Bio Link
Tara has trained with several artisans in metalsmithing and beadwork techniques. Tara works part time from her studio at home. Tara’s jewelry and wraps are currently sold through the web site and at Rehfeld’s Art and Framing in Sioux Falls, SD; The Center for Western Studies Gift Shop in Sioux Falls, SD; Aviena in Sioux Falls, SD; Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD; South Dakota State Agricultural Heritage Museum in Brookings, SD; and Museum of Visual Arts in Sioux Falls, SD.
Red Door Creations | Sioux Falls Jewelry and Art
September Events
Save
the date! This Friday, Sept. 7th, Rehfeld's Art and Framing will be
hosting their annual Portfolio Show! The windows will be covered in
paper and at 6pm all the new art, jewelry, pottery and other treasures
will be unveiled. Afterwards, eat, drink and be merry! I will be there
with my new work. Rehfeld's is located at 210 S Phillips Avenue in
Downtown, Sioux Falls. You don't want to miss this fun event!
This
September, I am offering classes in my home from 9am-1pm Tuesday
through Friday and 9am to 3pm on Saturdays. I am offering the corn key
chain class for $20 in which you will learn to make two key chains. The
fee covers all materials, use of tools and instruction. This is a one
hour class. I am also offering a corn jewelry class in which you will
make a necklace, earrings and a bracelet for $50. Again, all materials,
use of tools and instruction will be provided. This is a two hour class.
Book your class with a friend today!
Lastly,
on Sunday, Sept. 16th I will be hosting an open house in my home at 2413
S. Hawthorne in Sioux Falls. I will have many new creations for sale
and a few old favorites! April Vanleirsburg will be demonstrating and
selling Norwex products in the kitchen. These products are an
environmentally safe approach to cleaning. In the living room, Rodger
Ellingson will have his local and regional paintings for sale. He works
with vibrant oil and watercolors! Please come by and join us for lots of
socializing, snacking, and shopping!
Tara Barney
Red Door/Visalis/Deb Leilani Open House
This month's open house will be on August 19th from 12-2pm, so if you are in the Sioux Falls area, please stop by! My friend, Deb Leilani, is a multi-talented woman who teaches horse back riding, works for a tax firm, and has a photography business. I don't know how she does it all! I remember the days of working three jobs and it was a real chore getting to the right place on time! Deb will have her photo cards and framed prints for sale plus she will be booking photo sessions for seniors, families and pet portraits. We have done work in trade for the last year or so and she has photographed my Golden Retrievers and my Cozy Wraps for my new web site, which will be coming out this year. Go to www.debleilani.com to see her awesome photography! In the kitchen, my friend, Christina, will be whipping up some nutritious, delicious Visalis weight loss and nutrition shakes. These shakes make so much sense if you want to lose weight or just stray healthy. At $1.50 a piece, they are cheaper than buying a meal. Last but not least, I will have Red Door Creations fine art and crafts for sale. All the good stuff you have come to expect!
Red Door/Visalis Open House
I am super excited about our open house this Sunday from 12-2pm at my home! The address is 2413 South Hawthorne Avenue, Sioux Falls. Red Door Creations will have custom jewelry (including corn jewelry), framed drawings, hand knit Cozy Wraps and hand painted birdhouse gourds for sale. This sale is especially important because I need to turn a good profit the next three months in order to be able to keep the equipment I bought with a grant from the Department of Rehabilitation. This grant enabled me to buy ergonomic equipment to help me work with my physical disabilities. I also purchased a laptop so I can take bank card and credit card sales.
Visalis is a new weight loss, nutrition shake program that is sweeping the nation! I took the 90 day challenge to lose 20 lbs to avoid back surgery. So far I am down seven pounds! I make one tasty shake for breakfast and the cost is only $1.50 for this nutritional meal replacement! I usually put milk and a banana in my shake and it is a refreshing way to start the day. My friend, Christina, from Visalis will be here making shakes for everyone to sample. If I get three other people to take the 90 day challenge, my shake mix is free! This company is growing fast with amazing results and just teamed up with the Biggest Loser tv show!
Come early to this open house and sign up for our email list to get a chance to win a free "Prairie Pearls" corn bracelet in our drawing!
Visalis is a new weight loss, nutrition shake program that is sweeping the nation! I took the 90 day challenge to lose 20 lbs to avoid back surgery. So far I am down seven pounds! I make one tasty shake for breakfast and the cost is only $1.50 for this nutritional meal replacement! I usually put milk and a banana in my shake and it is a refreshing way to start the day. My friend, Christina, from Visalis will be here making shakes for everyone to sample. If I get three other people to take the 90 day challenge, my shake mix is free! This company is growing fast with amazing results and just teamed up with the Biggest Loser tv show!
