Passy River Artisans plan annual display

BELFAST — The Passy River Artisans will bring their annual display of quirky arts and crafts to the National Theater Workshop of the Handicapped on Thanksgiving weekend.

The show will be the artisans’ fifth annual offering of gifts and fine arts. It will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 27.

The Passy River Artisans is an organization of Waldo County artists and crafts designers who take their name from the Passagassawakeag River, which courses through Belfast. Passagassawakeag is an American Indian word meaning rising spirits, according to founding member Anita Blake, a Belfast maker of braided rugs.

“That’s why we chose it,” Blake said, “because we’re rising spirits.”

Muriel Martin of Prospect is one of the people who will present works at the show. Martin’s Mayaheul Rustics are artworks created from discarded objects and twigs, branches, animal bones and antlers.

“You might say I’m a hedge carpenter,” Martin said with a chuckle. “These are pieces of nature: birch, alders, cedar, mushrooms for shelves, old pieces of hardware and furniture.”

Martin spent more than a decade working in a paper industry laboratory and has studied in Daniel Mack’s Omega Workshop. Mack is one of the nation’s foremost experts in rustic art. Martin said her art is an attempt to “honor the dead and things that have passed.”

“We’ll have quite an eclectic group at the show,” Martin said.

Included in the show will be wildlife art, decoys, carvings, dolls, metal sculpture, flat art, dried flowers, jams and jellies, stained glass, ornaments, and pottery. The artisans will provide demonstrations throughout the day. Light lunches will be available.