Etsy artists craft objects inspired by 'crazy amount of things' at Calgary's Glenbow Museum

Originally published November 16.

Alberta artists who sell their work onEtsy have been commissioned by the Glenbow to craft new piecesbased on the vast collection ofartifactstucked away in the museum's backrooms.

"We always love getting people in to experience the crazy amounts of things that we have," saidJenny Conway Fisher, the Glenbow'smanager of marketing and communications.

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The museum housesmore than 30,000 paintings, sculptures,historic clothing and culturally-significant objects.

In August, 24 artists got abehind-the-scenes tour of some of theitems that are not currently on display to the public.

They were then asked tosubmit aproposal fora new creation thatcould besold attheGlenbow gift shop.

"We wanted to have them explicitly be inspired by something that they experienced and be taken in a creative direction they may not have gone otherwise," said Conway Fisher.

Fourteen artists were selected for the project and were commissioned to start crafting items to be sold at the Glenbow Museum which go on sale starting Nov. 18.

Every piece has a story

Sarah Nishi, who works with leather,was intrigued by a Japanese saddle so she decided to make a clutch inspired by its shape.

"Every piece in the Glenbow collection has a story, that's how they select their pieces" shesaid.

And so, Nishi decided to make her clutch froma piece of leather with agood back story.

"Igot itfrom a man who bought the whole stock of fish leather from a Canadian tannery that closed," she said.

A modern twist

It was amuch smaller object that caught Leonie Vatter's attention.

The former history teacher,who now makes fashion accessories, fancied asilk and velvet coin purse that Mrs. Samuel Lazier of Bellville, Ont.wore when she was presented to Queen Victoria in 1880.

"I wanted to give it a little twist. I didn't want it to be as elegant ... the fabrics I chose are all cottons or woven linens and those would be fabrics that the majority of the Canadian population would have worn at that time."

While the Glenbowis the first museum in Canada to partner with Estythevirtual marketplace for local artistshas already done similarpartnerships with theMelbourne Museum andthe American Museum of Natural History in New York City.