NASH—As a way to assuage the grief of losing her husband of nearly 60 years, Carol Wagar began calling his artisan friends and inviting them to join her for an arts and crafts memorial event on the anniversary of his death.
“Two years ago, he left me behind,” she said of Mike Wagar, a longtime Grant County farmer of wheat and alfalfa who loved art just like his mother and grandmother. He had been diagnosed with acute leukemia at the age of 78, but he didn’t let it temper his joy in woodturning or his encouragement of others to find a passion crafting.
Last October, after a year of living without him, Carol decided “to do something happy,” she said, so she reached out to the Northwest Oklahoma Woodworkers Association (NWOKWA), formerly the Northwest Oklahoma Woodturners Association, to start planning what she calls “the best grief therapy”—an arts and crafts show in his honor.
Founded by DeWayne Colwell, a woodturning instructor at Autry Technology Center, NWOKWA was created to teach woodturning techniques and bring woodworkers together once a month on the third Monday at Autry. The club often appears at local county fairs and other artisan events to demonstrate woodturning too.
The goal of NWOKWA, said club representative Tom Hight, is to promote woodworking of any kind, including carvings and scroll and band work. He said Mike showed up one day at a club meeting in 2017 with fascinating woodworking.
“His grandmother bought him his first lathe,” Carol said, with the intent he’d make a bowl for her she’d seen elsewhere.
After that he’d picked up woodcarving too—creating crosses of all sizes was his favorite—and sawing logs to make slab tables and charcuterie boards, always leaving a rough edge. His wife added he did that because “he liked to keep God’s natural beauty.”
Because Mike liked learning and trying new things, he enrolled in woodworking classes under Jerry Brownrigg at Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Keith and Craig Hone at Hone Studios in Utah. He also took sculpting under Sandy Scott in Arizona and was encouraged in photography by Enid’s own Mike McCormick.
He believed in inspiring others as he had been “so, I thought we should do something to encourage artists,” Carol said, as to the upcoming Mike Wagar Memorial Arts and Crafts Event in his hometown of Nash.
Showcasing their creations
“It started out as people Mike knew or had been encouraged by Mike,” Carol said, but she later opened it to anyone to bring their creations and sell them, including area students.
The arts and crafts show already has 30 vendors signed up to come Saturday to the church Mike had served as an elder.
“His faith was very important to him, and I want this event to give God the glory,” Carol said as the show’s location. “God is the master artist.”
“I talked to Carmen (Butts) and she said I’ll help you with that,” Carol said of one of the vendors. Butts formerly lived in the nearby town of Jet but now lives in Enid. She is a fabric artist and quilter who makes quilted portraits.
“My family has known the Wagars for a long time,” Butts said, so it wasn’t hard to say yes last fall when Carol approached her.
Nancy Bratcher Haskin, a floral artist, grew up in Stillwater but spent holidays and summers in Nash since her grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins resided there.
“We came often, and Mike was my age,” she said. Two years ago, Haskin, 81, moved to Pond Creek to be near her cousins. She ran into Carol at a horse show and Carol invited her to be part of the arts and crafts show.
Haskin said she’s always dabbled in artificial flower arrangements as well as wreaths and grave saddles since so many relatives are in the Nash cemetery. Her cousins aid in the business, designing pinecone and sports-themed wreaths.
Among others slated to appear at Mike Wagar Memorial Arts and Crafts Event:
- John Wilkins Jr., a photographer formerly from Nash who considered Mike his second dad
- Lori Jones, a Western pencil artist
- Betty Hollrah, a bead artist formerly from Jet
- Charla Peck Enns, an Enid art teacher
- Natalie Crites, a boutique item maker living in Nash
- Taylor Grove Meyer and Allie Simpson, Western jewelry
- Emma Aebi, owner of Turquoise Boutique
- Jo Decker, a painter from Alva
- Nancy Russell, a potter from Waynoka
- Charlie Todd, Enid metal artist and knife maker
- John Stahl, Jet metal artist and knife maker
- Rick Wallace, a wood artisan from Cherokee
- Judy Diller Johnson, a fabric artist from Nash
- Jerry and Rose-Marie James, cardmakers
- Dana Bickford, a whimsical artist from Enid
- Daniel Thompson, a mural artist
- Samantha Creed, creative crafts
- Kyla Schmidt, beeswax wraps and more
- Jeri Fincher, Custom Creations by Jeri from Garber
There will also be food vendors on site along with Oklahoma Blood Institute’s bloodmobile at Nash Fire Department just down the street with limited edition Stranger Veins shirts. Gripey Joe’s Ranch House Café on U.S. 64 in Nash will be open for lunch too.
“I love that they’re coming up with creative ideas,” Carol said. Her sons and their families will be present at the show; she said all of her grandchildren have inherited their grandfather’s artistic ability.
“Everybody loved Mike,” Carol said, and that is why she can’t wait to see everyone this weekend, to see the impact he has made and the legacy he left behind.
Mike Wagar Memorial Arts and Crafts Event will be held this Saturday, Oct. 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of Nash Christian Church, one block north of U.S. 64.
Had this been canceled due to rain?
No, it will happen … just moved inside the Nash Volunteer Fire Department.