One of the great aspects of the gem show is all the venues and shows that open all over Tucson. Take, for example, the Colors of the Stone, a twice-yearly show that takes place at Casino Del Sol on Valencia Road.

The show is small enough that it allows some artisans and artists to practice for the gem show. Customers may learn new skills such as beading in the round, wire wrapping or using silver clay to make a bracelet at the workshops that are offered. In fact, there are several jewelry making classes. Information and required registration may be found online at colorsofthestone.com. 

Still others, however, are happy in the casino’s space where there are any number of booths where visitors may look at crafts, art and supplies to make art. Organizers pack the 73,000 square foot venue with more than 1,000 vendors. 

Natalie Harmening has found success at Colors of the Stone and she will once again bring her handmade art to the casino ballroom.

Her business is Sculpting with Cactus, and that is exactly what she does but in the most unexpected ways. A recent visit to her studio in Rio Rico revealed a flock of  hummingbird sculptures made entirely of natural found materials.

“The thing about my art is that I use only natural components plus, of course, the acrylic paints,” she said. “What (customers will be) looking at is Arizona river rock as the base. I use copper (for the support) because these mountains are full of copper and then the piece of wood is a devil’s claw.”

Anyone who has ever encountered a devil’s claw in the wild will wonder how she uses the “blossom.” She removes the thorns and uses those for bird feet.

Finally, she uses cactus fiber for the wings. This fiber is surprisingly strong, not nearly as delicate as it looks.

Harmening came to making art later in life after a serious illness. She had been going along in life, teaching and studying at a university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, when she suddenly became ill. She lost the use of her legs and her hands. It took doctors five years to finally find the correct diagnosis: rheumatoid arthritis. As part of her recovery she started taking walks in the desert. 

“What I did for physical therapy is I started walking,” Harmening said. “I just walked out the front door into the desert where I found prickly things, cactus, pieces of wood that I thought were really pretty and so I hauled them home and I have this huge pile.”

Curiosity was also a driving factor.

“I’d bring things home and I’d tear them apart just to see what was inside,” she added. “One day I brought some prickly pear home and I tore it apart. I was fascinated by what I found.”

What she found was the plant’s vascular bundle system, a kind of rigid woody skeleton. To make that into art, however, is a process because but when you pick something up off the ground it has to be cleaned. Harmening figured out a way to get the pieces ready but it takes about four months and it is gross, she said. “The things that crawl out of a prickly pear…” All kinds of bugs make their way out and even worms have to find a new place to live.

Harmening said she is careful about where she scavenges (private property with permission mostly) and which pieces she picks up.

“I only take the lowest limb and the ones that actually have fallen and hit the ground,” she said. After the cleaning there’s stuff that still has to be peeled off and then finally she has something she can use for her art. Still, it’s much more than art for Harmening,

“The (fibers) are very resilient, very strong,” she said. “That’s what cactus means to me. A part of my soul is connected to cactus because it saved me. I was just grief stricken that I couldn’t continue my life the way it was so by curiosity and searching this is what I found.” 

Colors of the Stone

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31 to Friday, Feb. 6, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7

WHERE: the ballroom at Casino Del Sol, 5655 W. Valencia Road

INFO: admission is free but classes are priced separately and require preregistration, colorsofthestone.com