Heimbuch Featured Artist at Sunrise Festival Of The Arts

As the sun rises on the second Saturday in July many industrious individuals can be seen hurriedly erecting canopies and hauling every description of merchandise into Sidney's Veterans Memorial Park. It is the annual Sunrise Festival of the Arts. For 26 years the scene has played out and will again on July 8. The event will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The 2017 corporate sponsor is XTO Energy.

The goal of the Sunrise Festival is to connect artists, crafts persons and authors with potential customers. This year's featured artist is enthusiastic and pleased to be selected. Amanda "Mandy" Heimbuch of Glendive has attended the Sunrise Festival the past six years and has built up a faithful clientele. "It's one of my favorite shows!" she gushed.

Her art-based business has grown to become her main source of income. The studio and storefront of "Country Girl Clay" is located at 211 North Merrill Avenue in Glendive. The shop is open Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mandy can be contacted through her website at http://www.countrygirlclay.com or by phone at 1-406-939-1926.

She works in many mediums and her website states, "I have an addiction for anything that can be fixed, painted or repurposed into something beautiful to enjoy. I try to incorporate these things in my art, recycling scrap metal to make metal and clay garden sculptures, using scraps of paper to collage a background for my paintings or finding that treasure in the dumpster to use as a display shelf at a show.

My love of painting stems from a passionate art teacher and my addiction for clay, I attribute to Tama at Prairie Fire (Pottery) in Beach where I spent two amazing summers!" In addition to interning at Prairie Fire, Mandy received many collegiate awards for her art and has been featured at the Billings ArtWalk and the CM Russell Event in Great Falls. Her handiwork can be purchased at the MonDak Heritage Center Gift Shop in Sidney.

The specialty of Country Girl Clay that makes Mandy's work stand out are the bright colors. Her favorites are turquoise and combinations of red and teal. Country Girl Clay will provide a striking yard art piece of her signature clay with metal and ceramic flowers that will be the Grand Prize in a drawing available to everyone who purchases a festival button.

Mandy will also offer a "paint your own pottery" class at the Sunrise Festival. To learn more about the 2017 Sunrise Festival of the Arts contact the Sidney Area Chamber of Commerce at 406-433-1916, visit the Chamber on the net at http://www.sidneymt.com or refer to the Facebook page at Facebook.com/sunrisefestival sidney.