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Buy Local: OI’s Holiday Art Show and Sale

Dozens of vendors have set up shop at Oglebay Institute for the 2016 Holiday Art Show and Sale.

The show aims to highlight the work of regional artists and crafters, by providing them with a venue to sell their handcrafted items. The show also provides the public with an alternative to traditional retail shopping.

Cool Stuff Made Locally.

More than 50 vendors are selling their wares in two OI venues – the Stifel Fine Arts Center on National Road in Wheeling and the Schrader Environmental Education Center in Oglebay. Area residents can shop hundreds of unique gifts.

You’ll find jewelry, scarves and purses as well as items for the home like pottery, glassware, paintings and hand-woven baskets. You can purchase specialty food items, too, like jams and jellies, sauces and maple syrup.

“The show has become a tradition among holiday shoppers,” said Misty Klug, Oglebay Institute director of marketing and communication. “It continues to gain popularity, with attendance and sales increasing steadily each year.”

Klug is delighted to see the Holiday Show and Sale being embraced by the community.

“Loyal attendees come ready to buy each year, knowing they can find one-of-a-kind gifts for everyone on their list,” she said. “The show also attracts new visitors each year.  Those with an interest in shopping local as well as those interested in purchasing more personal gifts for their loved ones always enjoy the annual show.”

Oglebay Institute's Holiday Art Show & Sale

The talent of the artists and quality of the merchandise keep people coming back year after year.  Other factors in the show’s success, according to Klug, include the “festive, friendly shopping environment” and a shift in consumer buying habits.

“The ‘Buy Local’ concept is expanding to more than just meats and produce.  People seem eager to support this philosophy in other aspects of their shopping. That’s good news for our local artisans,” she said.

United Bank sponsors the Holiday Arts Show and Sale.  It will continue through December 30.  Admission at both locations is free.

For more information and show hours, visit www.OIonline.com or call 304-242-7700.

Slam Poetry Returns to Towngate November 19

Stories. We each have our own. And through our lives, we tell those stories. Our life is our story.

Sometimes we take these stories, and we create from them. We paint a picture, sing a song, take a photograph, write a letter or make dinner. All of these things, in their own ways, tell a very specific story.

Often, that story can be very personal. It can come from deep within us, from our very souls. Our stories are the sum of our experience, the sum of our past.

Roots

Come listen to some of these stories as The Prosers return to the Towngate Theatre stage at 8 p.m. Saturday, November 19.

The Prosers, a group of local spoken-word artists, will perform original, intensely emotional works. While examining social justice issues, they share powerful stories of personal struggle and authentic experiences. They share these stories through slam poetry, a kind of literary rap, impassioned commentary, uninhibited word art, poetry and improvisation all wrapped up in one package. It is poetry that is meant to be performed.

The theme of this upcoming show is Roots.

“The great thing about our theme of Roots—and all of our shows—is that it could mean something different to all of us. It’s a theme that may seem sort of predictable, but I think the show will be surprising,” said Prosers spokesperson Sara Fincham.

“We will be getting back to the basics. I’m sure there will be some personal poems about who we are, where we come from, what has individually influenced us as artists, and I think it will take on bigger stroke themes—culture, values, politics,” she said.

Sara said that the upcoming performance represents a different branch of creativity.

“We all have different writing styles and pockets of poetry that we’re comfortable with writing, and usually we complement each other well with that. We each have different performing styles, and we each interpret the show themes very differently, but I think the show itself always exemplifies the roots of us, of our creative connectedness and of our one humanity,” she said.

Share your story, too.

In addition to performances by The Prosers, the event also features an open mic session. Poets, new and experienced, shy and bold, are welcome to bring their poems and read aloud to the audience.

If you have something to say, the microphones and the ears are open at Towngate Theatre. Come share your story. Come share your roots.

Get tickets.

Tickets are on sale now. Purchase tickets www.oionline.com, at the door or call 304-242-7700. Admission is only $5.

Towngate Theatre is more than theater…

Towngate’s Second Season enhances Wheeling’s arts landscape with literary programming, spoken word performances, improvisation and more.  Programs often feature works by emerging and/or local authors, playwrights and poets.