Artist creates popular line of whimsical figures and designs

Jim Shore started out as an engineer. But in a twist of what you might consider the usual order of things, he says, "I just couldn't imagine myself making a living as an engineer. So, I decided to be an artist."

It's a turnaround that has paid off for the South Carolina man. In the past few years, his Heartwood Creek line of whimsical figures and designs has captured the attention of folk-art lovers everywhere.

"I started carrying his line three years ago," says Jim Lauscher, owner of the Village Christmas Shoppe at Gardner Village in West Jordan. "It was a very minor piece of the business. But it has just exploded in the last two years."

Lauscher is thrilled that Shore will be visiting his store on Nov. 17 to talk about and sign his pieces in person. "He's only making 18 appearances around the country this year, and only three west of the Mississippi. We're very excited to be one of them."

Lauscher loves the variety and the detail of Jim Shore's work. There are Christmas pieces, "but I like that he also does Halloween and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is getting to be a lost holiday, so it's nice to give it attention like he does."

Shore also does patriotic pieces, cats, lighthouses, angels and more. A brand new line features Disney characters.

A distinctive characteristic of his work is the way he incorporates quilting patterns into the designs, "and Utah is such a great quilting state that they are very popular here," says Lauscher.

Shore was inspired by the quilts his grandmother used to make, he said in a telephone interview from his South Carolina farm. "I've always been an admirer of quilting as an art form. My grandmother made these wonderful crazy quilts with embroidery and embellishments. I was always fascinated and delighted with those."

Plus, he said, "there is such a wide range of patterns and colors to draw on. There's such a wide range in the word 'quilt.' It can cover everything from white-on-white trapunto to bright, heavy Amish designs. It's a never-ending fascination just to look at them."

The same could be said for Shore's folk art pieces. He incorporates detailed farm, ocean, seasonal and other scenes into each piece. "I try to tell a story within a story. If it's not fun to look at, what's the point?"

But Shore also has an abiding respect and reverence for the tradition of folk art itself. "You think of the emigrants who came to this country and wanted something beautiful to decorate their lives. They remembered the classical art forms from Europe and made their own versions. Those early pieces are so charming in their simplicity, in their honesty."