While Christmas may still be a few weeks away, the Dawson Creek Art Gallery is hoping people will still check out some jewelry made by a local artist and other works of art to possibly put underneath the tree.
"What I do is, everything is created by hand," said Bev Cosens, a life-long Dawson Creek resident whose jewelry has made her the featured artist for this year's show. "I don't buy the manufactured pieces, put them together and sell them – I make them right from scratch."
Kit Fast, the Gallery's curator, said that the Gallery tries to make the sale a bit of a social gathering, and that it is an important part of the gallery's calendar.
"There's a wide variety of artists, styles, and mediums [at the sale]," he said.
Some of these styles come from beginning artists who may not otherwise be featured in the gallery. Fast said that he hoped that by encouraging the artistic side of Dawson Creek residents with a chance to showcase their work at this show, he might persuade them to stay in the city longer.
He added that many families often treat Dawson Creek as a place where they can live for five years, make a bit of money, and leave – something he hoped to sway with events like these.
Last Saturday, those artists had a chance to show their wares.
In addition to these newcomers, more experienced artists like Cosens were also on hand to showcase their wares.
Cosens said that she got a positive community response in her first show at the Art Gallery.
She said that she has practiced and developed her work for the past eight years, but that she has enjoyed.
"Being a women, I like jewelry and I like the accessories for what I was wearing," she said.  "I think it just kind of progressed from there."
Cosens said that the jewelry is created with wire or sheet metal, that she pounds, hammers, and sauters to make the shape that she wants.
Some jewelry she has made also features handmade glass beads. Using a hot, propane powered touch, Cosens melts glass at temperatures above 1425 degrees Celsius.
“It takes a full day to make a set of lamp work beads,” she said. “Once the beads are made they have to be in a kiln for about five hours.”
However, this can be time-intensive. A single piece of jewelry can take her five hours to make, and she has already done approximately 150 pieces of artwork.
But the process can produce “unlimited” possibilities, she added.
“When you have the raw wire and metal in your hand you can create anything you want.”