Kaliebe says “Everything featured in The Nicolette Collection is one-of-a-kind. Repurposed leather apparel and accessories are revived and redesigned with hand-painted artwork. Inspired by the shapes, creatures, and colors of nature, specialty leather paints transform a once forgotten belonging into a 3-dimensional canvas. After a protective sealant is applied, an everlasting fashion statement is born.”

For the last eight years, Kaliebe has been discovering what her dream of producing artwork really means to her. A lust for painting, and a natural inclination to seek the unconventional approach led her to turning repurposed handbags and wallets into 3-dimensional canvases. She taught herself the meticulous process of painting various leather grains and colors, and how to achieve a permanent design with the proper sealants. Kaliebe’s designs are inspired by the shapes, creatures, and colors of nature and she strives for unique looks with every piece. Branching out of accessories and into apparel is an exciting recent development!

Kaliebe says “being an artist hasn’t been an easy road, and at times it has seemed quite rocky. Luckily, my mentors say I am the apprentice in life, so the silver-lining of my art-business growing pains is that I enjoy learning about different challenges. Perhaps that is what completing a piece of artwork has taught me the most, to enjoy the process of the ups and downs. The process of failing until finally reaching the point of proud satisfaction, without residual self-criticism.” See her website at www.thenicolettecollection.com

Siobhan, Elder’s profession name, received a degree in Fine Arts from Montana State University and later moved to Boston. On a trip to Florida, she met Sue McFall, silk painter, and found her passion. She apprenticed herself to McFall, painting silk, doing large scale art shows throughout the mid-west and finding her own style.  Siobhan returned to the Tetons and worked as a photographer on the ski mountain for three seasons, spending the rest of the year doing art shows from California to Texas and establishing her business as a fiber artist.

“Along the way I met Mark, a potter, fell in love and ended up moving to Laguna Beach as he was not ready to come to the Rockies,” Siobhan explains.  “We showed at the Sawdust Festival along with every established show in the west.  I began finding gallery representation and doing wholesale shows. Within three years, Mark had fallen in love with fly fishing and skiing during our trips to the Rockies.  I had a cancer scare and we decided the wholesale end of the business could withstand a move to the mountains. We bought an old house in Bozeman where we lived happily until cancer took him when he was only 35.”

Later, Siobhan moved to the Mendonoma coast where a new chapter in her journey began. A friend, at the height of her battle with cancer, came to Siobhan’s studio to help video her painting large silk panels for an upcoming show. Witnessing the hold cancer had on her emotions, Siobhan handed her a paintbrush and they worked on the panel together.

“The work was beautiful, as was the change in her,” Siobhan explains. “Empowerment morphed before my eyes, the realization that the act of painting the silk held transformational powers of its own. The vision became clear, women painting scarves for other women, empowering themselves with the act of creation, coupled with the feelings of empowerment you experience with sharing your creation with someone in need. Women gathering to learn, creating community, while supporting each other. My passion is putting scarves on the heads of our sisters going through chemotherapy. Empowerment Thru Accessories has blossomed through these desires, covering the heads of women while empowering those learning to paint scarves.”

Find out more about her work at  siobhansilks.com/empowerment