salishan Artisan Faire vendors in order to talk to customers face to face after exclusively selling her artwork online. She enjoys gathering both wisdom from the locals and travel stories from visitors.

The Salishan Artisan Faire is located at the Salishan Marketplace, 7755 NW Hwy. 101, and is open from 11 am to 5 pm on Friday and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday. For more information, go to artisanfaireatsalishan.com.