Niagara Gallery

I was wandering around Niagara Falls passing time waiting for a train, and I came across this lovely little gallery full of local peoples work. It was like an Aladdin's cave of art floor to ceiling, paintings, sculpture, photography and jewelry all done by people in the area and for sale, it was run by a charity and employed people with disabilities to give them some work experience and help them find future employment. It was a really inspirational little gallery, in one corner they had a dinosaur kids area where they ran workshops and book readings for children...

such a lovely place full of lovely ideas and projects.

Original design

I came across these handmade felt purses at a festival in Toronto. There were photo's on the stall of them being made and that's what interested me. It looked like a very hands-on creative process being done in someone's house. 

The purses are actually made in Lima, Perú, by plastic artist Gabriela Hupiu and graphic designer Chivi Gonzalez, and are the result of months of creative work, research, and experimentation, all carried out behind-the-scenes, before the purses were introduced to the market in 2007. 

I haven't seen anything like them before and I the way artists are still able to make a living from original ideas produced on a small scale.

http://www.ladymosquito.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83&Itemid=72