LaRoque Featured Artist for the Sunrise Festival of the Arts

Sandra LaRoque, an artist from Alexander, has been selected as this year's featured artist for the Sunrise Festival of the Arts to be held Saturday, July 13, at Veterans Memorial Park in Sidney.

LaRoque said she started creating art from Montana moss agates about 10 years ago. She noted that her grandfather produced belt buckles and bolo ties from moss agates many years earlier.

Her creations out of the agates from the Yellowstone River include beautiful lampshades and suncatchers. She noted the art can be enjoyed in your window to let the sun shine through them and show their beauty.

"I'm just an artistic person," LaRoque said of why she started in the art field. "The agates are so beautiful. Most people make jewelry out of them, they are actually a gem."

LaRoque noted that it takes a lot of patience and time to make art by slabbing and polishing agates. She slabs or cuts the agates in her rock shop and runs the agate through tumblers in several grit cycles into beautifully polished pieces for her art.

Montana agates, found in the Yellowstone River Basin, were formed millions of years ago during the Pleisocene period. Montana agates are found as limbcasts, partial limbs and log sections.

She mainly sells her pieces from her Rare Rock Agate Shop through Facebook or at selected shows. She can be reached at [email protected]