Mistletoe Market

MISTLETOE MARKET, DECEMBER 2022

Mistletoe Market is a unique, indoor holiday experience. Every week in December, stop by 123 S Main Street, Woodstock VA to see artwork and writing by local artists and writers. You'll enjoy a holiday atmosphere, including music, light refreshments, and demonstrations or a chance to meet the creative artists every Saturday. Take a look at our Mistletoe Market line-up and make sure to visit each week - because our creative artists are only there for one week:

week 1: november 30 to december 4

Jeanne Ellen Russell grew up in Northern Virginia, but has lived in Edinburg since 2002. She runs a creative services company and a website, fengshuimandalas.com where she sells her mandala products. Mandala comes from a Sanskrit word meaning "circle” or "completion” and represents the Cosmos. Mandalas are an art form used as spiritual teaching tools, to establish a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation. Feng Shui mandalas are created with symbols and intention to attract positive energy into your space. Take a breath, look at the mandala and allow yourself to get lost. Breathe again and go back to your life, refreshed.

My name is Jennifer Walker. I am an art teacher and artist from Strasburg, VA. I work in a variety of mediums and sizes from small pieces to murals. I painted the "Ram Mural" recently installed on main street in Strasburg. I also draw pencil portraits and paint landscapes in acrylics. Below are two examples of my work: "Middle Road Blooms" and "Bird on Branch."

SENK is a potter, photographer, and writer, who lives near Conicville, VA. She has a private ceramics studio, where she creates wheel-thrown and hand-built stoneware pottery, using food-safe glazes. Her award-winning photography has been featured in over 45 journals (including the photograph below: "Chimeral" in Months to Years, 2022) and is currently on display in Germantown, MD, and Woodstock, VA. In addition to 40 journal publications in poetry, Sarah Kohrs authored a chapter in the non-fiction book, Slavery's Descendants: Shared Legacies of Race and Reconciliation (2019). Her debut chapbook publication, Chameleon Sky, was the 2022 Kingdoms in the Wild Poetry Award winner, and will be published this winter. Find out more at senkohrs.com.

Hilary White shares: Whether I am using water media or dry media, COLOR satisfies my soul! I paint for my personal joy inspired by the beauty that surrounds us all, inside and out. I’m always learning and evolving. I enjoy planning and creating as much as embracing creative opportunities and exploring the unexpected. My style is eclectic and that makes me happy.

My process for art making can also be meditative and cerebral. I have always been very shy, but in a roomful of artists I soar. I’m a very social creative. I love to be surrounded by other artists and find so much inspiration and friendship. I’m always thinking about what is new, next, different and exciting. I’m definitely not standing still. I am an artist and adult art educator. I get as much joy out of teaching as I do art making. I have been painting and teaching weekly from my home studio in Strasburg, VA since 1993. I also teach regional workshops and retreats for local art groups. I am uniquely qualified with a Master’s in Art Education and as a Certified Decorative Artist.

WEEK 2: DECEMBER 7 to december 11

Elizabeth H. Cottrell’s career has taken her from published leprosy researcher to stay-at-home mother, to community activist and leader serving on nonprofit and corporate boards, to freelance writer/editor and blogger at Heartspoken.com. Above all, she is a connector and encourager, whose expertise and passion for note writing became a book--HEARTSPOKEN: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire—when the COVID-19 pandemic had us all scrambling for ways to stay connected. Elizabeth is the right person at the right time to help readers find their own heartspoken voice and learn to harness the powerful tool of note writing for nurturing their most precious relationships.

Cara Achterberg is the author of seven books, a creative writing teacher, and a shelter dog advocate. Her novel, Blind Turn, was a Reader’s Choice Silver Medal winner and recently won the Women’s Fiction category of the American Writing Awards. Her memoir, Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs was a People magazine ‘people’s pick’ and featured on the Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family Show. Cara is the cofounder of Who Will Let the Dogs Out, a nonprofit initiative to raise awareness and resources for shelter dogs. Cara lives in the Shenandoah Valley with her husband, three rescue dogs, and a rotating cast of foster dogs and cats. For more information visit CaraWrites.com.

E. A. Coe … is F. Coe Sherrard, a former United States Naval aviator and career businessman, who is retired and lives in Edinburg, Virginia. A graduate of Western Maryland College (now called McDaniel College), he was a senior executive in two entertainment companies, including Spirit Cruises and Herschend Family Entertainment (manager of the Dollywood
Theme Park). Married to Jean since 1971, Coe has three children and six grandchildren.

