The faces of Revelstoke’s Farm & Craft Market

First published in the Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine — distributed all around Revelstoke.

by Jessica Campbell

Jumping Creek – Kaitlan Murphy

Little did she know at the time, jumping into a kayak at 16-years-old to paddle the upper Kootenay River was what was going to literally and figuratively set Kaitlan Murphy on her path…

And all she had to do was stop.

It was alongside the river, exploring a sandy beach, Kaitlan Murphy says she discovered the beauty of stones: “I decided I wanted to become a stone mason in that moment.”

Kaitlan Murphy has worked her hobbies into a business. Photo: Jessica Campbell

Now, 19 years later, as she stands behind a display of her handcrafted pottery at Revelstoke’s Farmers Market in May, Murphy explains how the rest of her journey has simply…

Streamlined.

“I started making tiles and tiles turned to this,” she says, pointing to everything from the mugs, to the bowls and plates on the table. “It’s such an addicting passion.”

Yet, it is not her only one.

While Murphy enrolled in a three-year technical program for pottery at the Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson from 22–25, she also started studying carpentry by the age of 27. She is now one year away from her official “ticket,” making her a fourth year woodworking apprentice.

Today, she melds her two hobbies by selling her pottery out of the tiny home she built with the help of her friend, Andrea. Murphy says it took working 12-hour days for three months straight to get the job done.

“It’s selling an experience as opposed to a product,” she says, explaining the benefits of using her tiny home as an office.

While Murphy hopes to establish her tiny-home-pottery-business in Revelstoke, she says city bylaws, at this point in time, have her roadblocked.

“It ultimately comes down to a parking issue,” she explains, adding how she has already scoped her ideal location to set up shop in the city.

Jumping Creek pottery made by Kaitlan Murphy. Photo: Jessica Campbell

In the meantime, as Murphy tries to figure out a local solution, she says she’s going to continue selling her art across the province, and into Alberta. She is also stretching her products as much as her physical reach. She started making urns this past winter, she says.

“It’s something you have to constantly expand and improve your skill set.”

Describing herself as a workaholic, perhaps this creative soul will be able to mould herself a solution – keeping her Revelstoke bound – sooner than she thinks!

For more information about Kaitlan Murphy’s pottery, email: [email protected]

My Twelve Brothers and Me – Chic Sharp

He’s a man of many stories.

And not only because he writes them.

As he sits behind a booth at Revelstoke’s Farmers Market selling the three children’s books he has authored in an illustration partnership with his daughter, Cara, Chic Sharp simultaneously shares the many tales of his life.

Chic Sharp fills books with his fascinating stories. Photo: Jessica Campbell

Born in Bellingham, Washington, the 65-year-old says it was his family’s hunting trips to British Columbia inspiring his move to Canada in 1974. After completing a science degree in psychology at the University of Washington, the adventure-seeker journeyed north to settle down in a remote location 40-kilometres outside of Chetwynd, BC. He was in his early 20’s.

“It’s one thing to grab your chainsaw and jump in the pick-up,” he says, explaining how he was living completely off the land, in a log cabin he constructed. “But it’s another thing all together to put your harness on your horse with a crosscut saw.”

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s more fulfilling.”

Eight years later, once he had his fill, Chic was encouraged by a friend to apply to an outdoor experience program in Revelstoke. He spent seven years with that organization to later find himself playing roles like counselor and probation officer in the city.

All along the way, for 30 years in fact, Chic taught karate. The 4^th degree black belt coach is still teaching today. He has even brought students from Revelstoke to world championship competitions in both Poland and Mexico.

“A lot people walking by as adults I have had as students,” says Chic, sitting behind his children’s books, waving to the other faces of the Farmers Market.

Chic published the first of the three books in the My Twelve Brothers and Me series in 2009. The inspiration sparked when his daughter, studying to be a teacher, was asked by her instructors to draw pictures for a children’s book.

Reaching back in time, the two decided to jointly create their own series out of the very fictional stories Chic used to tell Clara as a child. They have a fourth book they’re releasing in the fall of 2016.

“It features Ned the Noodle!” exclaims Chic.

In addition, Chic says he started writing a novel two and a half years ago. Similar to his own life quest, he says the book is “A whole bunch of things combined!” The novel is 400-pages and ready for publishing. He is currently in search of a publisher.

For more information about Chic’s children’s books visit: mytwelvebrothersandme.com.

For information about his karate classes, email: [email protected]

Lucid Annamole – Anne-Marie Tanguay & Jessie Edwards

It has been said that purple is the colour for selfless love.

Well, according to Anne-Marie Tanguay, this was the colour of her partner’s arms as he trekked an 80-pound backpack across Asia: “It was kind of funny.”

This travelling duo makes unique jewellery from macrame and metals. Photo: Jessica Campbell

En route to India, Jessie Edwards insisted he bring the silversmith machine he purchased in Thailand while learning the craft from an older local man, who didn’t speak a word of English, says Anne-Marie.

“He went everyday for a month,” she explains, adding how the man was originally closed to the idea of being a teacher, until Jessie persisted, going so far as to even buy his own machine.

That was back in 2013, when the artistic duo – known as Lucid Annamole – were first discovering themselves creatively. In fact, it was at a full moon party in Thailand where they were given their nicknames.

“Jessie is Lucid while I am Annamole,” says Anne-Marie, “You know, like Anne-a-mole.”

“Lucid is freedom, to be there in the moment,” she adds, “While I’m like a little mole, always finding stuff.”

Now, operating under one name – and tent – the two quite literally bring different things to the table. Sitting behind their booth where they jointly sell jewelry at the weekend farmers markets in Revelstoke, B.C., Anne-Marie explains how Jessie makes all the metal pieces on display, while her creations involve macramé.

“It’s actually a lost art,” says Anne-Marie, explaining how macramé is a knotting chord technique she was taught by a Japanese friend while the two lived in India after Thailand in 2014. She says watching Jessie take on his silversmith project, and his education in welding, is what inspired her to develop her own artistic skillset: “I needed something to do!”

The busy Sunday morning farm and crafts markets in Revelstoke. Photo: Aaron Orlando

While Anne-Marie, 22, is from Saint-Georges, Quebec, and Jessie, 26, is from Spruce Grove, Alberta, the two met in Tofino, BC in 2011.

“Then we just started randomly hitching together,” says Anne-Marie, explaining how that eventually led to their travels abroad.

Returning to Canada, the two say they were called to check out Revelstoke because of the mountain’s top-notch snow conditions. They’ve been living in a motor home with their two dogs for the last ten months.

“Anything you want to learn here, you can learn,” says Jessie, adding how all of the metal, crystals and stones they use in their jewelry are from their travels overseas.

“We love what we’re doing,” says Anne-Marie…

Which is perhaps why it all seems to transcend borders.

For more information on Lucid Annamole’s work, email: [email protected].