Artist and gallery owner Cherry Maloy produces a line of art pieces featuring decoupage images on locally-found shells. ‘It’s a mixed media, everything I paint is with nail polish,” Maloy said.

LONG BEACH — A boutique gallery featuring nearly 30 local artists opened over the weekend in Long Beach.

The Artisans Beach Boutique, at 114 3rd Street, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, May 31, attended by the owners and several local artists whose work adorn the inside walls. The gallery is currently open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

Seeking more foot traffic

The new gallery, located between the Long Beach Tavern and Castaways Seafood Grille in downtown Long Beach, was an appealing spot, according to owner Cheryl Maloy.

“We were just looking for more foot traffic,” Maloy said.

“I used to be the market manager over at the [Long Beach] Grange, so a lot of the vendors followed us over here. While working as the the manager at the grange, I realized just how talented this community is.”

Maloy became aware of the vacant space, formerly Banana Books, while browsing Facebook, and moved quickly to secure the downtown spot.

“It just kind of took off from there — it’s been a long process. We have at least 25 different artists,” Maloy said, adding that they intend to grow and add more inventory from local artists.

“This has been an effort from everyone involved. I couldn’t have done this alone, every vendor in here has worked hard to help get this up and going.”

The Chinook Observer spoke with some of the artists as they settled into the new gallery.

Lorna Hansen, soy candles

Over the past few years Peninsula resident Lorna Hansen has been on a mission to produce the perfect candle.

“Our mission was to make a non-toxic, paraffin-free soy candle that’s completely safe for people and pets,” Hansen said.

Paraffin, a byproduct of petroleum and popular ingredient in common scented candles, can produce harmful chemicals that pose health risks, particularly to children.

“When the phthalates [a chemical compound] enter the bloodstream, they can exacerbate allergic symptoms and asthma and alter hormone levels,” states the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding paraffin candles.

Over the past two years, Hansen has instead been utilizing soy and coconut wax bases to make her healthier homemade candles. A personal favorite of Lorna, the ‘dragons blood’ scented-candle has emerged as among her best sellers.

“Everybody loves the dragon’s blood — it’s like walking into an old head shop,” she said.

Heidi Schilling, resin artist

Seaview resident Heidi Schilling, of Breezy’s Creative Works, began exploring resin art as a form of physical therapy after a brain injury.

“I was told I couldn’t go outside or do anything for six months, I had to have brain surgery. I watched YouTube and happened upon people working with resin. As I was working to get my sight back, I started working with it,” Scilling said.

Upon relocating to Seaview from Kansas, Schilling found inspiration in the sights surrounding the peninsula. Among her latest creations are resin-molded snails and turtles.

“After I moved out here, I really got into it, the area is perfect for art,” she said.

Schilling enjoys incorporating ‘surprises’ such as glow-in-the-dark features into her molds, which take 24 hours for the synthetic polymers to set.

Jason Eaton, leaf prints

For more than 20 years Jason Eaton has been collecting the components for his lacquered leaf prints. Simply looking at a leaf and ‘already knowing what I want it to be,’ is one of his favorite parts of the process.

“At one point I was like, how am I going to sell all this stuff that I made and love?” said Eaton, who uses common items such as leaves, cardboard, wax paper, shoe polish and ‘lots of lacquer’ in constructing his art.

“I press the leaf for three to six months, maybe a couple years for some others before I open up the book and say ‘I’ll use this leaf,” he said.

“I hope people like it.”

Mary Petty, diamond painting

A retired nurse, Mary Petty began producing “diamond paintings” during the pandemic.

“It’s a lot of fun, I used to do cross stitch but this take less time and I love the bling aspect of it,” Petty said standing before her wall of glistening work.

“I get a pattern and begin to place each piece individually. It usually take about four to five days.”

Petty first started selling her art at the Grange last fall and quickly noticed a demand for her sparkling scenes, often featuring cacti, suns, birds and cats.