OWASCO - Displays of a very personal nature are under a tent in Owasco.

Visitors walking in under the flaps, past the ceramic wind chimes chinking outside, were shocked by what they found Friday.

Many brought examples home with them.

There were bird houses made from painted gourds; mosaic mirrors adorned with fragments of sea shells; jewelry, that tumbled together into a variety of arrangements; and watercolor miniatures of lonely winter countrysides.

“I don't care how unusual, unique and different the piece is you create, it is always pleasing to someone else. That happiness the art creates isn't just in yourself, it passes on to the one who is viewing it,” said Suzi Da Via, herself an artist, who created the fourth annual Art and Craft Show.

A group of 35 local artists is displaying their talent under the tent this year: about half are decorative painting students of Da Via's.

“Every year in the spring and fall we hold a completely handmade art and craft show. It is the only show of its kind in the area,” she said. “I turn a ton away a year, depending on the quality of the product, and because I don't allow resells. I don't allow prints. Everything has to be original.”

Nevertheless, Da Via is mindful of providing an outlet to enable artists to sell their work. With no regret, she left a six-figure occupation to devote to painting full time.

However, it does make it a little more difficult to pay the bills.

“For 20 plus years, I was a medical practice consultant, all over the country. They couldn't pay me enough money to do that again. I had to be on my game from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. And to make that transition was difficult, to gear down. Also, you go down to half the poverty level as an artist,” Da Via said.

When she stopped laughing, she added: “But you can't pay for that peace.”

Shoppers of all ages paused over potential purchases in the shade of the tent.

Among them, the grandmother, mother and daughter team of Pattie Lewis, Chrissie Bonilla and Claire Bonilla, who held up three fingers to tell her age.

“We're buying Mother's Day gifts for ourselves,” said Lewis, of Auburn.

“This is from my husband,” Bonilla said, carrying a hand-painted welcome sign.

Her daughter, Claire, like grandmother and her mom, likes to paint.

“Pink,” she said. “Princesses.”