Beaux regulars

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By Katie Vaughn | Friday, September 8, 2006 11:33 PM CDT | () comments

Jeff Cook/QUAD-CITY TIMES Vern and Eloise Houseal, of Davenport, have missed just one Beaux Arts Fair since 1991, the year Vern needed bypass surgery. The couple makes jewelry for the annual festival.

Jewelry makers Vern and Eloise Houseal always enjoy the Beaux Arts Fall Fair. Since 1991, they’ve been regulars at the arts and crafts festival held every spring and fall. But the festival 15 years ago stands out in their minds — because that’s when Vern suffered an unexpected heart attack.

Thinking it was a severe case of indigestion, the couple paid a visit to a hospital just to make sure Vern was alright. He was, but only after bypass surgery days later.

Nevertheless, the incident didn’t stand in the Houseals’ way the next spring and fall. They were back at the festival, showcasing their jewelry and meeting customers.

“We didn’t give it a thought,” Vern said of the ordeal.

Shortly after he married Eloise 31 years ago, Vern started experimenting with lapidary. After abandoning calibrated shapes to create free forms, he added silver and then gold to his arsenal of materials. Once he retired from his job as a Deere & Co. manufacturing engineer, he had more time to devote to his artistic pursuits.

Eloise soon joined in, creating strands of beaded necklaces and bracelets. She has since come into her own artistically and has become an expert on a variety of pearls.

Both are entirely self-taught, save for a few books they’ve read on jewelry-making and two workshops Vern has attended. He works in a basement studio in their Davenport home, while she favors the kitchen table or guest bedroom.

Whatever process he’s using, Vern said he lets the materials guide how he makes a piece of jewelry. His gemstone-embedded rings may be delicate and detailed or bold and sleek, or he may hang a piece of richly hued boulder opal from a strip of a silver necklace.

Necklaces take the form of traditional tidy rows, irregularly shaped iridescent beads overlapped upon one another and many styles in between.

Jewelry prices range from $10 for a pair of stamped metal earrings to $1,995 for a gold necklace with a 2.7-carat tanzanite pendant.

Pink tourmaline is one of Vern’s favorite stones to work with, but he doesn’t bother with high-end rubies, emeralds and diamonds.

“I leave those to the jewelry stores,” he said.

The Houseals get most of their materials at a wholesale gem show each winter in Tucson, Ariz., where Vern has also begun selling his lapidary.

The couple participates in up to 18 arts and crafts festivals a year, but they make sure to attend Beaux Arts.

“We like being at the show and meeting all the people,” Eloise said.

The Beaux Arts Fall Fair — as well as its Mother’s Day weekend sister festival — has been held since 1961, said chairman Tom Magers.

Last year, the Beaux Funds Committee decided not to hold the fall fair because it was too busy. However, Magers said the two fairs are scheduled to proceed indefinitely.

While the fair has historically attracted between 125 and 150 artists and craftspeople in the fall, compared to the typical 200 in the spring, Magers said this year’s event will be even smaller.

Magers said nearly 100 artists and craftspeople will display and sell paintings, limited edition prints, weavings, jewelry, stained glass, metal work lots of pottery and more in the juried show. Some will offer demonstrations of their art-making processes.

After expenses are paid, all proceeds go to the Figge Art Museum, Magers said.

The event also features a children’s area run by the Figge and food vendors offering kettle corn, fudge and other treats, he said. And a musical act provided by the nearby LP Coffee Shop rounds out the fair.

Magers said some people attend the festival every year to see favorite artists. However, he encourages newcomers to give the fair a try.

Katie Vaughn can be contacted at (563) 383-2282 or kvaughn@qctimes.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Beaux Arts Fair

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday

Where: 2nd Street, between Perry and Iowa streets, downtown Davenport

How much: Free, with donations accepted

Information: (563) 323-9042