Welcome to Puyallup, Washington, a nice town with a goofy name. You see, it should be pronounced “pwee-allup…” but no. You say that to anyone in Washington and they’ll say, “no, no! It’s “pew…” Oh, all righty, then. Puyallup, Walla Walla, Sequim…pronounced “Skwim.” This is a strange place.
Pew-allup will begin holding the Washinton State Fair here starting next year, along with different festivals and shows. B and I are just in time to attend the Western & Wildlife Art Show and sale at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. We enjoyed the show immensely, and bought several western articles to take back to Montana with us… one being the metal Bison pictured below. I love Western art anyway, and would quickly go broke at a show like this, were it not for the iron hand and will of my B. More than once she has saved us from foolish and regrettable purchases. And more than once she has made them herself. ;^)
Art, as we know, comes in many forms. Besides painting, music, dance, acting and writing, there are other formats that demand equal attention, such as cooking crocheting, smithing… one of those is wood sculpture, at which my friend Jack Waller is indeed a pure artist. I will introduce you to him and his exceptional work at a later time. This time out it’s my pleasure to introduce the jewelry art of a friend of mine… Karen Hathaway, who lives, works and creates her beautiful jewelry just north of Seattle.
Karen & B
Karen is a remarkable person. She is married, works a full-time job, is a fine photographer and probably has other talents and qualities she simply hasn’t yet told us about. She loves to travel, loves being out in the natural world. Her artist’s eye extends far beyond her photography and jewelry.
Karen’s display at the fair last fall. Some of Karen’s jewelry in a beautiful display case, built by her husband, Jim.
One of my favorite things about Karen is her sense of spontaneous creativity. She told me she finds/buys stones and pieces that catch her eye, puts them all into this bowl, then at a later time, pours through the bowl to see what strikes her fancy, and what stones seem to work best together at the moment… a true artist. In my mind, that is like letting the moment and the muse intersect to direct us to the work as it wants to be… not necessarily how *we* want it to be.
To be able to function well in our day-to-day tangible, matter-of-fact existence, then to respond in a moment to the delicious timelessness of heart-mind-inspiration, is truly a wonderful gift. And Karen has that gift.
Steve Hulse