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By Laura Jackson Roberts

Shopping local is a big deal in Wheeling. We take pride in our entrepreneurs and artisans, and for the next six weeks, Oglebay Institute is offering a chance to support them with the Holiday Art Show and Sale, sponsored by United Bank. Until December 31, both the Stifel Fine Arts Center and the Schrader Environmental Education Center will host this unique holiday event for those looking for an alternative to traditional retail shopping.

I admit that I was under the impression the show would feature mainly wreaths, cookie-scented candles, and stockings shaped like rubenesque reindeer. When I visited opening night at both the Stifel and Schrader Centers, I was instead surprised to see a variety of high-quality arts and crafts including jewelry, paintings, photography, ceramics, and food. You will indeed find beautiful Christmas pieces, but most tables showcase the kind of crafts you might see at the Oglebay Institute Artists’ and Gourmet Market at Oglebayfest, and I recognized several of the artisans’ work from the fall festival. I also recognized the unmistakable baked goods of Whisk by Avenue Eats, who catered both events and provided me with me yet another opportunity to indulge myself at an OI event.

At Stifel I got into immediate trouble at Andrea Cowan’s table, where I was joyfully overwhelmed by the variety of scarves and warm headbands in every color. My blogging responsibilities played second fiddle to a snatching up a beautifully knit pink headband before the crowds arrived. DW & Co. Designs crafts bracelets with Greek and Italian leathers, and I was happy to recognize Sketches by Anne (Foreman); she does pet portraits and recently painted my German Shepherd. She offers both prints and note cards.

Sue Smith’s beautiful bird paintings looked quite at home at the Schrader Center next to Lippencott Alpaca’s woolly display (alpaca long johns, anyone?), and I found it difficult to choose between Family Roots Farm’s maple syrup and the ramp dressing by Appalachian Mountain Specialty Foods. So I didn’t. I bought both.

Dozens of artisans are participating this year. “Different artists and merchandise are featured at each location,” Oglebay Institute Director of Marketing Misty Klug said. “The selection is fantastic. The atmosphere is relaxed and festive, and holiday shopping dollars spent at the show stay in our local economy. Loyal attendees come ready to buy each year, knowing they can find one-of-a-kind gifts for everyone on their list. 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, which is certainly good news for our local artisans.”

Stifel Director Rick Morgan informed me that the event is juried this year. “The idea was to try to keep it so that we didn’t have a similar product. We have a little bit more variety in the vendors this year.” He also mentioned that out-of-towners staying at Oglebay will enjoy the convenience of the Schrader Center’s shopping experience without having to leave the park.

November 28 is Small Business Saturday, a day devoted to supporting your community by shopping here in town. Small business owners are the ones who greet you at the door, and help you find what we’re looking for. They’re the ones who wrap your gifts and tell you to enjoy your day. You see them in the grocery store, and in church, and in the pickup line at school. I love our town, because these people recognize my face and ask me about my kids. Small businesses open early and close late, and do it again the next day, because Wheeling is home, and they want it to thrive.

Some of us go crazy for Christmas, while others are a bit reserved about the commercialization of the holidays. I think there’s a fine line between finding our holiday spirit and trampling it with retail madness. For me, Christmas is a time to reflect upon my family and our traditions, and as a sixth-generation Wheeling resident, it means so much to me to participate in a true local experience, where shoppers treat each other with kindness. These artists add such life to our culture here, and I’m so happy to support them as they do me, and each other.

We’re all in this together, Wheeling. ‘Tis the season.

On Small Business Saturday, November 28, shoppers can visit the Holiday
Art Show and Sale from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Stifel Fine Arts Center, 1330 National Road, and 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. at the Schrader Environmental Education Center in Oglebay Resort. The Oglebay Institute Holiday Art Show & Sale continues through December 31, 2015. Admission is free.

 

By Laura Jackson Roberts

I stink at arts and crafts.

