Vacation Collection Purchases

One of the best parts of going on vacation is checking out the stores and finding new items for our collections. While we were on vacation this summer in Saugatuck, MI we ventured over to the town of Douglas and checked out the stores there. In one that was going out of business we found a mermaid I couldn’t resist even though we haven’t found room in our new place for all the ones we already had! I loved the miniature weather vane but also artist Katie McConnell’s tagline “It’s okay to be a little vane.” Some of the vanes had jewels hanging from the bottom but the mermaid just had a place for one so I used wire to wrap a shell we found on the beach and created a souvenir as well as a new mermaid for the collection. It’s a little ironic, I guess, that she actually comes from Cape Cod. I hadn’t hung anything on the bottom curve of the mermaid shelf here so I had the perfect place for her.

In Saugatuck we went to Amazwi a store we had missed last year. This “contemporary art” store was filled with art from around the world including a decorated gourd that I think is probably from Africa or maybe South America since those look like coffee beans on top.

It found a home with one of the lizards and other pieces on the sideboard.