Come early to this open house and sign up for our email list to get a chance to win a free "Prairie Pearls" corn bracelet in our drawing!
Hip Surgery continued...
I could not get along with the crutches from the beginning! I would be all alone at home, warm up a can of soup on the stove and have no way to carry it to the table while using the crutches. So, I would stand over the stove and eat, which was bad because I would end up leaning on my good leg, which was something I was supposed to avoid. I did my exercises vigilantly so I could get off crutches ASAP. I was in good hands with my physical therapist, Paul, but I only saw him once a week. During that time, my champion was Gabrielle, my assistant. Red Door Creations was published in March and April in Sioux Falls Woman and South Dakota Magazine, so there were orders to fill and my son needed to be picked up from school and she tutored him three times a week! She did this all wonderfully, and I am so grateful for her help! Once I got off crutches, the world opened up to me as far as movement. I am now three months out from surgery, still attending physical therapy. My biggest problem is going up and down stairs. I still have a painful flareup every day but my recovery time is quicker. I am hopeful that I will be able to get off pain medication and muscle relaxants with more physical therapy and hopefully we will move to a new house that will have main floor living. Right now my studio is down stairs and climbing stairs causes a lot of my pain. I also take three other pills for my illness that cause drowsiness which makes a total of five. Some days I'm lucky if I am awake to have supper!
Hip Surgery
There is never a good time to have surgery! It's especially true when you have your house on the market, as I do. On April 11, I had hip surgery. The surgeon repaired a tear in the cartilage on the front of my hip, which must have been caused by a car accident I had 10 years ago. He also removed two bone growths. I was in surgery for an hour and a half and it took me nearly two weeks to get rid of the effects of the anesthesia! They tried to teach me how to use the crutches before I left the hospital, but I kept falling asleep. So, instead of checking me in to a hospital room for a night, they sent me home. It is a good thing my husband is strong for his size! This was very stressful for him because he had to figure out a way to get me in the car without hurting me while I was sleeping! I don't remember making it home, but I do remember they had me in physical therapy already the next morning at 10 am. My therapist, Paul, showed me how to use the crutches and got me on the stationary bike. I rode for a grand total of five minutes. Then I went home and was in a leg lift machine for four hours a day for two weeks. What a misery! Enough about that...more to come tomorrow!
Prairie Palette Exhibit
I am so proud of our church for supporting and funding the music and arts ministry! Myself and two other artists have our drawings and paintings on display in the Sacred Grounds room at church. Sacred Grounds is a place where people meet to visit, put a puzzle together or have a cup of coffee while reading the Sunday paper. We will have our work on display until the end of May. The church is also an inspiring meeting place for Prairie Palette, which is the art group I founded. The building is historic and it was built out of pink quartzite stone. I love looking at the stained glass windows and one window with a scene of the moon reflecting in water was the subject for my last drawing. I put the drawing on a postcard and mailed it out to my mother-in-law, who was recuperating from knee surgery in a nursing home. She said she loved it and she wants me to send more!
Associated Press Article
This article appeared in Forbes, Business Week, Yahoo News and other media throughout the world in October of 2011!
"South Dakota Woman Creates Jewelry Out of Corn
by Kristi Eaton
Sioux Falls, SD- Tara Barney doesn't think food, feed or fuel when she sees row after row of the corn South Dakota harvests each year. She thinks fashion.
Using corn kernels in a multitude of colors as beads, Barney creates necklaces and earrings to sell at stores and museums across the state and online.
"It pretty much embodies South Dakota, " she said.
The state harvests more than 400 million bushels of corn each year, and boasts the Corn Palace, a tourist attraction known for colorful exterior murals made of corn and other game.
Creating the corn jewelry, Barney said, is also a way to convert waste materials into something new or of better quality. Much of the colorful corn the Sioux Falls woman uses for her pieces was originally going to be fed to cattle. Barney contacted the farmer who grows the variety of colors for the Corn Palace in Mitchell and instead of giving his leftover to his livestock, (he sold four bushels to her for $20).
"It's grown, raised, picked, harvested, made all in South Dakota, and that's kind of a rarity, " Barney said.
Barney starts by separating the kernels from the corn cob. She then clips the sharp edges off the kernels and drills a hole in each kernel before stringing them like beads. Many of her pieces combine kernels with contrasting glass or seed beads. Making one $20 necklace can take a lot of time and work, said Barney, who sells the pieces as part of her arts and crafts company, Red Door Creations.
