Art Talk

As the Christmas season has progressed, I have attended numerous holiday art auctions, studio open houses, gallery openings and holiday gift markets. At all of these events, I have watched numerous shoppers buying handmade gifts for friends and family. It is this evidence that makes me know that the handmade gift is still precious to many people at this time of year.
               
I also have noticed as a first time elementary art teacher how children get so excited to make handmade cards and ornaments. They cannot wait to take them home to show their parents and to display in their homes. Not only does the handmade gift please the person who receives it, but it also pleases the person who creates it. Handmade gifts carry a weight to them that the store bought gifts do not.

If you have the time, get out the fabric and stitch a stocking, paint a card, or bake some cookies. It does not matter how you make it as long as you make it with joy. In this way the gift gives to the giver as well as the receiver.
               
And if you do not have the time, there are still galleries that have handmade gifts available. Southside Gallery on the square, Art 2 Frame on Heritage Drive in Oxford and Bozarts Gallery in Water Valley all have gifts of art ready to wrap up and present.  So get out there and have a handmade Christmas. Send any art related news to me at arttogollc@gmail.com