Hand Made Bows

Your new fav T-shirt

Does Trisha Rhomberg have the remedy?

I’ve seen the local studio artist and indefatigable curator at Bows & Arrows gallery running around town, chatting up friends and collaborators, sharing pictures of screen-printing sessions on Facebook. All for this month’s exhibition, Prescription for a Healthy Art Scene , a 23-artist group show featuring 23 handmade shirts emblazoned with the words of one Renny Pritikin.

Not unlike German priest Martin Luther and his 95 theses, Pritikin, who curates the Richard L. Nelson Gallery at UC Davis, whipped up a list of what he sees as 23 cure-alls to an ailing arts scene. Rhomberg got her hands on his list, converted to a true believer and is now faithful to making Sacramento a healthier arts city.

Of the 23 “prescriptions,” she sees adventurous collectors, more art schools and programs, and articulate arts leaders as being of the essence here in Sacto. “People who take chances on new emerging artists on their own” are vital, she wrote to SN&R via email. “[We need] fearless buyers who don’t wait for big articles, or other well-known buyers, to make the move.”

Plus, she pointed out, Sacramentans so willingly throw down hundreds of dollars a month on food and booze: Why not set aside cash to buy some art?

Of the 23 shirts, design work by Laura Carter and Liz Donner stand out: “Taste the rainbow” tie-dye creations, “Edward Scissorhands” chop-ups tees, hand-beaded innovations, crochet work, detailed painting.

“I’m already wearing them,” Rhomberg said of the shirts, which will be on sale at the gallery opening and throughout the month (starting at $15).

So be part of the cure, not the disease, this Friday, from 6 to 10 p.m. at Bows.

Chocolate hearts, handmade bows for sale with L.O.V.E. | Universe2 ...

She made the bow herself; she picked out the bits of fabric, cut them into their puckered bow shape and sewed them together.

The tiny stitches march like ants along the bow’s border and the metallic clip sits atop a hardened smudge of glue. At her teacher’s urging, the student pushed the bow into her thick ebony hair.

 “Oh cute,” said Tricia Lund, the students’ petite teacher, with a kind laugh.

At Dan Peterson School in American Fork, Lund teaches seven high school students diagnosed with severe or profound disabilities. Inspired by their potential and discouraged by the janitorial skills they were learning, Lund started a project called Life Occupation Vocation Education, or L.O.V.E. Through L.O.V.E., Lund’s students learn to make creations like handmade bows and assembled candy cones, which are available for purchase.

When Lund introduced her students, she showed off their creations. Lund showed off Bekah Mardesich’s pocket pals. Lund brought a baby bib over to Bailey Jensen and explained Bailey has her own exclusive baby line. Next to Bailey, Michael Fairbanks sat contently as Lund talked about his “happy cow chocolates.”

“I feel there’s been a trend in the way that people see students with disabilities,” Lund explained. “They see that they’re capable of wiping tables or washing floors or dusting. And that’s great, but I refuse to be the kind of teacher who’s going to teach my students to be janitors.”

In Lund’s classroom, bits of fabric peek out from under construction paper and under a quote from a Miley Cyrus song Lund’s white Bernina sewing machine sits atop the counter.

L.O.V.E changed more than the classroom countertops.

“Any teacher in the school would tell you just the demeanor of my kids have changed,” Lund said.

Since starting L.O.V.E, Robin has stopped screaming. And Michael, who used to seem so somber, now walks down the hallway and seems to say “this is life” and “this is good,” Lund explained.

Michael’s father, Daniel Fairbanks, said on Sunday nights, Michael asks, “School tomorrow?”

When his father assures him he has school, Michael is content.

“And five minutes later he’ll say the same thing,” Fairbanks said, laughing.

The students enjoy coming to school to sew and make a mess with the melted chocolate.

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