ARTISANS GALLERY

Troy Townsin is a proud Canadian! Born in Melbourne, Australia, he worked as an actor and playwright before embarking on a round-the-world backpacking extravaganza taking him to six continents. Troy has won several awards for his writing including a prestigious ‘Travel Writer of the Year’ award with TNT Magazine UK and four Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. A Moose in a Maple Tree Productions is a division of Polyglot Publishing created for children and for those who have a love for all things Canadian. The Moose in a Maple Tree collection and the exciting Canadian Monster Club series are true celebrations of Canada.

As well as writing children’s books, Troy has also co-authored a series of cookbooks based on the wineries of British Columbia. The ideas behind his books were conceptualized while he was in the process of becoming a Canadian resident. There was a period of over a year where he was prohibited from working or studying in Canada in accordance with Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s regulations. In order to keep himself engaged he began writing books. The Canadian children’s books are a celebration of him becoming a Canadian citizen – a process which took five years. Troy fell in love with a Canadian girl, married her and then fell in love with Canada, his new home.

Through their books and CDs, Troy and Polyglot aim to educate children and adults about the beauty and diversity of this great nation in a fun and entertaining way. They try to include every corner of the country in the contents of their books and CD. Their stories take readers across Canada visiting each province and territory and the musicians on their CD come from all over Canada with diverse backgrounds.

Advika Clothing is inspired by the postures of yoga and the movements of dance.  They take pride in their ethically made clothing line, using locally sourced and sustainable materials.

Jason spent much of his childhood exploring the wild. His love of nature inspired him from a young age and significantly shaped his adult life.

Jason’s artwork is authentically photographed in the wilderness of Canada. He has been a wildlife photographer for over 25 years and has participated in the One-of-a-Kind Artisan Show for many of these 25 years. 20 years ago, Jason opened All in the Wild, featuring his wildlife photographic artwork. Today, Jason’s artwork can be found across Canada in six “All in the Wild” galleries: Niagara on the Lake, Canmore, Banff, Saskatoon, Christopher Lake, and Waskesiu.

In 2010, Jason started the “All in the Wild Land Fund” to directly contribute to the conservation of nature. Since then, 6% of all his artwork sales go into this fund, to be set aside for purchasing land for wildlife conservation. All in the Wild has purchased 1,600 acres of land in several areas across Saskatchewan to date. Although small relative to the areas under threat, every contribution provides a place where nature can be nature without human interference.

Jason is a true voice and advocate for nature. His mission is to bring appreciation, awareness, respect, and enjoyment of nature and the wildlife that inhabit it.

Founded in 2018 by Edmontonian, Ang Johnson, Ang Hill is an ethical women’s clothing brand inspired by the power of femininity and the pursuit of passion. Since she was a little girl, Ang’s dream was to become a fashion designer. With this dream and a lot of determination, she made it happen. Ang designs all clothing in the Ang Hill line.

Here you will find super soft and cozy capsule wardrobe essentials ethically crafted by their local sewists. By creating a collection of pieces that are easy to style without compromising comfort + style, Ang takes the guesswork out of fashion. Her ultimate vision is to create an entire capsule wardrobe of the coziest pieces for you that can easily be mixed and matched to create gorgeous outfits.

Ang Hill clothing is exceptionally soft, high quality and made in Canada.

Anna Krop uses different mix media materials with an eclectic combination of both contemporary and traditional art techniques.

“I always created organically shaped artwork and have been intrigued by the idea of applying this to custom canvas shapes. I’m fascinated by how they engage with interior spaces and architecture in new and unexpected ways. I have a deep urge to express my vision of the earth from the shapes of the Rocky Mountains to fossil imprints or soft moss on tree trunks. My curiosity to explore different mediums and textures in abstract forms comes from my fine art background.” – Anna Krop

Jessica designs and makes all of her pieces. She sketches and creates paper models, digitizes the patterns and cuts with a laser cutter. She cleans, sands and edges the pieces and then adds colour and polish. Some pieces are hand-stitched together and others are rivetted, some both.

“I believe with all my heart and soul in the power of accessories. They can be empowering, comforting and expressive.” – Jessica Graham

Artisan’s Way Organics is a BC-based family-run business. The husband and wife team, Brian and Stephanie, run the entire operation of creating fun and unique nut butters and chocolate. What sets them apart is using a majority of organic ingredients.

Their products are fully vegan and gluten free, and they avoid all refined sugars, oils, and artificial anything – just good natural ingredients. When they do sweeten anything, they use dates and/or a little bit of coconut sugar. Their cacao comes fair trade from small family farms run in Ecuador and is a special variety that was once thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered growing wild in the volcanic mountain jungles of Ecuador. This variety is not as bitter as most cacao, so with this chocolate, you get the rich creamy chocolaty flavour of dark chocolate without the bitterness usually associated with it.

