The Falmouth ArtMarket features music by Kim Moberg and Heather Swanson on Thursday, July 21, at Falmouth Marina Park, 180 Scranton Avenue. The ArtMarket is open every Thursday through September 1, offering fine arts and crafts from 11 to 5 PM, a Book Booth featuring local authors from 11 AM to 2 PM, visits from Falmouth Library’s Book Bike from 11 AM to 12 PM, and musical entertainment from 2 to 4 PM.
Singer/songwriter Kim Moberg was born in Juneau, Alaska, the daughter of a classical pianist mother of Alaskan Native Tlingit descent and a U.S. Coast Guard veteran father from Kansas. Her passionate and heartfelt vocals mesmerize listeners, while her songs speak to melancholy, heartbreak, healing, and social consciousness. She has released two albums, “Above Ground” and “Up Around the Bend.”
Trained as a classical violinist, Heather Swanson enjoys playing folk and traditional Celtic music. She also teaches and performs in the Cape Violin and Cello Duo with her daughter. Her CD, “Beside Quiet Waters,” is a collection of traditional and contemporary Celtic tunes.
The featured author will Ben Carnevale, author of Nobska, which offers a close look inside Nobska Lighthouse, revealing the history of one of America’s most beloved lighthouses.
The Falmouth ArtMarket features over two dozen artists and craftspeople. Among them is Karen Teeley, of Karen Teeley Creations in Cotuit, who creates wooden toys. Long an avid crafter and woodworker, Teeley began making wooden toys when her son and daughter-in-law requested natural toys for their children, toys that did not have batteries, bells, whistles, or sirens; toys that would encourage creative play and keep kids away from screens.
At the time, Teeley was living in Walpole, next to a woodcraft shop that offered classes in woodworking and make miniatures. “The skills that I had learned making dollhouse furniture and miniatures transferred well to making little toys for the grandkids,” she said.
Teeley’s toys range from little wooden fish to an array of dinosaurs (with and without wheels), forest creatures, rainbow arches, and all kinds of vehicles, including a Jurassic Park jeep. She is careful to make sure the toys are not only appealing to children, but safe to play with. The surfaces are smooth and finished with a mix of beeswax and food-grade mineral oil that Teeley makes herself. “It preserves and seals the wood, and it’s safe for babies to put in their mouths.”
Some of the toys, like her little blue trucks, are painted with a nontoxic acrylic paint and then finished off with beeswax and mineral oil. The little blue truck, with a toad on board, was inspired by the children’s book series of the same name, in which the little blue truck and his friend the toad help to save the day for their farmyard friends.
Teeley is also happy to make custom items in response to customer requests, including sloths and hedgehogs. “I love the creative process,” said Teeley. “I love seeing the joy on little kids’ faces when they see the toys—and on the parents’ and grandparents’ faces too. It’s a win-win-win!”
For more information on Karen Teeley Creations, visit www.karenteeley.com.
For more information on the Falmouth ArtMarket, including a schedule of musicians and a list of vendors, visit FalmouthArtMarket.com.
Notes on The Arts 