Fabergé kin totes bag full of history to show     Dainty is out, chunky is in   

Metaphysical show sales drooping

Jeffry Scott / Staff
Lama Wangchuck awaits customers in the quiet of his room on the "Metaphysical Corridor" at the Holiday Inn Express. More than half of last year's dealers did not set up shop this year.

Jeffry Scott / Staff
Robert Simmons shows Nancy O'Brien of Tucson, in mirror's reflection, some jewelry. Simmons is the promoter of the gem show's "Metaphysical Corridor" at Holiday Inn Express.

"Metaphysical Corridor," Tucson's only show devoted to New Age goods, is so quiet this year you can hear your fourth chakra beat.

More than half the dealers who last year set up shop on the second floor of the Holiday Inn Express, 750 W. Starr Pass Blvd., chose not to return this year.

The seven dealers who are stationed on the incense-scented corridor say they're struggling to attract shoppers to the anemic show:

One desperate aura reader faxed hastily handwritten press releases to newspapers and television stations alerting them to the show's existence. According to promoters, only the stars are to blame.

"Sometimes when people call to decide whether they want a room, I suggest they consult their oracle and see whether it will be good for them," promoter Robert Simmons said.

But disgruntled dealers say it doesn't take a psychic to figure out the problem: Many New Age dealers resent being shuffled off to the second floor while conventional mineral dealers are given the run of the hotel's prime real estate.

Corridor dealers suspect sales are sluggish because few people can find them.

"People don't know we're here," said aura reader Sandy DuVeau, who has been offering cut-rate computer printouts of sitters' spiritual images. "It's kind of sad when you get five people a day."

Simmons created "Metaphysical Corridor" four years ago after losing his space at another show. He envisioned a New Age family reunion where dealers could hobnob while shoppers stocked up on crystals and vortex water energizers.

Simmons had reason to trust his instincts: He left the world of physical jewelry sales after sensing, with the help of the I Ching, that a healer he'd met at a birthday party would become his wife. The two were soon married and running Heaven & Earth, a successful New Age gem shop.

For a while, Simmons's corridor worked: The show tripled in size between 1998 and 2000.

The hallway was a thriving pocket of New Age thinking, where no one cracked a smile when someone said, "We've never met? I guess I remember you on that other level."

But much to Simmons' consternation, dealers dispersed this year, taking their mystical roadshows to the all-purpose conclaves at Tucson Electric Park, Howard Johnson and the Four Points Sheraton.

Even A. Melody, a mineral dealer who more than a decade ago wrote the book on the metaphysical properties of minerals, has shunned Simmons' esoteric show. She rents a room on the Holiday Inn's coveted first floor.

"I need to be here with the mineral dealers because we also sell minerals," she said.

Bad luck may also have struck the show where a good luck amulet is never more than one room away: Simmons said he believes dealer numbers shrank this year because of an unanticipated delay in mailing out promotional materials.

"It was vastly different last year," said Lama Wangchuk, a member of a Mount Shasta, Calif., monastery that sells healing tools to raise money for displaced Tibetan refugees.

"I remember last year not being able to cope with the amount of people. It's like a third of the business this year."

"Do you want to buy a pyramid?" asked Wangchuk's sales partner, Tim Brussat, motioning toward an elaborate work of architecture perched above the room's queen-size bed. "These pyramids are going fast. Come back and get one."

Dealers say the plunge in show attendance doesn't reflect a lack of interest in their products. People are still intrigued by metaphysical ideas, although they haven't entirely shaken their stigma.

DuVeau told fortunes for years before revealing her hobby to friends.

"I was a closet psychic," said the former market researcher from California. "For 10 years, nobody knew I was sneaking out to fairs on weekends. You could lose your credibility."

Perhaps not surprisingly then, dealers on the corridor reported sales of books and CDs - innocuous products that insinuate the user is merely doing research - are up.

"There seem to be fewer people, but for us, things are going better," said Robert Ray, a Colorado dealer who specializes in brightly colored Indonesian scarves and recorded New Age music.

"All these beautiful colors, how could we not be doing fine? We have something that's catching on."

DuVeau said people will keep searching for new paths toward self-awareness, long after the politics of the "Metaphysical Corridor" are forgotten.

"The people who find their way here are pretty interested," DuVeau said. "I think metaphysics isn't a lost cause."

Gem Show danger zone

Sarah Prall / Staff
Shoppers cross Palo Verde with purchases made at Holiday Inn.

Norene Fossdal, who was fatally injured by car.

Woman, 77, killed crossing S. Palo Verde

Scores of jaywalking gem-and-mineral fans continued to dart across four lanes of traffic yesterday, the day after a 77-year-old Tucson woman was killed as she attempted to cross South Palo Verde Road.

It was dark when Norene Fossdal, accompanied by her daughter and her son's girlfriend, left the Gem and Lapidary Wholesalers show at the Holiday Inn, 4550 S. Palo Verde Road, north of Irvington Road, just before 8 p.m. Sunday.