“We love travelling around and meeting people in new places. This will be our first visit to Calgary with the business but it’s not our first time around Alberta as most of our family lives in Alberta and Saskatchewan, so we are very excited to meet you all and bring our creations back to the prairies.” – Brian & Stephanie

Darlene Kokotailo has been designing, carving and decorating real eggs for the past 34 years.  As a Calgary-based, self-taught artist, she has gained inspiration from nature.  This is reflected in the intricate floral carvings and detailed animal scenes of many of her designs.  Darlene also enjoys the challenge of creating a wide variety of carved eggs for many special occasions and diverse tastes, including custom designs. Each egg is beautifully unique, and depending on the design and shell, it takes anywhere from several hours to several hundred, from start to finish.  Whether Goose, Ostrich, Duck, or Quail, the shell is a strong and versatile medium that drives her passion for producing egg art.

Back of the Spoon officially started in 2017.  Artist Erin Chromik had been making perogie casseroles whenever she would host parties and making them for other friends and events. Always the star of the party, word quickly spread and people started to ask if they could buy them.  As Erin’s concept began to grow, she decided to make it official and start to cook out of a certified commercial kitchen.

“The name Back of the Spoon is an homage to my Grandmother who would always tell us to stir with the back of the spoon when boiling the perogies so we wouldn’t tear the dough. The Mushroom Dill idea came from mixing together a few of my grandma’s Ukrainian recipes. They were always touching on the plate, so I decided to combine them and create a Mushroom Dill Perogie casserole.” – Erin Chromik

Erin and her team create each tray of perogies in her inspected kitchen in Calgary.  They do everything from peeling potatoes to making dough and sauce to assembling each casserole by hand.

Artists  Jen Abra and Natalie Ruby are the owners and operators of Black Star Studios, an Art Gallery and art workshop studio located downtown Invermere, B.C.

“We represent over 70 Canadian Artists. Our gallery is stocked floor to ceiling with colourful handmade works of art.  We opened our doors 14 years ago with 12 artists. Our biz has grown and has a life of its own. When in our space, people want to be creative themselves. We started art workshops over 10 years ago. We now run workshops daily in the summer, Christmas, March break, long weekends and every Saturday. We host Paint and Sips, do birthday parties, date night paint nights, family nights, ladies nights, team building, and community projects including many murals and public art that can be found in our community. We are all about taking the frustration out of Art, and promoting the fun while building confidence.

During Covid, we developed many DIY Art Kits inspired by our favourite art workshops. Our DIY Art kits are designed by us, and packed with love right here in our studio. We have both video and written instructions. Our kits are fun for kids, teens, and adults of all artistic abilities.

We love what we do. Every day we come to our little studio in our little mountain town surrounded by beauty and art.
When they aren’t teaching classes, developing workshops, or packing kits, you will find Jen at her sewing machine and Natalie at her torch making glass beads. We feel very fortunate to do what we love every single day!

If you find yourself in Invermere come on in and say Hello!  Get Creative! Get inspired, Get in HERE and make ART!” – Black Star Studios

Kyle used his global travel as a muse and relevant experience in the food industry as a spark to realize BLINK.  BLINK was launched in the humblest of beginnings back in 2011. Till then, chocolate bark was most often pre-broken almond bark in white, milk or dark chocolate. BLINK was borne for those seeking tablet-sized, unbroken sharing planks of chocolate with high-quality topping arrangements in sleek, upscale, classy and fit-for-a-gift packaging.

The chocolate gets small-batch melted and tempered, the bark is then poured individually into moulds where it is shaken to remove any air pockets and then hand topped with whatever flavour or topping. They are then chilled on racks before being brought back up to room temperature where they are sealed and hand packaged.

Each bark is meticulously hand-crafted from start to finish with thought, care, intimacy and affection that is not felt in chocolate that is mass-produced. The resulting tablets are unique, often quirky and unique to the buyer.

Bob uses Western Canadian stoneware clay and paperclay to form each sculpture. After a lengthy drying process, he fires them in an electric kiln to approximately 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. He uses stains and oxides with porcelain slip (liquid clay) to colour each piece.

“I love making my own glazes and infusing muted colours to allow the form to take center stage. I often add media such as found objects, gold, and encaustic wax. A small seashell I found in Central America, or a splash of gold invites the viewer to consider the piece in a different way. These playful touches add vitality to individual pieces.

I need to make art that brings me joy. Not only must the work emerge from my joy, but it must express an energy. I draw out that energy in the clay through the juxtaposition of rough and smooth surfaces, colour, and movement in each piece. People have said that each of my sculptures seems to have a personality. I love to hear how the work touches my collectors’ hearts in that manner.” – Bob Acton

Daryl Wasson is passionate about working with wood and its many different natural colours and grains. Daryl began in the retail market before an opportunity came up in 2002 that would allow him to work with his passion. He is proud to say that he “was finally able to do what he really enjoyed as a ‘job’.”

Apart from milling his own wood from the Maritimes, he collects end pieces that are discarded from a factory in Nova Scotia that would otherwise have been burned or thrown into the landfill. Daryl rescues these remnant pieces to recycle them into works of art that can be used every day.

Daryl designs and handcrafts each piece, taking into careful consideration his customer’s needs.

