Issue date: 11/12/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Jenna Redline Holiday Treasures, an exhibit in the McLean County Arts Center, has a variety of art for sale including pottery, paintings, picture frames and gift baskets.

Media Credit: Jenna Redline The Holiday Treasures exhibition and sale sells and displays artwork from local artists. The event is free to the public and it runs for the rest of November until Dec. 22.

Shoppers looking for unique, one-of-a-kind gifts for the holidays can look no further than the McLean County Arts Center's Holiday Treasures exhibition and sale.

The event, in its 32nd year, runs from Nov. 10 until Dec. 22 and features 93 local artists. According to Doug Johnson, executive director of the arts center, artists go through an application process to participate in the exhibit. Along with an application, they must send in pictures of their art to give the center an idea of what kind of work they do.

"We review applications and select applicants who best fit the show," Johnson said. "We make sure that we have a wide range of artists."

Variety is present in both the artists and the work that they produce. The show features a wide selection of items from original paintings and sculptures to hand-blown, glass Christmas ornaments and handcrafted jewelry.

"Jewelry is our biggest single category for sales," Johnson said. "A lot of people want to give handmade jewelry for the holidays and they can get something finely crafted and unique rather than something that is mass produced and sold at the mall."

While the title of the exhibit is "Holiday Treasures," Johnson emphasized that the title refers to the season of giving gifts, rather than referring to a holiday theme among the pieces in the exhibition.

"It's a show designed with holiday gift giving in mind," he said. "We do have many Christmas decorative items…but it's really designed as items that could be given as gifts."

The items for sale vary in price, from $5 to $3,000. Jewelry, ornaments and other decorative items are less expensive, while original paintings by local artists, many of whom are ISU graduate students and faculty members, are among the pricier pieces. The artists receive 60 percent of the profits, while the remaining 40 percent goes to the arts center, Johnson explained.

Admission to the exhibition is free, but donations to the arts center are accepted. If a visitor chooses to purchase a piece while at the sale, he or she must notify a staff member and will be able to walk out the door with the piece that day. After a piece is sold, a new one is put in its place.

"We keep the show fresh throughout the course of the exhibition," Johnson said.

For 31 years, the exhibit has given people in the community an opportunity to purchase unique art created locally, and the center hopes to continue the show's success this year as well. The center, located in Bloomington, features many other exhibits throughout the year, but the Holiday Treasures exhibit is the only one focused on gift giving and the holiday season.

"It's a great showcase of working artists in central Illinois and beyond," Johnson said. "The show is really focusing on those items that are affordable and make lovely holiday presents."

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