Winter Stardust
A Log Cabin in Peninsula

Diane Seskes' mother always wanted a log cabin and the family spent long weekends in them. In November 1996, Diane and her mother Lucille stopped at Joe and Barb Kovach's tag sale when they were preparing to sell their property. Her mother asked if they could look at the reassembled North Carolina cabins they purchased and restored. Diane says that “when Joe said there was one for sale, Mom turned to me with these wide open blue eyes, and I knew right away that she was going to buy a log cabin. And she did!!!” They moved it into Diane's backyard in downtown Peninsula and two days after it was fully reassembled and renovated, a robin built a nest over a beam. That was the sign Diane and Lucille took to mean they made the right decision, like stardust making dreams come true.

The cabin was never consistently a place for Lucille's quilting friends to hang out but it became a place to rock and look over the cliff and a place to host chili cook offs. The first exhibit was in October 1999 and came about by happenstance. As Diane tells the story, “My friend, Cindy Griggs, was coming to visit for a week from Norfolk, Virginia. We've known each other since college and she grew up in this area. She is an artist and I suggested she bring along several of her watercolors and pen & inks featuring places I had photographed and she had painted or drawn . . . we put up a sign, held a reception (so that Cindy could see friends and relatives all at one time also), and exhibited our artwork during the Peninsula ArtWalk. We had a fabulous time and in the spring, I, my mom, and five other friends opened for one weekend during the Spring ArtWalk, and The Log Cabin Gallery was born.” Since that time, Diane has always shown her own work along with the work of friends. “I always want a few friends' work to be included to support them in their creativity and to enhance the atmosphere at the cabin.”

Today, the Log Cabin Gallery is a unique place to find local art, including Diane's photography. Stop by and chat with Diane during the Winter Stardust 2009 Exhibit at the Log Cabin on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through December 20. It's a great place to find gifts. There's extra incentive to get there this Saturday for the Holiday Open House because everything in the gallery is discounted by 10%. The Cabin is open from 10-7 and you can enjoy complimentary cider and cookies and be lulled into the holidays with holiday musical performances by Jon Mosey and Donna Barrett in the afternoon. Just like buying a bottle of wine from a winery you personally visit, buying art after meeting the artist will always carry a story, and a little stardust.

The artists whose work is being exhibited during Winter Stardust work with gemstones and wood, clay and glass. They create fiber wall hangings and illustrated quotes to soften a room. They make jewelry, purses, charms, and hats to brighten mediocre wardrobes. They blow glass and piece together collages and quilts. Capture the passion by spending time with the artists, whose bios can be found on the Log Cabin's website, http://www.thelogcabingallery.com. Discover Pat Bakos and her Gemstone Trees, Tamara Gunnels and her Tree Charms, and Charles Kline and his Wildlife Art.

One of the first things I noticed when I went into the Log Cabin Gallery for the first time was the log cabins along the beam near the ceiling. Diane says they were found at garage sales and held plants inside her house on her outside patio. “As I found more and more, they moved up into the loft of The Log Cabin Gallery,” Diane explains. “In that collection I have two made by friends--Don Carroll and Dave Repicky. Two years ago I found one buried in an antique shop in Sharon Center. Three years ago I purchased one made by a gentleman in his 80's who lives down here in the Valley. He only makes a few a year and sells them through a shop in Merriman Valley. One of the cabins was supposedly made by a friend of the Mail Pouch tobacco sign painter in Southern Ohio. Another I found in Maine also made by an older gentleman who lived on the coast. Another cabin I purchased through a catalogue (Robert Redford's Sundance???) and here it was signed by another gentleman from southern Ohio.”

My favorite Diane Seskes photo is of a half-bare tree rising up into the air with red and yellow trees hanging in the air around it like disembodied snowflakes falling from the sky. Diane shot the photo by lying on her back under the tree and shooting up. She captured that experience for me--every time I look at the framed photo in my dining room, my eyes move upwards and I wonder at the confetti quality of leaves that float in space. Diane says she always had a camera, but didn't take herself seriously until the 1990s when she began focusing upon her vision and taking photography workshops. A little stardust fell like those leaves floating from the trees.

Another artist on display during Winter Stardust is Russ O'Brien of Akron Glass Works. One of his Friendship Balls, bought last summer at the Log Cabin Gallery, hangs from a peg in my family room. O'Brien recently announced the Glass Angel Project through which a portion of the proceeds from sales of hand-blown glass angels will go to the Akron Children's Hospital Burn Unit. The quote on the announcement says, "The era in which we live belongs to people who believe in themselves, but are focused on the needs of others.”

O'Brien is one of those people. So is Seskes. As the secretary and website caretaker for Peninsula Area Chamber of Commerce, she coordinates special events. Diane works closely with Steve Bures of Elements Gallery, Carolyn Birchnell of Peninsula Art Academy, and Pamela Good of Park Place to assure that their artists aren't duplicated in too many places in the Valley while providing different venues for artists to display. They support one another in special events in an attempt to support the arts in the valley. The robins were right--rebuilding the Log Cabin behind Diane's house was a good idea. The Log Cabin exhibits help local artists realize their potential and gain recognition. And it inspires all of us to be better people.

The Log Cabin Gallery is located at 1671 Main Street, in back up North Canal Street, in Peninsula, Ohio 44264, 330-657-2670, http://www.thelogcabingallery.com. Artist Diane Seskes is the proprietor. WINTER STARDUST 2009 EXHIBIT is November 20 - December 20, 2009, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, 11 am - 5 pm & by appointment.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia Taller, whose passion for words has led to creation of the Lakeside Word Lover’s Retreats, an outgrowth of her work with Skyline Writers. Her favorite foods are red wine, salmon, ice cream, and chocolate. She loves to read, write, tour wineries, ride her bike, ease into yoga, and cook gourmet meals for friends. Find her at http://www.claudiatallermusings.blogspot.com.