Books:
Full Count – Published 2018
The Road Not Taken – Published 2019
Stay With Me – (with Helen Jean Smith) Published 2020
The Other Side of Good – Published 2022
Pedaling West - Coming in 2023

James A Davison is the author of three previous books, the nuclear thriller, Trinity 3.11, the fictional memoir I Am Lazarus, and a murder mystery set in the bayous of Louisiana, Bottom Feeder. Davison draws inspiration from his years as a journalist, a public information officer in the federal government, and in law enforcement, which gives his books a visceral realism. A native of Louisiana, he and his wife, live and work in Shenandoah County, Virginia.

Mark Muse, a retired psychologist and current winemaker, writes under the pen name of Dana Hayward. His first book of fiction, “Entropy”, narrates the odyssey of a couple that travels post-apocalyptic America to rendezvous with the last flight to the Moon, and later to Mars. Called a political and deeply philosophical novel, it is above all, according to the author, a psychological study of the individual within rapidly changing events.

Misha Crews is the bestselling author of multiple romantic novels and short stories. Readers have called her work “head and shoulders above the usual fare of contemporary romance novels,” “absolutely fascinating,” and “original.” Born in Charlottsville, Virginia, Misha was raised near Washington, DC and now lives in the Shenandoah Valley, where she writes love stories about old houses and family secrets.

Ann Heap was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and after being a regular visitor to the Shenandoah Valley for many years, she eventually found her forever valley home in 1986. She currently lives in the Mine Mountain area of Fort Valley with Buddy, the most recent stray or rescue of many with whom she has shared her home. A photographer, fabric artist, and writer, Ann shares images and words inspired by the mountains and valleys she loves. She is a regular exhibiting artist at the VECCA gallery. You can find more information about her artistic vision and images of her work on her website at Mountain Ridge Creations.

Tommy S. Nichols is a veteran and, after a long career as a supervisor for Wallace in Luray, VA, now runs a portable sawmill in his retirement. He and his wife, Sharon, manage a family farm that can be traced back to the mid-1700s near Hamburg, VA. They have three daughters and seven grandchildren. Tommy is a woodworker, who enjoys creating hiking sticks, canes, shelves with pegs he hand turns on a lathe, birdhouses, breadboxes, and more.

week 3: december 14 to December 18

Joy Cary is a fiber artist residing in Edinburg, Virginia. Her art journey led her to explore weaving during the COVID lockdown, and it has since become her main focus. Her use of cast-off clothing as the main media in woven tapestries and sculptures infuses an element of humanity to overarching ideas like family, interconnection, and perspective. It invites the viewer to consider not only the question posed by the design, but how that may be altered when it involves people.

Kent Harper, fine art jewelry / Kent builds sterling silver jewelry such as pendants, chains, necklaces, rings, bracelets, etc. The techniques used include but are not limited to hammering, embossing, soldering, welding, engraving, and casting. Some pieces contain semi-precious stones. Although some pieces are always available for purchase, Kent also builds custom pieces upon request. Stop by and watch him work and talk with him about commissioning a unique piece for your special someone!

Billy Smelser / After retiring in 2019 from a career in vocational rehabilitation Billy Smelser began painting and continuing his love of photography. Being self-taught has offered him much freedom to explore different mediums and techniques. Billy’s preferred medium is watercolor and he also enjoys mixed media abstract. Art and photography are an escape and an avenue to create beauty that touches and stirs emotions in others. Billy Smelser lives in Strasburg with his partner and has 3 adult daughters and two grandchildren.

Kat Turner creates in many media, including Watercolors, Acrylics, Pastels, Ink, and Graphite. She enjoys copper tooling and Polish Folk Art. Her artwork ranges from playful to ethereal and incorporates her love of nature and imagination, which drives her to seek places where reality meets fantasy. Kathryn studied Studio Art at The University of Maryland’s Munich, Germany campus. Three years in Europe gave her opportunity to visit museums and attend lectures and seminars in Belgium, Austria, Italy, Spain, as well as Germany. Having raised and homeschooled four children, she now turns her full attention to her artwork and creative endeavors. Kat lives in Front Royal.

week 4: december 20 to december 24 (10-1 pm)

Darryl Kibler / Born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley, Darryl began woodworking in order to furnish his house. He creatively fashions functional forms from local lumber that draw out the beauty of the woodgrain. Darryl's first love is wormy oak, but he enjoys customizing his artwork to incorporate whatever wood the project requires. He and his wife, Deb, live in Woodstock, Va, along with their two dogs.

Rachel Tusing is a 2022 graduate of Central High School and Laurel Ridge Community College. She lives in Edinburg, Va along Stoney Creek. She is currently an honor student at Eastern Mennonite University. She is majoring in Art and Psychology with a concentration in Art Therapy. She works at The Art Spot in Woodstock, where customers come to create art and participate in paint nights, and camps for children. Rachel enjoys painting landscapes and murals. She finds art journaling to be therapeutic. She knows that art is expressive, empowering, and healing. She is interested in how creative expression can foster healing and well-being.