Candy Butler was driving through the California desert some 10 years ago when she stopped in Randsburg, an old ghost town.

Spotting a bright and sparkling light, she followed it to its source, a bottle tree. She had never seen one before, and was intrigued enough to do some research on the concept.

"Native Americans hang metal containers or vessels on the branches of a tree to trap the evil spirits," said Butler, a Lake Arrowhead artist.

She went home to the San Fernando Valley and recruited her welding partner, Gene Owens, to help create her own version of a bottle tree. It was fashioned of metal rebar and hung with pieces of glass.

One day, when Butler was out watering her yard, a passing driver stopped and asked to take a close-up look at her bottle tree.

"I was astounded that he knew what it was," she said.

As they talked, she learned that the man, Claude Hulce, was a potter who taught at the Burbank Cultural Arts Center. She began taking his classes and loved the medium of ceramics immediately.

Butler grafted her new love onto her existing passions of welding and collecting "junk." As a welder, she specializes in metal crosses, which have been sold by "The Folk Tree" store in Pasadena.

But her overriding obsession is for found objects.

"I love junk," she said. "I'll go to the dump or stop by the side of the road to look for it. What people throw out, I love."

Her various artistic fascinations coalesced in the creation of totem dolls. Some are constructed mainly of welded metal, but many have a clay head and a boxed body containing a host of found objects.

"Any object could be an arm or a leg," Butler said.

Sometimes people will give her their memorabilia with a commission to create a totem doll with the objects contained in the wooden box body.

Butler also creates what she calls "arrowhead" dolls, which have painted clay bodies in the shape of arrowheads.

"I gave them this name even before I moved to Lake Arrowhead," Butler said.

A California native, Butler grew up near Los Angeles and studied art in high school. For her senior project, she won a competition to design the Rose Parade float for the city of Downey.

After high school, however, she went into retailing and ran department stores including Bullock's Wilshire. She became interested in giftware and developed a small business selling specialty mints and candies for weddings and other events.

"When people saw that my name was Candy and I sold candy, they would go, 'No!' " she said with a laugh.

It wasn't until she turned 50 that Butler, now 61, returned to her artistic roots. Developing her welding, clay and recycled art skills, she began selling her work at local and regional galleries.

After moving to Lake Arrowhead in 2005, she joined an Internet Web site to make her work available wholesale to shop and gallery owners.

Butler also sells her dolls and welded items at the Mountain Arts Gallery, 28561 Highway 18, in Sky Forest. Gallery telephone: 909-337-1238.

To learn more about the art created by Lake Arrowhead resident Candy Butler, visit: http://www.mountainartsnetwork.org or http://www.tastefulpromotions.com

MAN artist Lisa Cook in Juxatpoz Magazine one of her paintings is being featured in Juxatpoz magazine! You can see it online here: http://www.juxtapoz.com/jux/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1753&Itemid=59

MAN artist Margaret Spiess in the Press Enterprise ARTIST Margaret Spiess, AGE: 63 is a RESIDENT of Running Springs. She retired as an art teacher at San Bernardino High School. Paints in watercolor and batik. Her works are on display at the Redlands Art Association, 215 E. State St., through July 20. Follow the link to read more about this interesting artist: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_bbatik02.3840152.html

Mountain Arts Community Highlighted in the Las Vegas Review Journal - Big Bear journalist CATHLEEN CALKINS has written a travel guide article for the latest issue of the Las Vegas Review Journal in which she profiled our San Bernardino Mountains emerging art community through a guided tour starting from Vegas and directing the reader to the Big Bear area and then across the Rim of the World Highway into Sky Forest then to Lake Arrowhead and Cedar Glen ending by directing tourists through Crestline and out the 138 to rejoin interstate 15. If you visit the link below you can read the article and find links to our website and information on LAGMA, Michael Bates Photography, Karen Raidy Portrait Studio and Van Buskirk Artistry. This publication is available in Las Vegas and many people use it to plan excursions and day trips. We hope this will translate into a lot more tourists coming to our mountains specifically looking for the arts. Please read the online version of this article here: http://www.lvrj.com/living/8153937.html

Mountain Arts Network featured in Lake Arrowhead Visitor Guide which is available to locals and tourists visiting all our resort hotels, B&B's, restaurants and shops in the Lake Arrowhead Village and all over the mountain. Look for this two page spread: 

Here is a link to Mike's page: Michael Bates - Member of the Worldwide Nature Artists Group. Here is a link to Brenda's page: Brenda Johnson - Member of the Worldwide Nature Artists Group