Quoi de Neuf? in Sutton

Artisan exhibit at Sutton's Golf Club thrills large crowd

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By ManfriedH. Starhemberg
At Sunday afternoon there were at least 400 visitors at the annual artisans exhibit "Quoi de Neuf?",at the Sutton Golf Club. "We will be back next year" was the most often voiced summary of this year's two day event. "This was the best show yet" explained another artisan who has been a "frequent flier" here for seven years.
The array of pleasing decorative items was impressive, from braided ruigs to woodwork, hand made woolen garments and beautifully blown glass, the mostly townships based artisans created a lively and fascinating palette of color and visual impact in so many genres that we had to tour the exhibit twice because it would have been easy to overlook a deserving display.

A superb exhibit of plants was located next to hundreds of delightfully handcrafted dolls made from mostly recycled fabrics and next to this was a show of decorative items made from found or hand shaped wood. Soaps and lotions were there as were delicacies to samplee such as pieces of mediterranean pies by Mami Mari or the delicious morsels of pumpkin or red wine fudge by Lynn Matthews of Knowlton.
Domaine Bresee winery was represented and had a lively exhibit with the opportunity to sample this year's offerings. A silversmith delighted with an array of more than 300 pieces handmade from mostly vintage sterling flatware. The company is aptly called "Spoonart"

Lovely painted objects from boxes to candlesticks delighted next to the sublime creations of a pottery from Pigeon Hill and the wooden toys of Francois Boisvert. And at the main foyer , visitors were greeted by dozens of traditional Santa Claus dolls by Knowlton's Judy Mullins who has decorated stores and restaurants in the area for Christmas for quite some time.
The local foodbank had a display and a raffle and we were told that this year the raffle sales had been good and the proceeds of the show are a welcome addition to the ever precarious funding of this institution.

 And to the delight of many, with the possible exception of Anne Johnston, who worried about her braided rugs, a small cat played the crowd at the upstairs exhibits. The mood was festive, sales brisk and even the big rainstorm on Saturday did not dampen the spirit of this event which is always eagerly anticipated in Sutton.