Snowbird June Smith, who has been coming to Osoyoos for 11 years, decorated the tree with ornaments she crochets. It will be among work by local artists at the Osoyoos Art Gallery’s Christmas Artisan Market. (Richard McGuire photo)
If last year is any indication, the opening of the Christmas Artisan Market at the Osoyoos Art Gallery on Saturday should be a popular event.
“People were lined up and down the street to get in,” recalls Sue Whittaker, gallery curator. “It was a huge success on opening day.”
This year is the second year that the gallery has adopted the market format for the Christmas show. A similar format has been successful for a longer time with the summer show.
The Christmas Artisan Market runs from Nov. 12 to Dec. 22.
There will be 32 participating artists representing a wide gamut of artistic media, said Whittaker. Artists get their own “stall” or area to display a collection of their work.
There will be painters, potters, quilters, woodwork, glass, photography and more, she said.
There will be some new artists this year, though the format will be little changed from last year.
“The quilters have been working for months to get a really nice show of quilts together,” said Whittaker. The potters have been busy preparing for the show, even though they were also been busy preparing for the Nov. 4 Empty Bowls fundraiser for Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre, she added.
There will also be lots of new paintings, she said.
The open house is Saturday, Nov. 12 from noon to 4 p.m. and there will be refreshments.
Over the phone, it sounded like Whittaker’s lips were watering as she described the homemade Skor bar shortcake and gingerbread cookies that will be offered.
As this is a Christmas show, the gallery will also be decorated in a seasonal theme.
This includes greenery outside as well as an artificial fireplace inside recreating the experience of burning logs.
There will also be Christmas trees decorated in handmade ornaments, which are for sale. Whittaker said one snowbird, June Smith from Regina, dreams up unique ornament ideas and then crochets them.
“She just wakes up and says, ‘Oh yes, I can do that,’ and that day she makes a new ornament for the tree,” she said. “People just love that tree and they go and get one of her ornaments because they’re one-of-a-kind.”
This year will not include the Sip ‘n Shop evening events that were tried last year, but Whittaker said there will be plenty of opportunities for people to shop over the more than five weeks the show runs.
“We’re really looking forward to seeing people enjoying the open house on Saturday,” Whittaker said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
