Ho ho there, you gift-bestowers who leave your festive purchases to the very last minute, thus causing undue stress to yourself as you desperately mooch around the shops at the eleventh hour while praying that the perfect gift for your loved one will miraculously hove into view – and maybe even fibbing later that it took you months and months to find your loved one’s perfect gift because your loved one is, after all, your very special somebody.
Well, here’s a last-minute, pop-in and pop-out remedy for habitual Christmas-shopping procrastinators: the Gimli Art Club.
Art club members will be throwing open the club’s door on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21 to help those who claim they shop better under pressure. Shoppers can find a wide array of creative artwork such as watercolours, stained glass, jewellery, pottery and Christmas ornaments.
Not only will you find one-of-a-kind items at the art club that you just won’t find by using unnamed online services – and let us not think about postal service at this time of year – but you’ll also be shopping locally and supporting local artists.
Club member, artist and art teacher Olive Hnatiuk said there’s an “endless selection” of art that awaits the shopper.
And people can gently boast about their gift being unique as all the club’s artists are inspired in different ways during the creative process.
“The ideas from the potters in the group come from what is around them and what inspires them everyday. One person may create the music of whimsical wind chimes while another is influenced by the lake and nature. Plus, there are practical household items in glorious colours,” said Hnatiuk. “Glassworkers usually let their imaginations go wild in both stained and fused glass. You can hang these in windows or on walls or place them on tabletops. One of the artists presents beach glass in a framed display. And an exceptional woodworker carves what nature has to offer then does his own take in realism and abstract. Whoever thought that a knot in a pine tree could be so extremely attractive?”
Other unique items include hand-painted decorations, embroidered cards and photographs of wintery scenes.
The Last Chance Christmas Market at the Gimli Art Club will be held on Saturday, Dec. 20 and Sunday, Dec. 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Shoppers can meet the artists and enjoy a snack and refreshment while they shop.
The art club is located at 3 Centre St. across from the Lakeview Resort.
