Local and out-of-state artists display their work at long-running Sasquatch conference
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POCATELLO — Many artists, both from eastern Idaho and out-of-state, got the opportunity to showcase their art at a local Sasquatch conference.
The Bigfoot Rendezvous took place Friday and Saturday and it was a sell out, with around 160 tickets sold. There were sixteen vendors. Most were selling material related to Sasquatch, others were there to showcase their work and some were both.
Even though the event has been held every few years since 2006, the organizer said it initially didn’t receive much attention.
“It very slow to start. I think everybody was skeptical going into it and it didn’t get any coverage… but then at the last minute, (people) got very excited about it,” said Brandon Tennant, organizer of the event and owner of Falling Rock Productions and Sasquatchprints.com.
The last Bigfoot Rendezvous took place in 2022. Tennant always waits a number of years in between each event because he doesn’t want the public to get burned out on them.
One of the artists, West Jensen, got his start selling his work at the last Bigfoot Rendezvous. Jensen creates stickers, bookmarks and pottery pieces, and had a collection of his handmade work on display at this year’s event.
Jensen is friends with Tenant’s son, who told him that he should sell his art. Jensen liked the idea and created some Bigfoot pin-up prints as well.
“So that sort of set me on the path that I’m at now where I’m making significantly more pottery and doing pretty well at it,” Jensen said.
While Jensen would love to sell his work online, he hasn’t been able to maintain enough stock to do that and sell in person. People who are interested in finding his work can find him at the Mystic Realms Fantasy Fair, the First Friday Artwalk and other assorted craft fairs.
While Jensen doesn’t consider himself “a Bigfoot believer,” he isn’t completely closed off to the idea that it exists.
“I definitely wouldn’t say that I’m unable to be convinced of the legitimacy of Bigfoot,” Jensen said. “I enjoy engaging with cryptid culture in the sense that I think it is really nice to leave some magic in the world.”
Another artist, Leon Anthony, was selling his artwork of Sasquatch. Anthony, a member of the Navajo Nation, said his grandpa, uncle and dad all warned him to avoid Bigfoot when he was growing up.
“We were told not to chase him, as he would find us. If he were to find us, we were not to shoot him or bother him,” Anthony said in a written statement he gave EastIdahoNews.com, in lieu of an interview.
Anthony said that Bigfoot takes care of “our evergreens, our ceder; our mint, and our tobacco.”
“This depiction of Bigfoot has a connection to many people who have seen Bigfoot,” Anthony said.
It’s Anthony’s belief that Bigfoot will leave people alone as long as they do the same.
“Bigfoot will not bother us, if we don’t try to find him and bother him,” Anthony said.