Lots of people say that, but I offer you the admission in the spirit of frankness. I’m terrible. In elementary school, I glued myself to a desk. In college, my clay pot exploded in the kiln, taking several of the more talented students’ pieces with it. The professor gave me a C out of sheer pity.

Oglebay Institute offers a wide array of classes from fine art and traditional crafts to classes for those who just like to get their inner Pinterest on, and even though I live a few houses up from Oglebay Institute’s Stifel Fine Arts Center, my fear of embarrassment has kept me from signing up for classes for years. Every season, I look at the offerings and get excited when I see stained glass, watercolors, and black and white photography until my inner art-buffoon quickly reminds me about the time I got trapped in a dark-room, and I chicken out.

However, I’m your Oglebay Institute blogger, and it’s my job to try these
experiences on and see how they fit so that you can do the same thing. I’ve agreed to bumble through the class to give you the courage, perhaps, to do the same.

It’s October 8 at Stifel. I’m already feeling like a putz, not just because I have no talent but also because my two girlfriends can’t make it tonight. Will I have to sit by myself and be the awkward weirdo in the corner? I ask a group if they would mind my joining them. “Have some wine!” they chorus, and quite easily, I’ve been adopted by these lovely women, who are a group of family, friends, and co-workers enjoying a night out. At the front of the room, Ye Olde Alpha has provided appetizers, including chicken skewers, bruschetta, and chips and dip. Attendees have brought their own wine.

Instructor Rachel Shipley is an art teacher for Ohio County schools, and she’s provided the raw materials for this Halloween wreath-making endeavor: grapevine wreaths, cobwebs, sparkly-bendy things, spiders … anything we might need. I ask her about her method, which seems simple and fun. She says, “I put everything out and then people automatically start to put it together and socialize without kids.” I think the without kids part proves to be the key. Even I can bumble my way through this—it’s idiot-proof.

Well, almost.

Rachel issues a friendly warning about the glue guns. “They will singe your skin.” She’s not kidding—somehow I’ve already glued my forefinger to my thumb. Pretending I’m licking guacamole off my hand, I gnaw them apart. Rachel comes over to our table to give us a bow‑making demonstration, which involves pinching the bow as hard as you can until your hand complains. “When your fingers start to burn, that’s when you know you’re doing the right thing,” she explains, as she produces a perfect bow. Then she gives us a few sage words of advice: “Don’t fight the ribbon.” Maybe that’s my problem: I’m not taking the Zen approach. Rather than creating a Halloween wreath, perhaps I should let the wreath create me.

Or, I could just hot glue this heck out of this thing and hope it holds together until November 1st.

The ladies at the next table get really excited when they attend Girls’ Art Night. Rachel warns me that they’re “the rowdy group,” and they always bring mimosas. Naturally, I want to meet these mimosa people. They rattle off a lengthy list of events they’ve attended: fall wreaths, seashell wreaths, woodburning, Christmas cards.

Oglebay Institute offers an arts and crafts night at least once a month, and the projects often correspond to the season.

After a glass of wine, I decide that my wreath needs to be able to survive a microburst, so I attach every leaf, every web, and every spider leg to the grapevine, and then pour the rest of the melted glue stick around for good measure. I’m surprised at how much I’m enjoying myself, and how easy Rachel makes this process. It’s not about skill; it’s about fun, and by the end we’re all so chatty that nobody pays any attention to my artistic talent, or lack thereof.

At home, I put my wreath on the front door. The poor mailman had to look at that thing for over three weeks.

Oglebay Institute offers another Girls’ Art Night – Christmas Wreath Workshop on December 3 at 6:30pm. A new season of workshops as well as six and eight week classes begins in January. Topics include watercolor painting, oil painting, handmade greeting cards, wood burning, furniture refinishing, stained glass, jewelry making and more. Visit OIonline.com for the class schedule.

(Note: The author enjoyed the program so much that she came back for more, attending a Christmas Wreath Workshop November 12. It wasn’t even a blog assignment! Way to go, Laura!)