By Sarah Rae

Festival favourites and newcomers preparing for Saskatchewan Handcraft Festival

Jul 13, 2016 | 7:00 PM

Crafters from all over the province are bringing old favourites along with new art to the community this weekend. The annual Saskatchewan Handcraft Festival is back in Battleford from Friday to Sunday.

The festival, which has been running for more than 40 years, will feature all kinds of crafts, from glass, to jewellery and visual art, according to Ferron Olynyk of the Saskatchewan Craft Council.

“It’s a longstanding tradition, a great event that happens every summer and then we’re always adding something new,” she said. “It’s just such a great variety of stuff that there’s something for everyone.”

One new vendor Olynyk was excited to see join the festival this year is Monika Kinner-Whalen, a textile artist originally from North Battleford and based in Saskatoon.

Kinner-Whalen makes prairie landscapes with thread. She starts with hand-dyed cloth and uses a combination of free-motion machine embroidery and hand-stitching to draw with the thread.

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She said she’ll have her machine on hand because people are often interested in how she produces her landscapes. Often, people walk by and think she does paintings or even photography, and don’t realize until they come closer it’s all made with thread.

Kinner-Whalen said being born and raised on the prairies inspires her art. She was raised in Hamlin, just north of the Battlefords, and shares the same passion for landscapes with her mother, a painter.

“(My mother) was always sitting out in the yard, doing the land and the sky with chalk pastels so I’ve always watched her do that,” she said. “She’s always pointed out the land and the sky and the changing weather and colours and seasons, so it’s something I’ve always been raised around.”

Kinner-Whalen is self-taught, having realized when quilting it’s possible to actually draw with a sewing machine. She started in 2009 and is now crafting full time. Being a full time artist has been challenging, she said, but also incredibly rewarding. She said it’s changed how she sees the world.

“It’s easy to see that all the grasses look like thread now. When I look at the prairies, when I’m driving or going out for pictures, all the fields — I see thread, I see them in thread and I want to stitch them all,” she said.

Apart from the market, the festival includes workshops for kids. There are three workshops in conjunction with Dance Saskatchewan and the Chapel Gallery, including hoop dancing, block printing and clay work.

The Saskatchewan Handcraft Festival is at the Alex Dillabough Centre in Battleford from July 15 to 17, opening at noon Friday and 10 a.m. the next two days. 

Sarah Rae is battlefordsNOW’s court and crime reporter. She can be reached at Sarah.Rae@jpbg.ca or tweet her @sarahjeanrae. Concerns regarding this story can be addressed to News Director Geoff Smith at 306-446-6397.