After four decades of handcrafting exquisite leather bags for customers, Turtle Ridge Gallery owner Mary Ellen Sisulak is giving the public a chance to put their own mark on one of the gallery’s favorite bag designs during its first Art Camp, Jan. 15-17 and 22-24.
The camp, under the direction of Sisulak and Asta Zukauskiene, will lead participants through a step-by-step process of creating a Turtle Ridge handbag. Participants will be limited only by the structure of the bag but when it comes to the look, they are limited only by their imagination.
“We give them all kinds of ideas for the flaps on the bags and they can choose and create their own thing,” Sisulak said. “This bag is called the Geo and it’s for sale in our shop but I’m hoping everybody will do it differently because I think it will be more interesting for them.”
A variety of leather and decorative embellishments, along with the studio’s tools, will be available for the workshop.
“We have an embossed design that they can put on the front, if they want they can go home and paint it too, and then we have a stone design with a semi-precious stone and inlay,” Sisulak said.
It is open to all skill levels with Sisulak and Zukauskiene willing to fill in when necessary in the creation process.
“We have people signed up with varying degrees of creativity and skill levels so we’re not quite sure what will happen but we’re pretty sure it will be fun,” Sisulak said.
“It’s really nice to share this with people,” she added. “Maybe they’ll enjoy it and maybe we’re passing along some skills that they can use in other things too.”
The camp begins with a Friday night orientation and refreshments. Participants choose between the morning or afternoon session (three hours each) for Saturday and Sunday. The class cost is $300. For more information, visit TurtleRidgeGallery.com, email TurtleRidge@gmail.com or call 920.854.4839.