Still, working with the colorful corn has personal appeal. Barney's family used to grow it in their garden when she was growing up in South Dakota and Iowa. Barney recently held a class at the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum in Brookings to teach others how to turn one of the state's most abundant crops into a fashion accessory.
Carrie Van Buren, one of the museum curators, asked Barney to offer the class after learning about the jewelry.
"I mean, how much more agricultural can you get in South Dakota?" she said. "Combining agriculture and jewelry was just too much to resist.".,..
"South Dakota Woman Creates Jewelry Out of Corn
by Kristi Eaton
Sioux Falls, SD- Tara Barney doesn't think food, feed or fuel when she sees row after row of the corn South Dakota harvests each year. She thinks fashion.
Using corn kernels in a multitude of colors as beads, Barney creates necklaces and earrings to sell at stores and museums across the state and online.
"It pretty much embodies South Dakota, " she said.
The state harvests more than 400 million bushels of corn each year, and boasts the Corn Palace, a tourist attraction known for colorful exterior murals made of corn and other game.
Creating the corn jewelry, Barney said, is also a way to convert waste materials into something new or of better quality. Much of the colorful corn the Sioux Falls woman uses for her pieces was originally going to be fed to cattle. Barney contacted the farmer who grows the variety of colors for the Corn Palace in Mitchell and instead of giving his leftover to his livestock, (he sold four bushels to her for $20).
"It's grown, raised, picked, harvested, made all in South Dakota, and that's kind of a rarity, " Barney said.
Barney starts by separating the kernels from the corn cob. She then clips the sharp edges off the kernels and drills a hole in each kernel before stringing them like beads. Many of her pieces combine kernels with contrasting glass or seed beads. Making one $20 necklace can take a lot of time and work, said Barney, who sells the pieces as part of her arts and crafts company, Red Door Creations.
Still, working with the colorful corn has personal appeal. Barney's family used to grow it in their garden when she was growing up in South Dakota and Iowa. Barney recently held a class at the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum in Brookings to teach others how to turn one of the state's most abundant crops into a fashion accessory.
Carrie Van Buren, one of the museum curators, asked Barney to offer the class after learning about the jewelry.
"I mean, how much more agricultural can you get in South Dakota?" she said. "Combining agriculture and jewelry was just too much to resist.".,..
South Dakota Magazine Article
This article was featured in the "We Make It" section of the March 2012 issue of South Dakota Magazine:
"Tara Barney has handcrafted jewelry with stones and metal for over 20 years, but her Elegant Corn jewelry line began as a light hearted entry to an art exhibit. Today corn necklaces and earrings leave her Sioux Falls studio so quickly she recently hired her first employee to satisfy demand.
Growing up on an acreage 10 miles west of the state's largest city, Barney's family frequently planted colored corn in their garden. The memory resurfaced in 2009 when the Horse Barn Arts Center hosted an exhibit called "The Prairie," which invited artists to interpret the Great Plains through various motifs. "I remembered the colored corn and wondered what would happen if I paired it with glass beads and called it "Elegant Corn" as a joke, Barney recalls. "I tracked down the farmer who grows corn for the Corn Palace and I bought four bushels for $20. I entered my first necklace made with brown corn and tan glass beads and it sold. Then I knew I was on to something."
Creating corn jewelry is a labor-intensive process. Barney scrapes each ear of corn by hand , and then cuts a fine hole through each kernel using a jeweler's drill. Between 50 and 80 kernels, alternated with colorful beads, go on each necklace.
Even though corn is a natural product, Barney says it's as solid as a rock and won't deteriorate. "People think you need to treat it but you don't," she says. "Each kernel has a hard coating, like a nut or any other seed. People have been making jewelry from nuts and seeds and other natural things for thousands of years."
Barney also scours the state in search of other natural decorations. She creates pheasant feather earrings and necklaces made from pine cone leaves, which are collected by a friend on the Pine Ridge reservation. Barney
s jewelry is available through her website, www.reddoorcreations.com.
"Tara Barney has handcrafted jewelry with stones and metal for over 20 years, but her Elegant Corn jewelry line began as a light hearted entry to an art exhibit. Today corn necklaces and earrings leave her Sioux Falls studio so quickly she recently hired her first employee to satisfy demand.
Growing up on an acreage 10 miles west of the state's largest city, Barney's family frequently planted colored corn in their garden. The memory resurfaced in 2009 when the Horse Barn Arts Center hosted an exhibit called "The Prairie," which invited artists to interpret the Great Plains through various motifs. "I remembered the colored corn and wondered what would happen if I paired it with glass beads and called it "Elegant Corn" as a joke, Barney recalls. "I tracked down the farmer who grows corn for the Corn Palace and I bought four bushels for $20. I entered my first necklace made with brown corn and tan glass beads and it sold. Then I knew I was on to something."
