For the love of Christmas crafts

By Dan Hilborn
Published Nov. 6, 2004


One of the longest lasting traditions of the Christmas season in Burnaby is coming back to the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts for two weekends this month.

The 33rd annual Burnaby Arts Council Heritage Christmas Craft Fair runs Nov. 12 to 14 and 19 to 21, featuring some of the most unique and talented craftmakers in the province.

"The calibre of this event is very high," said Jo Anne Gillies, coordinator of the fair and the creator of her own line of small wooden dolls. "The Lower Mainland is absolutely flooded with terrific artists and I believe they deserve the opportunity to show their wares.

"And most of this stuff you'll never see in a store."

The event is a potpourri of handmade crafts ranging from stained glass to quilts, aromatherapy to leather goods, jewelry painting and just about anything else a talented artist can make with their hands.

One of the local crafters who will have a table at the fair is Jo Ann Hall, who first started making her own crafts as a teenager, but only discovered the council's Heritage Christmas Craft Fair about 10 years ago.

"I love it," Hall said. "I really like creating things and getting the satisfaction out of seeing something that I've made.

"I also like the interaction with the customers. I get a lot of positive feedback and ideas from them, so they help me create things that are different," she said. "There's a social element, too, with the public and your fellow crafters.

"Sometimes the crafters are a couple, so it's a family thing as well," said Hall, who admits to getting her husband Peter involved by having him work on small wooden items like a nativity set.

Hall's largest collection of crafts are her Fat Cat stuffies, modelled after her own family pet Brandy.

Probably the longest serving crafter at the show is North Vancouver potter Jody Chang, who has been coming out to the Burnaby Arts Council event for 32 years.

Another longtime favourite was First Nation carver Lloyd Wilson from Tsawwassen, who passed away last summer, but has been succeeded by his daughter, silver jeweller Rosalee Wilson.

Gillies said she started making crafts as a way of relieving the stress from her job in the human resources department at a large Lower Mainland corporation.

Gillies' favourite crafter at the show is teddy bear maker Cath Wood, who recently returned from a trip to Japan, where her custom made teddy bears are gaining in popularity.

"When Cath makes a teddy bear and puts a face on it, it's got a personality," Gillies said enthusiastically. "It's not just for kids."

Overall, more than 80 different artists will present their wares over the two weekends of the show, with 50 per cent different artists each weekend.