Steve Schruers: Artist in Residence August 7 – 13
You don’t have to wait until winter to visit with Santa at Searsport Shores!
He visits every August and again during Fiber College of Maine in September.
Steve has practiced a “tradition of giving” since he was a child and continues to make wishes come true for individuals and charities. He describes his life as a hodgepodge of experiences, farmer, cowboy, canoe guide and nuclear engineer are just a few on his long list of accomplishments.
Here’s what Santa Steve has to tell you:
The most current project for my Cartooning Art is my Santa Coin expansion. For many years, I have been gifting North Pole Santa Coins to children and adults alike when ever I meet them in person.
For some children that are afraid of Santa, the coins are a great ice breaker. The North Pole Santa Coins are real coins minted specifically for me and the North Pole. I am the artist which creates the concept of the coins and then my elves have an opportunity to review the art and make suggestions for improving the coin. Once the review process is completed, the art goes to the engraver who makes a die for each coin. We produce about 5,000 coins at a time with half being gold and half being silver. The back of the coins is always the same, “The Tradition of Giving, One Wish,” but the front of each coin has a specific theme with words that exemplify the theme.
The first coin was the “Santa” coin with a simple message of “Happy Holidays.” The second coin was created for the North Pole Princess who is my Chief Elf of Operations. The third coin was the Mrs. Claus coin with a message of “Holiday Cheer.” The forth coin was for all of my elf helpers and is the North Pole Elf coin with a message of “Friendship.” The fifth coin was created because I have received so many requests for a coin for a person’s pet. The Reindeer coin has Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on it with a message of “Companionship.” The last coin of the original series was the Military Family coin to show solidarity with all of our military families that sacrifice so much to protect their country’s citizens.
I wanted to make a coin to commemorate all of the first responders that have given so much to their communities, but our budget for minting coins was completely used up. So I created a Kickstarter project to fund the next three coins. These coins are the First Responder Coin, the Holiday Music Coin and the North Pole Village Coin. I have the art for the next three coins, but once again the minting budget is depleted so we will have to wait while we save our money. The next three coins are the Christmas Tree Coin, the Cookie Coin and the Snowman Coin.
During his week as artist in residence Santa Steve will be teaching macrame, cartooning and chainmail. The most popular type of macrame today is “Survival Bracelets.” Students have so much fun with them and they are quick to make, they end up making bracelets, anklets, dog collars, and leashes. Steve will have a knot sampler project and resource books available. If a student would like to try more complex knots, time for that will also be available.
You might also like to try your hand at creating chainmail jewelry.