Brenda Banda Johnson Fine Art features a collection of bold, textured palette knife paintings that reach out from the canvas and invite you into the scenes they portray – both real and imagined. Every piece you find here is an original.  Brenda paints almost exclusively with large palette knives, and she finds vibrant and high-contrast colour palettes irresistible.  Brenda is based in Calgary, Alberta.

“With my palette knife and loads of acrylic paint and thick gel mediums, I attempt to capture the depth and textures of nature that intrigue me. I tend to use an “exaggerated” colour palette. The majority of my paintings are vibrant and exaggerated beyond what you’d literally see in nature, attempting to capture not just the visual image, but also its energy and life. The other extreme is subtle neutrals that are all about shadow, light and texture. I occasionally use a high gloss resin finish – sometimes in the traditional manner and sometimes very selectively to highlight certain elements of a painting. The result is a collection of highly textured pieces that reach out from the canvas and invite you into the scenes they portray.” – Brenda Banda Johnson

Kayley Therrien is the designer and craftsperson behind the Edmonton-based jewellery brand Burlap Sac.  Kaley received her training at the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco.  Upon completion of her studios, she returned to Edmonton and began working as a bench jeweller for a fine jewellery store.  After honing her skills as a goldsmith, Kayley began longing for a more creative outlet.  In 2004 she began designing and creating her own signature line of jewellery and that year launched the first Burlap Sac collection.

The organic lived-in feel of her jewellery is derived from her childhood memories.  She spent her days collecting small found treasures and storing them away in a burlap sac her grandmother had made.  Inspired by nature and the world around her, she would collect all sorts of items from stones and shells to bits of ribbon and old rusty bolts.  The foundation of her love of unexpected materials and textures began in those early days of collecting.

Kayley is continually pushing her brand towards more sustainable practices and works hard to ensure her materials are ethically sourced.  Specializing in a mixture of material and texture has enabled her to push the boundaries of traditional jewelry and produce unique collections year after year.

Calgary Chocosweeats Factory is an international award-winning local Calgary chocolatier who loves creating one-of-a-kind chocolates that can be appreciated every day for their design, style, combinations, and taste. They craft a wide array of handcrafted premium artisan chocolates, artisan caramels, dipped chocolates, organic gourmet hot chocolate mixes, gift boxes, and other confectionery.

Their chocolates are the perfect gift for the festive season for your loved ones, as a stocking stuffer, gift baskets, for holiday parties, corporate gifts, or maybe just for yourself to enjoy with a nice cup of tea, a good strong coffee, or a glass of wine.

All of their products are 100% handcrafted and hand packaged.

The Calgary Fudge Factory began 30 years ago with the Pattison family making and sharing their creamy, delicious fudge.  Ken and Linda take great pride in creating new delicious and exciting flavours to add to the time-tested favourites. Each 110g piece comes wrapped in clear/ white dot cello complete with a flavour sticker in English and French on the front and an ingredient label on the back, in English & French.  Our fudge is all made by us in our certified kitchen.

Most of their flavours of fudge are gluten-free – only flavours with added baked goods are not, such as:
Cookie Dough,​ Cookies & Cream, Gingersnap, Key Lime Pie, Mars Bar, Mint Oreo & Nanaimo Bar.
If you have a gluten allergy, you can be confident that they have taken steps to ensure that all their other flavours will be safe for you.

Everything Andrea Robinson makes is hand made using either a pottery wheel or constructed using slabs of clay.

“I am an Art Teacher and potter based in Calgary, Alberta.  Much of my work reflects my colourful “mosaic” carvings that are individually hand painted with underglaze before the final glazing process begins. Most of my pieces are fully carved on all sides to enhance the tactile and visual experience with the intention to enhance daily living with a bit of lightness and joy. My designs are inspired by nature, particularly the nearby Rocky mountains in the Kananaskis, Canmore and Banff regions of Alberta, and imaginative abstract trees. Sometimes my trees take on a life of their own and the results surprise me! I have playfully nicknamed my unique trees “brain” trees because they stem from a neurographic art process where I explore connecting mindfulness, nature and clay. As an art teacher, I have taught mindfulness for years as a way to spark creativity and enhance mental wellness. As a ceramic artist, transferring this process to clay is as much about the process as the final outcome!

I love that pottery can serve a functional purpose in addition to being a form of artistic expression. The entire process of making pottery is a challenge that brings me joy, but I especially enjoy the delight that my creative efforts bring to others with they share or receive one of my creations!” – Andrea Robinson

Candles by Car are made of all-natural soy and coconut soy wax. Clean and long-lasting burn candles, carefully hand-poured in small batches to ensure quality results.

Chad Keen Pottery is a successful and unique offering in the province of Newfoundland. Chad creates functional ceramics based on the influence of his natural surroundings. His work reflects the natural beauty of Newfoundland. In some pieces, he incorporates found driftwood from the shores making them a truly unique piece.

Chad Keen makes ceramics using hand-thrown clay on a wheel. He creates his unique ceramics including mugs, bowls, plates, teapots and various other vessels. He strives to perfect his craft with new designs and techniques, while attempting to reduce waste by recycling and reusing all clay scrap and trimmings.