Spring Creek Artisans will host Pumpkin Day again this year planned for Saturday at the Creative Arts Center.
The event will be held from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
A wide variety of handmade items will be available. Original paintings, wood carvings and turnings, pottery, baskets, fiber art, quilts, stained glass, wire-wrapped jewelry, and homemade baked goods are available for purchase from local artisans. Some artists will demonstrate their craft on-site Saturday.
Dulcimer music will be provided by Carol Spurlock. Cookies, coffee, and apple cider will welcome guests as they shop. Kids can enjoy free face painting and a craft table at the event.
Salem Upper Elementary students will have an art show on display.
Attendees are invited to sign up for a door prize featuring one of the artist’s works.
Joy Manthei is the featured artist at Pumpkin Day. Manthei is the newest member of the Spring Creek Artisans.
She recently moved to Salem from Rolla, but also lived in Florida for quite some time. She has been painting for most of her life but said there have been three distinct periods of time when she created more work than others.
“I almost become obsessive about it. This latest period of time started about four years ago,” Manthei said. Typically painting a few hours per day, she enjoys landscapes, animals, and nature as subjects. A closet in her home is filled with paintings and she looks forward to selling some of them with the Spring Creek Artisans this weekend.
Manthei has about 60 pieces at the Heartland Art Gallery in Steelville and has participated in shows from Rolla to St. Charles.
She started plein air painting a few years ago and enjoys it but prefers her home studio since she tends to be more detailed than the time that plein air allows. She creates pieces from photos of nature shared by friends, or from various trips, or favorite locales in Florida or Missouri. Her home’s walls are adorned with paintings of all sizes featuring anything from sea turtles and flamingos, to a painting of her son and his first horse.
Working mostly in acrylics and oils, Manthei’s work is detailed and shows a love of nature and all of its creatures.
Visit with her and other artisans Saturday at the Creative Arts Center. The Creative Arts Center is located on Hwy. 19, behind the Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center.
