Some call it the best-kept secret in Mukilteo.
But certainly those hunter-gatherers of art know all too well that if they go to Mukilteo on Saturday for the annual Artists’ Garage Sale they are sure to find a feast.
This is no scavenger hunt. Most of the finds are only slighted flawed and so sought after, so much a bargain, that even the artists who are there selling walk away with a bounty.
More than 60 artists will be selling seconds, old and new stock, including watercolors, oils, pastels, acrylics, glass, found objects, sculpture, ceramics, photography and prints.
“It’s the only thing like it, and it’s one of the few places I actually buy stuff,” said artist Dehanna Jones. “It’s cool. There’s all kinds of weird stuff, and plus I see art.”
Jones is a glass blower and one of the owners of Totally Blown Glassworks in south Seattle. She said the flaws in the pieces she brings to Mukilteo are really tiny and at other street fairs people might actually question why her $200 vase is only $40. But not at Mukilteo.
Jones said the Mukilteo garage sale has lots of friendly customers well aware they are looking at seconds. Jones is a street fair expert who does about eight a year but saves at least two truckloads of her vases, bowls and paperweights for Mukilteo.
“It’s the best way to start the season,” she said.
Jones has been blowing glass since she was 17. Now 37, she said she enjoys the feedback she hears from the street fairs.
“I like to be around people and listen to what they say about my work,” Jones said. “Part of making glass is making it accessible.”
Edmonds artist Lisa Jones-Moore said she’ll be bringing her mixed-media art this year, along with landscape paintings.
She’ll also be bringing her daughter, Jennifer, 15, but this time as a helper.
Jennifer has sold her black-and-white photography and mixed-media art for three or four years at Mukilteo. Last year she even outsold mom. This year, though, she’s there as daughter support.
Jones-Moore, a graduate of Colorado State University with a bachelor of fine arts, said she’s been going to the garage sale for about six years.
“And customers, they are there to buy,” Jones-Moore said. “Everyone just connects.”
Potter Gina Holt of Bothell has been selling at Mukilteo for four or five years.
Holt, who brings ceramic mirrors and clocks, said she also puts out a lot of stuff that didn’t turn out, got broken in the kiln, and people buy it to use as garden art or mosaics.
“From other artists I might see chunks that are inspiring,” said Holt. “There’s one lady there and I love digging through her stuff.”
Holt remembered that she sold out by noon last year.
“A lot of people were doing high fives,” Holt said.
Glass blower Jones said she can’t deny it – the money keeps bringing her back.
“It’s a great sale,” she said. “Everyone expects me there.”
Arts reporter Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
Examples of the artwork found at the annual Artists Garage Sale include (clockwise from left) “Farm Boy” by Lisa Jones-Moore, a beeswax-mixed-media collage; Fruit Bowl” by Dehanna Jones; and “Yellow Rainbow Vase,” also by Jones.
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