THE DALLES — A 14-year passion for wet-felting exquisite purses and art became a one-room artisan gallery, tucked in a corner of the Granada Theater.
The gallery is one of two small business in the Granda, with a Mediterranean-themed café slated to reopen next to it in December. Co-owners Debra and Charles Gomez said everything they do is part of the Granada Theater, which houses all their enterprises.
A variety of other artists's work is featured, like these artistic journals.
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“I’ve been designing purses and working with beads and jewelry for 35 years. And I had another shop at our other theater,” Debra Gomez said, recalling a venue in Watseka, Ill., which they still own, which also included a café and a home for Gomez’s wearable fiber art.
Gorge-us Artisan Gallery, open since about 2018, holds wearable fiber art, fashionable aprons, jewelry and other fiber art by Gomez and five other Gorge-area artists, some old friends. “It’s an outlet for my inner self,” said Gomez, who spends hours and days absorbed in felting. “I couldn’t do it without ... some of the other artists and I really enjoy, we have young artists.” One teenage artist creates candles; a parent-child team crafts aprons.
“Texture, color, form and function,” she responded when asked what made felting special. “Fiber and art, is just design and color, is just something that is part of me. I’ve sewn ever since I was a child. And so I like to make clothes out of felt. ... It’s the process itself, it’s just lovely.”
Gomez creates one-of-a-kind purses with a variety of fibres.
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Most fibers, like brilliant and delicate silk, don’t felt. “Wool is the only thing that truly felts,” said Gomez, who acquires some from local farms. “But when you put them all together, you can create texture ... so it’s three-dimensional. There’s so many things you can do with it creatively ... It’s very soothing and very comforting.”
It’s a fluid process, starting with an idea, then combining multiple fibers. “You have to be a little careful because water moves things around,” Gomez cautioned. “When you want to firm it up, I do a different stage. There’s a few stages of adding.” She can paint details on later; some pieces are completed by different fabric components during sewing. “You can do whatever you want,” Gomez said.
Gomez also provides private felting classes. “You leave with something, like a scarf or a hat or an apron,” she said. “It is very relaxing, very fun, and you leave with your item ready to go.”
One of beaded purse was advertised in Belle Armoire after she submitted to a contest, an achievement of which she is proud. She’s also created “things for Oprah Winfrey’s staff,” Charles Gomez happily bragged; and “When Billy Bob Thornton came here and played the theater, he literally came into Debbie’s art studio and bought half a dozen things for every female friend ... his driver, his housekeeper, the woman that watched his pets ...”
Gomez models a fiber scarf in her combined gallery and studio.
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While Gomez' passion for felting has stayed for 14 years, her styles change. She started with Renaissance purses. “When I first started out ... we used to go to Renaissance Fairs dressed up,” she said. Only a few remain.
“The only challenge is just, getting people in,” she added.
The gallery remained mostly open when the cafe struggled during COVID-19. Earlier in 2019, a nearby building had “collapsed,” Charles Gomez said, closing sidewalk access, and the café, for some months. After safety was secured it reopened, only for COVID-19 closures to hit days later; “We were open for a breath of air, and then closed.”
They plan a homemade light fare menu. “A little European café,” he describes it, to match the theater’s Art Deco, Moorish revival theme.
In 1929, the café existed as "Siberian Cream Ice Cream,” Charles Gomez said, “which I think is just the coolest name.” Later, it became jewelry store, a café, a shoeshine shop. When the partners reopened the Granada in 2017, they needed a café to combine with liquor service. “Moroccan and Spanish coffees and Irish coffee, all those have a little alcohol in them,” he explained.
Gomez displays the delicate fibers, including colorful silks, that will be held together by the wool in her felting project.
Flora Gibson photo
“I believe that The Dalles is full of arts and artisans, and wonderful foods,” Debra Gomez said. “And so we want to bring something different, as far as flavors go in our little café ... Everything’s ... homemade,” she added proudly. “I do a fabulous chicken salad on a croissant.”
Fortunately, “We just love staying busy,” she said.
Her hopes for the artisan gallery, though, are simple. “I just wanted to stay happy and healthy,” she said. “It’s a beautiful art community ... Lots of artists, it’s highly supportive, and really just to be a part of that is very exciting.”
The Gorge-us Gallery is located at 215 E. Second St., The Dalles. Hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, or by appointment. For more information, email gorge-us@granadatheatrethedalles, or call 815-993-6585.
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