Le très Petit Noël returns to Three Rivers

After a 20 year hiatus, Le très Petit Noël brings back a new, smaller version of this well-loved artists’ tradition for the holidays on Dec. 5 and 6 at the Three Rivers’ art studio of Elsah Cort. This intimate setting, surrounded by greening Sierra foothills. will feature the work of five exceptional creatives and will be open from 10-5 pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

Cort wrote all those years ago, “Le Petit Noël (a little Christmas) fulfills a long-held dream of mine to have a Christmas show that inspires givers, receivers and, most of all, creators. The show itself becomes a work of art as a collaboration between artist and art appreciator. The event extends as a gift to the community.”

Toni Best (an original Le Petit Noël artist) has been a creator and advocate of basketry for more than 50 years. Starting with reed, she now specializes in pine needle coiling, and coiling on gourds while showing the influence of Native American styles and her own imagination. Presently, she exhibits at shows around the state, and teaches classes at her studio in Visalia, as well as around the state. Recently branching out and exploring greater use of color and design, she has expanded from more conservative art to one illustrating greater freedom.

Originally from the East Coast — Virginia and North Carolina —Best received her first basket training in willow and reed. Utilizing this medium in a variety of styles, she eventually extended her craft to coiled basketry fabricated from pine needles and raffia.

Using these natural materials, Best has expanded upon native designs and weaves basketry that echo many American cultures while illustrating her own innovations and imagination. She says, “Art has been the core of my existence since childhood. For me, creating a basket reveals part of my soul or inner self. I love pine needle basketry since it is possible to create movement with the needles while creating art. Alternating between a more classic style and colorful flights of imagination makes this art form rewarding to create.”

Elsah Cort (the founder of Le Petit Noël first held in 1988) has lived and worked in Three Rivers for 38 years.

“Collage is the medium I celebrate and immerse myself in, as an artist–for my work, and my life. Everything seems to want to try to synergize with something else. About 20 years ago, I started cutting images and phrases from magazines, and produced my first individual collages into small blank cards,” she said. “I called the cards the “it could be art” series. Embracing the title of artist found reluctance in me, but art itself has never abandoned me, no matter what resistance I have felt for it. Art is a part of every moment, whether we can see it or not. Art is the natural expression of a human be-ing.”

Stephanie Dethlefs offers yummy holiday treats including old-fashioned Scotch shortbread, hot mulled cider with cinnamon, cloves, allspice and orange peel, and homemade Christmas granola. Her fantastical eatables will also feature chocolate goodies. Cooking is her creative art form, perfected over many years since childhood.

“I loved helping mom and my grandmother in the kitchen. We would work for days making real Italian fresh ravioli and gnocchi for every holiday,” she said. “That is where my love of cooking started. We would bless each ingredient, surrounding the food and ourselves with the love we would then imbue into every morsel that we produced. And that is why I always say that everything I cook is…made with love.”

Marion Hultgren, a gifted jeweler, lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. She has a big place in her heart for Three Rivers and has visited her friend of over 40 years, Elsah Cort, many times over the years. She is a retired nurse who has always been creative and loved making things. She creates her fine and unusual jewelry in a narrow attic studio in her home.

“I started my extensive bead acquisition in the early 1990s, after rediscovering a bag of my 'hippie' seed beads I had collected in the 1970s. The ‘Picasso; Czech beads have become my favorite beads to use because of the extraordinary hues and shapes. I especially like the finishes as they seem more organic and earthy to me and open new avenues for creating my latest jewelry pieces,” she said. “I weave these beautiful, delicate beads into bracelets, earrings, and an occasional necklace...and as a true beader, the pursuit of discovering new beads is stronger than ever.”

Peggy Hunt began making simple, functional birdhouses several years ago to become homes for the birds in her Three Rivers back yard. She researched plans for making them to meet the nesting requirements for a real bird, like the titmouse, bluejay, robin and wren.

Using recycled scraps of wood, she fashioned birdhouses to be hung on trees or sides of sheds, barns and houses. She also makes bird feeders to attract birds to natural landscapes. She now lives on a small farm in Woodlake, where she helps to raise egg-laying hens, ducks, turkeys, goats, dogs, cats, alpacas and an old-lady horse named Tule.

The studio of Elsah Cort can be found at the end of Skyline Drive in Three Rivers, 9/10 of a mile from the turnoff at Highway 198. Directions can be found at elsahcort.wordpress.com/le-tres-petit-noe, along with more photos.

Information: 561-4671.