Talent for jams and jellies leads to county fair following for young cook

Call her a county fair addict. Amelia Wignall may be only 20, but the Summerlin-area resident has attended dozens of county fairs in different states, starting as a child. She said they fostered her creative streak, which extends to cooking.

By the time she got to high school, she was making jams and jellies, using instructions she found online. She decided to make her own recipes more fruit-forward and, at 16, entered her top one, Amelia’s Very Berry — a mix of raspberry, black cherries, blueberries and grapes — in the Clark County Fair. She took top honors.

“When you get your first blue ribbon, you’re hooked,” she said. “I’ve been entering county fairs ever since.”

Flush with that first win, Wignall soon developed other flavors, ensuring that the fruit was evenly distributed, something of which judges take note, she said.

“One year, I entered my jam into the Pahrump Fair, and at the time, because of my age, I was put in the Kid Category,” she said. “Not only did I sweep up all the ribbons in the Kid, someone put my jam into the Adult Category, and I swept up all the ribbons there, too.”

Her job as an associate television producer has her traveling a lot, but she said she hopes to be at the Clark County Fair in Logandale April 8-12. Her work has her traveling the Southwest with her parents, Brian and Julie Wignall, for their PBS television show “Southwest Living.”

“With all of the ribbons I’ve won, there is one ribbon I am still aiming for: Director’s Choice,” Amelia Wignall said. “This is the top ribbon you can get; it’s big and rainbowy.”

She also plans to have her jams at Pahrump Fall Festival.

Wignall has nearly 12 jam flavors at last count, available at facebook.com/AmeliasArtifacts. Small jars are about $6, and large ones are about $8.

The Facebook page isn’t called Amelia’s Jams. That’s because she doesn’t restrict her talent to only culinary pursuits. Wignall, who has been painting ever since she could hold a brush, buys wooden chairs from thrift stores and then lets her imagination go wild, painting them vibrant colors. It’s something she’s been doing since late middle school. Each one is unique and distinct. One had its legs and rails painted to resemble oversized crayons.

“Patterns that you don’t think would work together, I (make) work together,” Wignall said.

Kristopher Shepherd commissioned her to paint a music stand he and his wife had found at a thrift store. A few weeks later, Wignall donated one of her chairs to a local nonprofit as part of a silent auction. Shepherd bid on the chair and won it. So, he asked her to paint the music stand to match the chair.

“I’m a big fan of folk art, so I was drawn to the simple style and bright colors,” he said. “But as I looked at her work closer, I really noticed the subtle use of shading and blending … they look simple, but as you look a little closer, you see the attention to detail. I also love how she uses the shape of whatever she is painting and doesn’t fight the structure of the furniture. She finds fun and simple ways to accent the natural curves and shapes of the items she is working on. She’s a master at keeping the design simple but not artless.”

Another endeavor is her artistic ring creations. Each one is different and depicts some type of food in miniature. They may include a slice of pizza or a plate with various foods on it. She also has a line of chili earrings.

Wignall said traveling with her parents as documentary producers was a major part of her education. She was home-schooled due to the filming schedule and said her experiences inspired her to study filmmaking and become a producer. One of her goals is to follow the route of Marco Polo along the Silk Road.

“I want to make films with an anthropology basis,” she said. “I want to be able to share what I’ve learned through visual storytelling.”

For more information about the Clark County Fair, visit ccfair.com.

Contact Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.