It’s not just Black Friday in Sisters, it’s the Sisters Arts Association’s Fourth Friday Artwalk this week. What’s out there to supplement your holiday décor, fulfill a gift wish, or create that special element for your home? Gather the family, the visiting friends, and the kids for some fun and good treats between 4 and 7 p.m., in the galleries of Sisters. Most galleries will be open all day, with QuickDraw tickets available. Sign up for the monthly drawing one time in each gallery. Two $50 gift certificates will be awarded, thanks to a generous donation from Coldwell Banker Bain in Sisters.

Raku After Dark is the draw at Canyon Creek Pottery, 310 N. Cedar St. Master Potter Ken Merrill will be pulling pots from the raku kiln, starting at 5 p.m. Raku is a type of low-firing process inspired by the Japanese. Western-style raku involves removing pottery from the kiln while red-hot and placing it into a container with combustible materials. Once the materials ignite, the container is closed, producing an intense reduction atmosphere, which creates the colors in glazes and produces deliberate crackling.

The Stitchin’ Post staff’s Handcraft Boutique opens from 4 to 6 p.m., with a variety of fiber arts and handmade crafts for sale – everything from holiday décor like Christmas ornaments, gnome bottle toppers, and embroidered tea towels, to great gifts like quilts, little wallets, zippered bags, and earrings. Also featured are block printed panels and other items by Valori Wells.

The show of colorful work by Jill Neal continues all month at the Campbell Gallery in the Sisters Art Works building.

Hood Avenue Art Gallery’s focus will be on jewelry artists during the holiday season, from November through the end of February. The jewelry artists are: Alisa Looney, enamel jewelry; Karen Evans, fine handwoven beaded bracelets and necklaces; Danica Curtright, glass beads using a century-old process; Sharon Reed, handwrought items; Sunstone Store earrings, necklaces and rings; and Zantana Design, dichroic glass jewelry. Below are Sharon Reed’s jewelry pieces. She is a studio artist living in Bend, who creates one-of-a-kind jewelry and contemporary abstract paintings.

Raven Makes Gallery is stocked with new Hopi Kachina dolls, Navajo jewelry, and weavings acquired during late summer buys from Native artists. The gallery will be open regular hours during Fourth Friday. Please see the website for hours and new arrivals.

Toriizaka Art will not participate in this Fourth Friday event, but will be available by appointment during December. The gallery, featuring contemporary Asian art and works by local artists, has a lovely selection of affordable items, perfect for the holiday season. Call 650-580-6551 or email [email protected] to make an appointment.

Wildflower Studio is ready for the gift-giving season. Small batch candles, diffusers, linen sprays, and lotion collections are made in-house and boast unique seasonal blends. The studio is also stocked with new products from Rough Cut Soap Co. handcrafted artisan soaps, felted soap, soap bars and shampoo bars. Shop local art, prints, original paintings, and handmade works by local artisans. Art, consumables, and locally made products make unique and affordable gifts.

At Space in Common, Taylor Manoles will display a series of paintings inspired by “October Skies.” This moody collection reflects the colors of late autumn and the vastness of the Central Oregon skies. Manoles is an oil painter whose work explores themes of faith and the human experience through contemporary landscapes. Space in Common will hold a Small Business Saturday sale all weekend. Purchases over $60 will get a $10 gift card; purchase over $100, a $15 gift card, and over $200 will get a $30 gift card.

The Rickards Gallery’s Wendy Vernon has been designing and making jewelry for decades, and her jewelry has been a fixture there for many years. Color, line, stones, and gems – including their healing properties – are all part of Vernon’s design story. More than 50 new pieces have been added for this show, and Vernon will be in house to help select just the right piece for you or your special someone.

Sisters Gallery & Frame Shop welcomes the colorful work of Sandy Melchiori, an oil painter and landscape designer who paints bold canvases and boards with liberal brushstrokes. This show features mostly Pacific Northwest landscapes with some colorful still life for good measure. Also new are hats, cowls, and scarves to keep you warm or gift to a friend. They are all made by owner Helen Schmidling. During Artwalk, pick out a hat and then draw a ticket for $2 to $22 off the price of your item, in celebration of our new gallery location at 222 W. Hood Ave.

Editor’s Note: The following article is derived from officially released information, published with few or no editorial changes. The Greylock Glass  occasionally provides our readers with such content if the information is factual in nature, and requires little to no interpretation or analysis, often when original reportage would not provide additional relevant information.

WASHINGTON, Conn. — Once again this year, the Institute for American Indian Studies located at 38 Curtis Road in Washington is hosting a one-of-a-kind holiday shopping experience that celebrates Native American culture. What makes this Holiday Market unique is that it offers both deeply traditional crafts and more contemporary artistic expressions rooted in Native American cultural experience. Artists represented here are some of the finest working in the area today. It is a celebration of Native American diversity and inspiration.

