News of The Abacos
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The following feature has been supplied by and reproduced with permission of What's On.
For subscription information, please CLICK HERE.Cultural Illusions
Cultural Illusions in Memorial Plaza on Queen Elizabeth Drive in Marsh Harbour is a one stop shop for those tourists who are looking for something hand-made, Abaconian or Bahamian. Kim Stirrup, owner and manager of the store, has filled it with items made by over 100 Bahamian artists. Most of these crafty people reside in Abaco but Kim also sells items from Long Island, Eleuthera and Andros as well. The important thing is all items are Bahamian and are not imported from other countries.
One could spend hours in Cultural Illusions just browsing around and especially now that the Christmas season is upon us Cultural Illusions will be filled with that one-of-a-kind special Christmas ornament or decoration for either a special person on your Christmas list or for yourself.
When you step into Cultural Illusions you see an attractive display of painted driftwood plaques on the wall. These are done by a lady in Eleuthera. There are colourful fish, shells, etc. painted on the pieces of driftwood.
In front of the cashier is a display of straw work, bags, mats, coin purses etc. Kim gets some of the straw work from Long Island and also some of the straw work from Robert Simmons who lives in Sandy Point, Abaco. She says his straw work sells very well.
There are displays of Christmas ornaments. Angels made out of clothes pins, shells, and pine cones dressed in different colours of netting. All of these are done by Sherry Roberts of Marsh Harbour. Sherry comes from a craft family as her mother and her sister do many crafts in the United States where they live and Sherry has been doing crafts since she was a child. Sherry also makes a small sail boat with an Androsian print sail on it. She makes them as ornaments and also as refrigerator magnets. Sherry devised this ornament when Cultural Illusions was given the stall at Disney's Castaway Cay. Disney did not want anything made from sea shells as it is against Disney's environmental policy. As a result the little sail boats were created and according to Kim are very popular sellers on Castaway Cay. In addition Sherry dresses small teddy bears in lacy outfits and makes soft sculpture angels in various sizes. At Christmas there is half a dozen Christmas trees decorated in the store and on top of the trees are angel tree toppers made by Sherry.Androsian prints are a big seller at the store. Kim employs a seamstress in Marsh Harbour and one in Cherokee Sound to make clothing out of Androsia such as shirts, shorts, children's jumpers, etc. In addition she sells Androsian T-shirts and also the Androsian fabric by the yard. She is the only store in Marsh Harbour to sell Androsian fabric which is hand batiked fabric made in North Andros, and it depicts the beautiful colours of the sea life and the Bahamas' flowers. She sells two weights of fabric, one for clothing and one for upholstery. There is a bookcase full of Androsian throw pillows in a huge array of colours.
Linda Whiltfang of Marsh Harbour is also an artisan that has her work at Cultural Illusions. Linda likes to do Santa Claus' on different objects. She paints Santa faces on pieces of driftwood she finds on the beaches in South Abaco. She paints the Santa face on old floats that have washed up on the shore. In an interview Linda told me she likes to do Santa Claus' on anything that she can find. She told me she painted the faces on large spoons and forks last year and she said all were sold. It was a small item and a packable item for the visitor to take home with them. She has painted Santa faces on old oars, paddles, old plates, large sea shells and most of these items she has found while beach combing. She has tried her hand at soft sculpture and has made hand sculpted angel heads and then made the dresses out of genuine antique lace but she said those items tend to be expensive because of the antique lace that is used. Calling herself a crafter Linda admits that she is her greatest critic and yet at the same time she loves to do craft work. She notes none of her Santa faces look the same and sometimes the look she ends up with is not the one she intended when she started to paint the face.
Cultural Illusions also displays and sells the beautiful painting of Marjolein Scott of Great Cistern, Abaco. Marjolein is a very talented woman, having been a professional ballet dancer at one time, and she creates beautiful scenes of magic with her painting on silk. Each piece is different and beautiful in its own way. It is very hard to describe in words how Marjolein's paintings look but one look and you want to own one. She paints them in all sizes and also accepts commission work as well.
Kim herself is an artist but has little time to be an artist between the two stores. The in Marsh Harbour and the one at Castaway Cay which is open twice per week when the cruise ship the Disney Magic docks there to work. She does sell paints in her store and is trying to bring in a line of craft supplies for all of the crafters in Abaco. Whether they do craft work just as a hobby or to sell.
Cultural Illusions is not just all crafts. Two popular sellers are Esther homemade jams and jellies, and Harvey Albury's chutney of Treasure Cay. Each jar is decorated with a piece of Androsia cloth as well.
Also Kim has for sale practically every book printed about the Bahamas from cook books to history books.
The Friday evening after Thanksgiving is the time Kim holds a Christmas Open House at Cultural Illusions. She does this in conjunction with Buds and Blooms another store in Memorial Plaza. Christmas music is played and the open house begins about 6:30 with free refreshments for the persons attending. It gives persons an early start on their Christmas shopping. Last year was the first time the two stores combined in a Christmas Open House, and this year is promises to be bigger and better.
Kim Stirrup is a young businesswoman who has created an outlet for the creative talents of persons residing in Abaco and in the Bahamas, by providing a store to showcase their items and to sell their items for them. She has made it possible for the small home crafter to have an outlet for their creative items and thus is providing an income for those persons as well as letting their creative juices keep flowing, all because their items are selling at Cultural Illusions in Marsh Harbour.