Like countless others during the nine-day show, they were parked on the other side of a street that has no crosswalks and no lighting for at least a half-mile in each direction.

Fossdal, a Tucson resident since 1981, had already crossed three lanes of traffic when she was struck by a Chevrolet Lumina, authorities said.

"I didn't hear brakes or anything, I just heard her getting hit,'' said a tearful Michele Strickland, 42, who tried to revive the woman. Strickland stood at the scene yesterday with her arms around the victim's son, Dave Fossdal, her companion for the last 15 years.

The driver of the vehicle stopped and called 911, she said. The man was not cited, and authorities said there were no signs of alcohol.

"This was an accident waiting to happen, and it happened,'' said Dave Fossdal, 44, a Democratic candidate for the City Council in 1993.

People park on the east side of Palo Verde during the gem show every year, and Fossdal is angry that the show promoter and the city don't put temporary measures in place to improve pedestrian safety.

"There is no excuse for this, and I plan to hold the promoter, the hotel and the city accountable,'' Fossdal said.

Candace McNamara, president of the Gem and Lapidary Wholesalers show, said yesterday that there is more than enough parking at a lot behind the hotel.

"People can park there, and although it's only a block away, we run a free shuttle back and forth,'' she said. "We have room for more than 1,000 cars.''

McNamara said she has done everything she can think of to discourage gem show patrons from parking along Palo Verde.

"But people are people, and they are going to park where they want to,'' said McNamara, whose show has been an annual event at the hotel since 1985.

Two buyers from Sweden said they were not surprised to learn that a fatal accident had occurred the night before.

"We were just saying to each other, 'Oh my God, I hope we don't get squished,' '' said Simone Berger after she ran across the road with her friend, Maryann Ricklin.

"It's really dangerous here, really not safe the way they have this set up,'' Ricklin said.

A buyer from New York echoed the comments.

"Look at this,'' said Doris Schwartz, 74, as she surveyed the heady mix of pedestrians and traffic. "The traffic control is out of control.''

Lonnie Wiles, an engineer with the city's Transportation Department, said he's not aware of any discussions about traffic management on that stretch of Palo Verde.

He said that gem show promoters with traffic concerns should contact the city's Civic Event Coordinating Committee, headed by Rosemarie Cowan of the Tucson Police Department.

Cowan, who could not be reached for comment late yesterday, coordinates traffic management for marches, parades and other special events.

"She deals with any special needs they might have,'' said Sgt. Judy Altieri, a police spokeswoman.

It's important to stress that people are not required to park on the east side of Palo Verde, Altieri said.

"There are other options, and we would always discourage people from crossing on such a busy street where there is no marked crosswalk and not much lighting,'' she said.

In addition to her son Dave, Norene Fossdal is survived by her husband of 53 years, Fritz Fossdal. Survivors also include two other sons, two daughters and three sisters.

A memorial service is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Tanque Verde Lutheran Church, 8625 E. Tanque Verde Road. The family suggests donations to the Salvation Army.

* Contact M. Scot Skinner at 629-9412 or at skinner@azstarnet.com.

For visitors

Gem-weary can seek out world-class photography

The Center for Creative

Photography

1030 N. Olive Road

If you're having trouble capturing Tucson's desert sunsets and temporarily snowcapped peaks on film, you may just be in need of a little inspiration.

The Center for Creative Photography, a premier museum and research institution on the University of Arizona campus, is home to 60,000 images guaranteed to stun even the most stoic shutterbug.

The center was founded in 1975 by then-UA president John P. Schaefer and Ansel Adams, who needed a place to store his archives. In addition to Adams' collected works, the museum now holds the archives of 60 photographers, including Richard Avendon, W. Eugene Smith and Edward Weston. While few of the center's works hang on the walls, anyone can make an appointment for print viewing.

The center is one of four major exhibition spaces in the University of Arizona area. The University of Arizona Museum of Art, the Arizona Historical Society and the Arizona State Museum all have spots on Tucson's own museum mile.

The University of Arizona Museum of Art has quadrupled its holdings in the last 30 years, building up one of the Southwest's most respectable university collections of Renaissance art. The museum is now showcasing watercolors and sculptures by Robert Stackhouse, a New York-born artist who has resisted choosing a single medium.

The Arizona Historical Society tells the stories of the region's native peoples and early settlers. A large selection of once-everyday items, from farming implements to corsets, are on display. But the Arizona State Museum has the lock on prehistory: the Southwest's oldest anthropological museum specializes in Hohokam, Mogollon and Anasazi cultures.

Admission to all of the museums is free.

Center for Creative Photography, hours: Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., noon-5 p.m. Phone: 621-7968

University of Arizona Museum of Art, UA Campus. Hours: Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. noon-4 p.m. Phone: 621-7567

Arizona Historical Society, 949 E. Second St. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sun., noon-4 p.m. Phone: 628-5774

Arizona State Museum, UA Campus. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m.