The Holiday Market throughout the Institute’s impressive exhibition galleries takes place on Saturday, November 25 and Sunday, November 26, and Saturday, December 2, and Sunday, December 3. The final weekend for the holiday market is on Saturday, December 9, and Sunday, December 10. The market is free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. This is one of the few Holiday Markets that showcases only Native American-inspired artwork.

There will be gifts to choose from including Native American jewelry, paintings, photography, apparel, and candles, to decorative gourds, pottery, rattles, flutes, and more at a variety of price points. The chance to talk with the artists who have created these one-of-a-kind objects and to learn about the culture that inspired them makes your gift purchase even more meaningful.

For music lovers, musicians, and collectors, the magical-sounding authentic Woodland Native American flutes handcrafted by Allen Madahbee are truly unique. Madahbee is an Anishinaabe, born on Manitoulin Island, and is a registered Native American in Canada and the United States. In addition to the one-of-a-kind flutes, Madahbee is offering handmade beaded moccasins, woodcarvings, rock sculptures, and original paintings inspired by his ancestors and experiences.

Another vendor, Kim Lewis from Native Visions will be offering an astounding array of Native American Art from Oklahoma and the Southwest including a fine selection of original paintings and prints, Zuni Fetishes, silver jewelry, pottery by Mel Cornshucker, plus Hopi, and Navajo Kachinas.

A long-time favorite of the Holiday Market is Primitive Technologies, a nationally known small business that has worked with everyone from filmmakers to museum curators to recreate the material culture of prehistoric Native American life. They offer exquisite wood-fired replica pottery, hand constructed from local river clay, hand-carved flint arrowheads and flint animal necklaces, carved stone art, traditional stone tools, containers made out of natural materials, unusual jewelry, and decorative gourds.

Jeanne Morningstar Kent, a recognized Abenaki artist and enrolled member of the Nulhegan Band, Coosuk-Abenaki of Vermont will be offering her artfully crafted decorative gourds in all sizes. Kent’s work is housed in many museum collections including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian Studies, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Roger Williams University, Chimney Point Museum, and many more. What makes these gourds unusual is that they utilize traditional Abenaki and Wabanaki designs.

Brandy Sawyer Emmans of Cherokee descent and owner of bthunder will once again be at the holiday market. Runway model for the Sky Eagle Collection, Native American educator, and advocate for MMIW (Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women), bthunder offers an evocative selection of contemporary Native American-inspired art, jewelry, apparel, candles, and accessories.

Not to be missed is Eva Newell, of Nauset and Cree descent and an enrolled member of the Pokanoket Wampanoag Tribe. Newell is offering distinctive hand-cut glass mosaic vases. These one-of-a-kind art pieces depict Native American culture and legends and tell some of Newell’s favorite stories from her Native heritage. Newell’s baskets are also extraordinary. Eva will be participating during the December 9th and 10^th market only.

The Museum’s Gift Shop will be open and brimming with gifts large and small in many price ranges. Here you will find a distinctive collection of Native American jewelry, including wampum jewelry crafted by Annawon Weeden, Mashpee Wampanoag, and Pequot artist Dan Simonds, head of the Wampum Wear Collective. A highlight is the jewelry and gift items from Eighth Generation, owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe in Seattle, which partners with Native artists across the country. The result is some of the most beautiful and authentic items available. For foodies, there is a wonderful selection of traditional Native American food products from Sweet Grass Trading Company from the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. And, in the spirit of the Metis culture, Pemmican Patty’s products offer a selection of bison berry-blended jerky that will connect you with Native foodways and nutrition. The gift shop also has a good selection of books and children’s items.

Although entrance to the museum and the Holiday Market are free, donations are always appreciated. A tour of the museum for a nominal fee is a fun and insightful experience that compliments this unique shopping experience. 

About The Institute for American Indian Studies 

Located on 15 acres of woodland acres the Institute For American Indian Studies preserves and educates through archeology, research, exhibitions, and programs. They have a 16th c. Algonquian Village, Award-Winning Wigwam Escape, and a museum with temporary and permanent displays of authentic artifacts from prehistory to the present allows visitors to foster a new understanding of the world and the history and culture of Native Americans. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located at 38 Curtis Road, Washington, Conn.

Time to update that playlist! Colorado Public Radio shared a small list of Indigenous artists from the Four Corner States making awesome music.

This listicle highlights one Indigenous independent band or artist from each of the Four Corners states. In case you need a refresher, the Four Corners states are Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Four Corners is the only place in the U.S. where four states meet. The Four Corners region is 25,000 square miles of Native Land and home to Navajo Nation and the Ute people.

Check out the list.