If it’s December, it’s time for the “Collectors Show and Sale” at the Arkansas Arts Center, the Christmas Showcase of the Arkansas Craft Guild and other various and sundry annual opportunities for gift-buying from creative folk.
It’s the Arts Center’s 41st Collectors Show, which opens to eager art buyers Friday, Dec. 4. Twenty New York galleries have sent to the hinterlands works by Alfred H. Maurer, William Trost Richards, John F. Kensett, Andrew Wyeth, George Ault, John Marin, Charles Burchfield and others, all selected by Arts Center director Nan Plummer and curators Joe Lampo and Phaedra Siebert. The show runs through Jan. 3.
The 31st annual Christmas Showcase at the Statehouse Convention Center also kicks off Friday with 80 artists and artisans in Hall IV. Weavers, potters, jewelers, glass artists, woodworkers, painters and photographers join makers of soaps, dolls, candles, musical instruments and more for the three-day show this weekend as dulcimer musician Charlie Mink strolls through the hall. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; admission is $5. A list of artists is at www.arkansascraftguild.org.
“An Ornamental Affair” at Blue Moon Gallery, 718 Central Ave. in Hot Springs, is the gallery’s 7th annual benefit for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). Thirty ornaments created by Blue Moon’s artists will be auctioned starting at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, during the monthly Gallery Walk on Central Avenue. The auction runs through Dec. 12, when the winner is announced at the Win the Bid eggnog party from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Ornament-makers include Kay Aclin, Diana Ashley, Suzie Burch, Megan Chapman, Vicki Cook, Suzi Dennis, Darla Dixon, Cassie Edmonds, Kelly Edwards, Thad Flenniken, Randall Good, Janice Higdon, Mike Hines, Pepper Pepper, Matt McLeod, David Rackley, S. Roscoe, Tom Richard, Ann Shedelbower, Bart Soutendijk, Wayne Summerhill, Jeanne Teague and Steve Webb. All proceeds go to CASA.
I’m not sure how long students at UALR have held a holiday show, but it’s been several years. Catch them before they’re too famous to be affordable from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Dec. 3 and 4.
It’s only the third time the Arkansas Pastel Society — founded in 2004 — has hosted its national exhibition, “Reflections in Pastel,” a juried show opening Dec. 4 at the Arts Center’s Community Gallery at the Terry House. Doug Dawson, who teaches at the Art Students League of Denver, was judge. More than 70 works are in the show; a reception is set for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 4. The exhibit runs through Jan. 10.
The Arkansas Community Arts Cooperative’s holiday arts sale Saturday night features all manner of handmade gifts and artwork by John Kushmaul, Emily Galusha, Erin Lang, Collin Miles, Erin Lorenzen, Nikki Paxton, Rhonda Owen, Summer Daniel, Rachel Carraccio, Vicki Williams, Kenny Roberts, Rachel Thompson, Linda Faye Pruitt, Nancy Jordan, Little Bird Baskets and Amy Duzan. There will be live music and refreshments at the event, which runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at 900 S. Rodney Parham Road, where Gallery B was once located.
n It’s also time for the Christmas Frolic and Open House at the Historic Arkansas Museum, now in its 42nd year. As in years past, the frolic, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 6, will feature dancing in the Hinderliter, the Early Arkansaw Reenactors, music by Lark in the Morning and the Arkansas Country Dance Band, living history, ginger bread and hot cider. This year, members of the Aeolus Recorder Konsort will play in the galleries, where collages by Jeri Hills, photographs by Deborah Warren and textiles by Lauren McEntire are being exhibited (and sold). The museum’s gift shop, which features contemporary crafts and jewelry by Arkansans, will also be open.