The big trees on the Lake County Courthouse lawn shaded artists who brought their goods to the annual Courthouse Art Festival put on by the Sandpiper Art Gallery. Saturday’s one-day art show celebrated its 54th year as a steady stream of folks strolled through the avenues of tents.

DeeAnn Richardson, chair of the festival, said 80 vendors pitched their tents on Friday night for Saturday’s show. The festival featured “everything from watercolors to carvings to tie-dyed items to stained glass and much more,” she said, as well as many new artists and craftspeople.

One artisan’s tent entrance featured a black bear draped along a “honey” tree, chowing down on honeybees with honey for dessert. The tree, the bear, and the bees were all made of felted wool and welcomed visitors to Lynn Johnson’s tent.

Johnson, a member of the Sandpiper, is known for her felted wool birds. She places them in many scenes, from single birds for Christmas ornaments, a coffee klatsch of birds at a feeder, or a piece of “flat art” of a chickadee and a pinecone. This year she designed the bear and a squirrel, too, noting other critters are in the works.

Johnson said she started creating felted wool birds after spying a cardinal at a yarn shop about 15 years ago. Walking right to the red bird, she asked the clerks if she could buy the piece.

“Nope,” they said.

“Is there a class?” Johnson asked.

“Yep,” they said, “It’s in January.”

Since it was October or November, Johnson had to wait; but she took the class, and has since created flocks of felted wool birds.

She’s been making birds full time for the last 13 years — chickadees, loons, flamingo, meadowlarks, owls, and more.

Besides felted birds, visitors looked at pottery, jewelry, photography, candles, t-shirts, and paintings. There was also entertainment at center court with flautists and singers.

After enjoying corn dogs or some fresh-squeezed lemonade, many people started back through the booths.

Sitting on a stool in the corner of her tent, Jess Janae Black hand stitched a quilt, talking with visitors. Black, who lives in Pablo, does a lot of fabric upcycling, and she hand dyes many of her fabrics, using natural dyes from plant matter she either grows or purchases.

She was working on a quilt made of upcycled fabric – a black and white graphic print was once a sheet, and the other fabrics were scraps people have given her, plus some hand-dyed fabric.

She favors Japanese-style shashiko stitches when she hand quilts. Refurbished totes and sweat shirts are appliquéd with upcycled fabrics also.

“We have so much (fabric and plants) here,” Black said.

Many customers left the art festival with bags and boxes of original artwork and handmade items, including local businessman Dick Bratton who was bicycling home with a photograph under his arm.

    Textile artist Jess Janae Black stitches a quilt in her booth at the Courthouse Art Festival. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)
  

    A display of pottery catches the light at the Courthouse Art Festival. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)
  

    Cornbread Wallace, a singer/songwriter from Missoula, entertained at the Courthouse Art Festival on Saturday. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)