For those of you who don’t know…my dear friend, and owner of Blaines Art Supply, and my wonderful boss, Rene Haag, passed away on June 24th, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. She was the most positive, bravest, kindest, giving, generous, loving person and was so loved and respected by so many in the community. She devoted 30 years to Blaines Art Supply, giving us high quality art supplies and most of all a place for us to meet as a community of artists and friends. She was always eager to help anyone, especially small businesses. Rene was the one who encouraged me to become a CZT and asked me to work at Blaines Art. I especially loved teaching Zentangle® Workshops on Saturdays because she was there, usually in her office, and she always had time to chat. She meant so much to me and I miss her! To read more about Rene visit: www.blainesart.com and www.facebook.com/blainesart
A “Celebration of Life” for Rene will be held at First United Methodist Church 725 West 9th Avenue on July 22nd at 2:00pm. Donations may be made to The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Preferred florist is Hummel’s Flowers.
P.S. Please give Blaines Art’s staff big hugs! They all need to know they are loved and appreciated! ❤
Rene at her 30th year Anniversary at Blaines Art
Here I am at Blaines Art showing my “Alaskan Stuffies” (a long time ago). I stayed up all night sewing!
One year at the Blaines Art–“Make it & Take it” Event, we donated our truck and the “Spray Paint Class” gave our old truck a MAKEOVER! Jake loved that truck and proudly drove it for years! And of course on the sides it says “Blaines Art”.
One of my most favorite photos of Rene & Dave, Jake & me! We always had so much fun!!
Blaines Art Supply is the only art store in Anchorage. It’s a beautiful store with every art supply you can imagine. Rene started there as the manager and eventually bought the business and later built this brand new gorgeous store. The store will continue on and I will continue to teach Zentangle® at Blaines Art and celebrate Rene’s life!
❤️ Donna
Dream catchers are arts and crafts of the Native American people. Traditionally dream catchers were made from willow branches bent into rings or oval shapes and sinew for the web. Feathers decorate infants and children’s dream catchers, but all dream catchers are embellished with totem animals, beads, and small stones. (I love to embellish!) The ring is believed to represent wisdom, strength, and unity.
One legend tells of an elderly spiritual leader who had a vision of Iktomi, the great trickster and searcher of wisdom. He appeared in the form of a spider and spoke to him. As he spoke, the spider picked up the elder’s willow ring and began to spin a web. He spoke about the cycle of life and and many lessons. The ring represents the cycle of life, for as we come into life as infants and grow into adults, as elderly adults we must be taken care of as infants, thus completing the cycle of life.
When the spider finished, he had spun a web inside the ring and told him that when the dream catcher is hung above ones bed, good dreams will float through the web’s holes and down the strings of beads and feathers, placing good dreams into your head while one sleeps. Bad dreams are caught in the web and tangle up in the web & beads and stones and with the first rays of daylight, they evaporate and disappear. Pretty awesome don’t you think!
Wishing you good dreams and peaceful sleep.
Tangle Alaska Blog 