El Cubanito

1150 E. Sixth St.

El Cubanito recently relocated from its hole-in-the-wall location down the street, but its new sterile surroundings haven't muted the folksy flavors of its signature Cuban dishes.

The restaurant has been dishing out ropa vieja and pollo asado to hungry Tucsonans for more than five years. The food is sometimes spicy and always rib-sticking, from the popular yuca to the starchy plantains. It's also cheap: at lunchtime, the entrees, always paired with black beans and rice, are priced at approximately $5 a plate.

El Cubanito, 1150 E. Sixth St., Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Hanna Miller

Fabergé kin totes bag full of history to show

The great-granddaughter of the onetime jeweler of Russia's czars arrived in Tucson late yesterday for the gem show.

Tatiana Fabergé carried copies of billing invoices that tell how much Russia's Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II paid her great-grandfather, Peter Carl Fabergé, for several of his signature Imperial Easter Eggs.

She also packed a brass cigarette case for the gem show display. "It is well-worn," Fabergé said of the family heirloom as she pulled it out of her bag. She also brought three catalogs published by the House of Fabergé.

The documents, the Imperial Renaissance Egg and a royal Hoof Egg are among more than 60 Fabergé works to be exhibited at the 47th annual Tucson Gem & Mineral Show. Tatiana Fabergé will open the show Thursday with officials from Russia and Tucson.

"This is very exciting. After all, she represents the family that probably had the greatest impact on modern jewelry ever," Bob Jones, chairman of the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, said, referring to Fabergé's arrival yesterday.

The Tucson Gem & Mineral Society arranged for Fabergé to come to Tucson from her home in Versonnex, France, near the Swiss border.

The Fabergé art exhibit that is open to the public from Thursday through Sunday was sent from The Forbes Magazine Collection in New York, private collectors and dealers.

Peter Carl Fabergé was commissioned to create the first Imperial Easter Egg as a gift to Czar Alexander III's wife, Czarina Marie Feodorovna. The Imperial Easter Eggs came to represent the wealth, power and religious ceremony of Czar Alexander III and son Nicholas II's court.

Fabergé produced 50 Easter Eggs for the czars and their wives, 42 of which have been accounted for.

Tatiana Fabergé was born in Geneva in 1930. She trained as a jeweler in Paris under the tutorship of her father, Carl Theodor Fabergé.

She helped document the family's heritage in the books she co-authored. "The History of the House of Fabergé" was published in 1992.

Peter Carl Fabergé's House of Fabergé was the largest jewelry firm in Russia until it closed at the fall of the Romanov Dynasty in 1917. Tatiana Fabergé's great- grandfather employed more than 500 craftsmen and operated establishments in several cities including St. Petersburg, Moscow and London.

Tatiana Fabergé also is the co-author of "The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs." The book gives the chronology of the Easter Eggs made by the House of Fabergé for Czars Alexander III and the ill-fated Nicholas II.

The book is based on archival family material and records that were discovered in Russia.

"She has insights into the family's history that other authors might not have," Robert Yassin, executive director of the Tucson Museum of Art, said yesterday.

She will sign copies of the recently revised book that will be on sale for $125 at the gem show.

Contact Jeannine Relly at 573-4213 or by e-mail at jrelly@az-starnet.com.

Dainty is out, chunky is in

When it comes to beads, big is big.

After years of stringing microscopic beads that could only be handled with the most delicate tweezers, beaders are crying out for plump chunks of glass and stone. The trend has led to an unprecedented collision between the bead and mineral worlds, which have long traveled in separate orbits.

Mineral dealers have begun punching holes in every rock they think a human neck could bear: Jennifer Weir, operations manager of Beads Forever, is hawking strands of fluorite, grossular garnet and pyrite nuggets at The Whole Bead Show. Weir said the rough-cut beads, which look like they were swiped straight from a quarry, are wildly popular on the other side of the Atlantic.

"They're big right now in Europe," Weir said. "It's just catching on here."

Guy Lynn, co-owner of Wild Things Beads, said stringing boulder-size beads could be a boon for segments of the mineral market that haven't been able to keep pace with flourishing bead sales. Beaders who aren't shy about showing off their creations say the beads are unlikely to lose their appeal.

"Everybody likes the Betty Rubble look," said Nancy Wall, owner of Beadworks in Norwalk, Conn.

The "bigger is better" movement has been embraced by dealers, many of whom are rolling out golf ball-sized beads this year. Weir said she likes the beads' brighter colors and sultry shapes.

"We are transforming from small dainty Victorian beads into a bolder look," Weir said.

And not a moment too soon, according to Robert Jennik, owner of Pilamaya Glass.

"The Austrian crystal craze is finally over," said Jennik, of the small shimmery glass beads.