Creating corn jewelry is a labor-intensive process. Barney scrapes each ear of corn by hand , and then cuts a fine hole through each kernel using a jeweler's drill. Between 50 and 80 kernels, alternated with colorful beads, go on each necklace.
Even though corn is a natural product, Barney says it's as solid as a rock and won't deteriorate. "People think you need to treat it but you don't," she says. "Each kernel has a hard coating, like a nut or any other seed. People have been making jewelry from nuts and seeds and other natural things for thousands of years."
Barney also scours the state in search of other natural decorations. She creates pheasant feather earrings and necklaces made from pine cone leaves, which are collected by a friend on the Pine Ridge reservation. Barney
s jewelry is available through her website, www.reddoorcreations.com.
Sioux Falls Woman Magazine Article
This article was written by Thea Miller Ryan and featured in the Artistry Revealed section of "Sioux Falls Woman" in the February 2012 issue.
"Finding yourself in "Forbes Magazine" isn't something many South Dakota artists can claim. Last year, Tara Barney had her creative jewelry made from corn put her in the news. Not only was she in "Forbes," she also made "Business Week" and many other publications around the globe.
"Corn jewelry is my favorite type of jewelry to create," she said, "because when you combine corn with glass beads and semi precious stones, the possibilities are endless."
She uses dried South Dakota corn, similar to the corn used on Mitchell's famous Corn Palace, combined with semi precious stones to create the one-of-a-kind, popular pieces. But her jewelry isn't only of the maize type- come of her work includes non tarnishable craft wire wrapped around South Dakota agates, embellished with beads.
Tara has trained with several artisans in metal smithing and beadwork techniques, in addition to some formal art classes in South Dakota and Colorado.
Her jewelry creations can be found at Rehfeld's Art and Framing, Aviena Vintage and the Center for Western Studies in Sioux Falls. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, the Agricultural Heritage Museum in Brookings and the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet also carry her work. She'll also have her work for sale at the 32nd Annual Artists of the Plains Art Show and Sale Feb. 17-19 at the Holiday Inn City Center, Sioux Falls."
Contact: www.reddoorcreations.com
"Finding yourself in "Forbes Magazine" isn't something many South Dakota artists can claim. Last year, Tara Barney had her creative jewelry made from corn put her in the news. Not only was she in "Forbes," she also made "Business Week" and many other publications around the globe.
"Corn jewelry is my favorite type of jewelry to create," she said, "because when you combine corn with glass beads and semi precious stones, the possibilities are endless."
She uses dried South Dakota corn, similar to the corn used on Mitchell's famous Corn Palace, combined with semi precious stones to create the one-of-a-kind, popular pieces. But her jewelry isn't only of the maize type- come of her work includes non tarnishable craft wire wrapped around South Dakota agates, embellished with beads.
Tara has trained with several artisans in metal smithing and beadwork techniques, in addition to some formal art classes in South Dakota and Colorado.
Her jewelry creations can be found at Rehfeld's Art and Framing, Aviena Vintage and the Center for Western Studies in Sioux Falls. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, the Agricultural Heritage Museum in Brookings and the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet also carry her work. She'll also have her work for sale at the 32nd Annual Artists of the Plains Art Show and Sale Feb. 17-19 at the Holiday Inn City Center, Sioux Falls."
Contact: www.reddoorcreations.com
Learning to Knit
I took a knitting class about four years ago at a store called Yarn Knit. I remember it felt very awkward to get those two needles to produce a stitch! My finished piece was a lopsided square which I gave to my son for a teddy bear blanket. After that, I bought a very helpful book called "The Knitter's Companion" by Interweave Press. However, I learned to knit by practicing with my friend Margaret while we were working at the Horse Barn Arts Center that winter. She was very patient with me and we had a lot of laughs during slow days when there weren't many visitors! I made scarf after scarf and donated them all to the Giving Room at our church. The Giving Room is a place where people donate gifts for children to buy for family members at Christmas time. Each gift costs $1.00. My son loves shopping there every year! Unfortunately, I have not learned how to read patterns yet. So far, I make scarves, Cozy Wraps and shrugs. I invented the Cozy Wrap, Button Scarf and shrug patterns myself. I did make one hat with Margaret's assistance and it turned out pretty good for the first time. I think when I pick up my next pattern, it will be for a long, warm cloak to wear during the fall. Post a comment about your knitting experience here!
