Call to Artists: Christmas Shoppe 2009

Black Creek Arts Council is now accepting applications for its 3rd Annual Christmas Shoppe. Building on last year's success, the Christmas Shoppe will now be on both floors of the Black Creek Arts Center.

Last year, the Christmas Shoppe consisted of jewelers, painters, potters, photographers, a glass artist, and a soapmaker.

This year's Christmas Shoppe will take place the second weekend in December. The event will kick off on Thursday night at 5pm. Below are the full shopping hours:

Thursday, December 10th from 5 - 9pm

Friday, December 11th from 3 - 8pm

Saturday, December 12th from 10am to 2pm

Interested artists should email Bruce Douglas at bartscounc@aol.com with the following information:

Name

Address

Phone Number(s)

A Brief Description of Your Work

At least three jpegs of items similar to what you plan to sell

Booth spaces will be $150 downstairs and $100 upstairs. Payment is not due with application. Payment will be made after you are notified of your selection into Christmas Shoppe 2009.

Entries must be received by 5pm on September 15th for consideration in Christmas Shoppe 2009. Applicants will know if they are accepted by September 30th.

For a complete list of Christmas Shoppe rules, click here.

If you would like a hard copy application and rules, call Bruce Douglas at 843.332.6234.

Irish Art To Open At BCAC on August 6th

Queen Mauve by Joop Smits

The Black Creek Arts Center will be the site of an opening reception for an Irish Art exhibit on Thursday, August 6th from 5:30 to 7:00pm. The exhibit will feature work by eight artists currently working in Ireland.

The exhibit has been made possible by Dr. Beverley Spears, Professor Emeritus, Francis Marion University. Since 1997, Spears has spent a portion of each year on Ireland’s Barea Peninsula. "There’s no more rugged terrain in all Ireland than the wild, rocky Beara," she says. "Lured by such untamable beauty, both native and immigrant artists have made Ireland home. The Irish know, own, and proudly display these painters’ work, but few Irish artists are known outside Ireland. I hope to help them receive the appreciation many of them deserve.”

Spears efforts to promote Ireland’s artists led her to start her own business, Southern Art LLC, which she operated out of a gallery on Coit Street in Florence. With the strains of trying to travel and run a gallery increasing, Spears opted to move her business to the web. August’s exhibit will be Spears’ first public show in 5 years. Some works will be shown that have never before been offered for public sale.

Come out and enjoy the exhibit with friends through the month of August. The opening reception and entry throughout the month is free and open to the public.

Spears description of each artist:

Above: Long by Bernadette Madden

Bernadette Madden: the most highly admired and best known batik artist in Ireland; Deborah Healy of the Healy Pass: whose style shows the innocence of her approach to that complex land; Joop Smits: whose complete command of verisimilitude blends in a shocking way with fantasy subjects; Claudio Viscardi: who was trained as a fresco restorer in his native Italy and who mixes his own oil paints, coloring them with precious and other natural stones; Tineke Verlaat: a hard-voiced Dutch immigrant who paints still lifes and whose husband plies his trade as a "fishmonger" on the peninsula; Joanna Kuper: another Dutch immigrant; Martyn Bell: a native who teaches art and makes technically amazing prints from his originals; and Jean Gregory of County Tyrone: Descended from the hated Scots, she lives in the most embattled part of intolerant Ulster (the English colonial North), painting placid "figgers" of another world.

Bell Cottage by Martyn Bell

The Black Creek Arts Center is located at 116 W. College Ave. in Hartsville.