Open House TOMORROW

Framed prints and original watercolors by Inman artist Pamela Rattray Brown. Pamela's Santa paintings and prints are on display through the end of December and she will be here Saturday, December 13 during our Fourth Annual Open House.

New Items added at the Artisan Center

We have a new shipment of Rob Gentry's porcelain ornament/gift tags. They're $1.75 each. There are a number of different designs. Only a few are pictured here:

We received note cards from Kayla Padgett. There are 5 designs, 2 cards of each design. They're priced at $2.00 each.

Yesterday we received a large order of pottery by Marjorie Hawthorne. Prices range from $15 to $90 dollars. This picture is only a portion of the beautiful new pieces that Marjorie brought in.

Online Commercial for CFAC!

Carolina Foothills Artisan Center had some items featured in last Wednesday's Spartanburg Herald newspaper "Gift Guide" pull-out. As a bonus to buying that ad-space, we now have a 30 second commercial running on their website, which is quite nice considering it's all still-photos.

The link to the commercial is below:

http://www.goupstate.com/section/holidayadshowcase


Also, this Saturday is our Fourth Annual Holiday Open House. We'll have refreshments and the local artist Pamela Rattray Brown from Inman will be here doing artistic demonstrations and exhibiting a display of her Santa paintings and prints. The open house hours are from 10:00 - 5:00.

The weather today reminds me of this week a few years ago when we had a large ice storm and the power was out for several days. I think maybe it was 4 years ago, now, cause it seems like it was our first open house. We had electricity here at the Artisan Center and some folks came and stayed with us for hours to avoid going home to a dark, cold house again.


Angelique Ruff Smith
Executive Director

Dickens of a Christmas

Tonight is "Dickens of a Christmas" in downtown Spartanburg. The entire area from Denny's tower to Morgan Square is transported back in time to the Victorian Era at Christmastime. We always have a booth in the Haymarket area and sell items from the Artisan Center there.

Also, one of our board members, Omelia Harris, will be painting in one of the store windows along the street. She did it last year for the first time and was hooked. She loves watching all the people and dressing up in period costumes, and she's a very talented painter to boot. Last year she told us all funny stories of people standing at the window talking to each other with the thought that she couldn't hear them. Sometimes she would suddenly turn to them and answer their questions or nod her head. Some folks weren't sure she was really a person, they thought she was a statue or something until she'd smile at them.

We're always happy to show off the hand-crafted ornaments and holiday gift ideas from our artists. Every year we have a pretty steady stream of people by our booth, and every year people are happily surprised to find out that everything we sell is hand-made by someone in North or South Carolina.

We also use the time as an opportunity to spread the word about our Annual Holiday Open House. This year it's on Saturday December 13, which is also the day of the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in the park here in Chesnee. We close at 5:30 and the ceremony starts at 6:30, which gives you just enough time to go have dinner at one of our great restaurants here in town.

Here's a link to the Chapman Cultural Center with details about Dickens. Hope you go have a stroll back in time this evening.

http://www.chapmanculturalcenter.org/events.php?id=70

Angelique

First Post on blog

OK, I admit it, this is my first post on a blog. This is the first blog I've created, and one of the first I've looked at. And I admit that I'm doing it to garner more interest and hits for our website and to our Artisan Center. I'd also like to use it to communicate with our artists and customers and supporters. There are so many filters and firewalls that mass email communication has proved aggravating for me.

The slideshow to the left shows photos from an event we had last month. We had a Membership Campaign Kickoff event with Woodruff, SC artist Robert Wilson, Sr. and his son Robert Wilson, Jr. of Charleston, SC. The Wilsons had visited the Artisan Center previously and were so impressed, they quickly agreed to help support our Membership Campaign by holding their first-ever combined exhibit here in our gallery, and by donating 60 signed and numbered prints to be distributed as gifts with a $150 Platinum Level Membership to the Carolina Foothills Artisan Center. That membership also carries other perks, including invitations to private events in the future and a 10% discount on all purchases in the gallery for the next year.

Mr. Wilson, Sr. is an accomplished, self-taught artist with a wide array of subject matters mainly consisting of various military subjects including Revolutionary War and antique military aircraft. His paintings hang in numerous National Battlefields and Monuments as well as countless private collections.

Mr. Wilson, Jr. is as talented as his father, with his subjects coming more from the natural world around us and portraits. He owns a business in Charleston where he prints lithographs and giclees of his and his father's works.

Catalogs of the prints available are here at Carolina Foothills Artisan Center, and prints can be ordered here.

We sincerely appreciate the efforts and the support of Mr. Wilson, Sr. and Mr. Wilson, Jr. and we appreciate the continued support of founding board members and supporters in our community.

Sincerely,
Angelique Ruff Smith
Executive Director