Welcome to the Cranbrook & District Arts Council

Elaine Sell Prefontaine lives in a lovely little cedar clad cottage overlooking Columbia Lake. Morning light from the south-east flows into her upstairs studio and across the counter where she works engraving and painting on slate stone.

Her stone drawings of mountain wildlife and flowers, and the south-western Indian God Kokopelli, are displayed against the white stucco walls of her studio. "I have everything that I need in the world here," Elaine says of her studio. "It's so inspiring, I absolutely love it."

An artist must be a business person also, and keeping files and records organized is a challenge that makes most small business owners -- and artists in particular -- cringe.

Elaine's thirty years secretarial experience, however, has given her the skills necessary to keep her business running smoothly. Each piece she creates is carefully catalogued and photographed and the information is filed in binders or photo albums.

Elaine's energies are now directed to international sales. She began by taking two of Community Futures workshops: "Selling on the Internet" and "Ready to Export".

Elaine created and maintains her own Web Site at www.slatestoneart.ca (complete with stories and poetry) and her business, Slate Stone Art, has already sold beyond British Columbia to Alberta and Saskatchewan, the United States, Germany, Australia, New Guinea and Israel.

For more information about this artist, contact The Cranbrook & District Arts Council at (250) 426-4223 or EMAIL us.

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