For decades, textile and botanical artist Elaine Falbo-Lowe has made fairy-inspired art for her booth at the Oregon Country Fair.
When Falbo-Lowe was juried into her first fair 40 years ago, she was a young mother and skilled basket weaver. Now a grandmother at 71, she reflects on how the fair has shaped her life and career making an array of whimsical, handcrafted goods.
Year-round in the Irvington neighborhood of Northeast Portland, Falbo-Lowe runs her boutique Bella Flora Studio, which is more wonderland than shop. She offers everything from embellished vintage clothing, wreaths, baskets, dried flower hair garlands and fairy furniture (tiny chairs and tables meticulously crafted from twigs and flowers).
But for two weeks every June, Falbo-Lowe disappears from urbanity into the woods. There, in a quiet cabin south of Tillamook, she prepares for the Oregon Country Fair…