As the shopping season kicks into gear, the big retailers aren’t the only ones hoping for sales. Many local artists and craftspeople are planning holiday events to sell their work.
“I still work part time as a graphic designer, but ultimately I’d love to make a living painting, and being able to sell these paintings would be great,” said Shawn Kenney, a painter whose work will be featured at the Pawtucket Artists Holiday Sale this Friday to Sunday, Dec. 1 to 3 (www.pawtucketopenstudios.org).
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Elizabeth Ithurburu, a home furnishings artist who is also participating, said the sale “is going to do a lot of good things for my business. It will bring people in to get to know the mills and to get people to see that there’s a lot of creativity here.”
This isn’t the first time that Pawtucket-based artists will be selling their work for the holidays, but this year’s sale is different. More than 50 artists and artisans will be coming together at 558-560 Mineral Spring Ave., a renovated mill where Kenney rents space.
Most will exhibit their work in a 7,000-square-foot-space on the first floor; others will open their studios upstairs to visitors. Along with paintings and home furnishings, there will be clothing, furniture, ceramics, cards, photography, sandblasted glass, jewelry and more.
“In the past, we’ve had different events at different locations, but this year, we decided to focus on one mill,” said Patricia Zacks, president of the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, coordinator of the Pawtucket Arts Festival and an organizer of the holiday arts show. “Any artist that would like to set up a table and participate can. It’s not a juried show, and as a result, we have a lot of Pawtucket artists. This is really a good thing.”
Separately, the Foundry Artists Show, also in Pawtucket, will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this holiday season, with an art sale Dec. 7 through 17 (www.foundryshow.com). The 1995 conversion of the Foundry Building in Providence into office space displaced the artists who had worked there, but they continue to get together every year – now, in the Pawtucket Armory, 172 Exchange St., – and they invite other artists.
Nearly 70 artists are expected, and they’ll be selling handmade books, ceramics, fiber, organic food and body products, furniture, giftware and home accessories, glass, hats, handbags, jewelry, mixed media, painting, print making, collage, photography, sculpture and wood items.
In Providence, Millcraft is also bringing the public into artists’ space, co-hosting a sale Dec. 15 to 17, at 532 Kinsley Ave. (www.myspace.com/millcraft), with The Steel Yard, an industrial shop that includes a foundry, a ceramics studio, a blacksmithing shop, a welding shop, studio space and outdoor work and exhibition space, and the Monohasset Mill project, a collection of live/work condominiums for artists.
“Holiday time is a great time to sell stuff,” said Manya Rubinstein, an artist who is an organizer for the event. “Buyers can get great gifts and artists can make some money.”
Millcraft will host art from 20 to 30 artists, including sculptures, paintings, ceramics, jewelry, knit work, as well as a gift wrapping booth, Rubinstein said.
Artists aren’t the only ones organizing these types of events.
From 10 a.m. till dusk on Saturday, Dec. 2, the French-American School of Rhode Island (274-3325) is sponsoring a “Marché de Noël” on John Street, between Brook and Hope streets, with artists and artisans as well as crêpes from Paris Delights in Newport, a vendor selling French fries, and hot spiced wine from the downtown bistro Pot au Feu.
Louise Jakobson, coordinator of the event, said the school wants to replicate the traditional Christmas markets that are common in Europe.
“There will be up to 45 vendors outdoors on John Street beneath tents, and people can wander around and do their Christmas shopping and enjoy a hot beverage,” she said. “We will have jewelry artists, people who make textiles and handcrafted goods.”
“We felt there’s nothing quite like it around,” Jakobson added, “and people would really enjoy strolling around outside through market stores.”
