Fri 12/3-Sun 12/5
If you thought Thanksgiving weekend was as crowded with holiday markets, sales, open houses and arts events as a weekend could get, you haven’t seen the next two weekends yet! The calendar is packed with opportunities to load up on holiday gifts from local artists, artisans, makers and small business entrepreneurs. We can’t imagine how you’d get to even a fraction of them (we’re already picking and choosing) but you might want to skim our handy guide and make yourself a plan.
The monthly Walk All Over Waterloo on Friday December 3 @ 5-10pm offers a host of shopping opportunities. Galleries such as Mortar, Praxis, Framed, Matt Schiffler Photography, Photocentric and Deep Dive Arts Project have gift-able artwork. Check out two new shows opening: Christi Gray’s work goes on view at Deep Dive and Photocentric is opening Altered, a group show by photographers who manipulate their images. Article opens a show and sale of work by its resident artists, and Waterloo Arts continues its Co-op Holiday Sale, alongside its one-night-only Ornament Auction. You can also stop in This Way Out under the Beachland to buy vinyl records, Beachland swag and collectible tchotchkes.
One of the biggest and longest running art show/sales is the Artcraft Building Holiday Show in the Superior Arts District, running Friday December 3 @ 11am-7pm, Saturday December 4 @ 10am-7pm and Sunday December 5 @ 11am-5pm. Resident artists will have their studios open and the corridors and open spaces will be filled with guest artists, offering everything from handmade wearables to foods to jewelry to perfumes and body products. While the building has been sold and its future as a home for artists in doubt, this event has outlived other locations and will likely continue.
While you’re in the Superior Arts District, drop by two of its art-creating institutions, Zygote Press and the Cleveland Print Room (which is in the Artcraft Building) for their “Off the Wall” shows of work by members — mostly print-based in the case of Zygote and photography-based at CPR. You can buy pieces and take them with you right away.Zygote is open Friday December 3 and Saturday December 4 @ 11am-7pm and Sunday December 5 noon-5pm; it runs through December 22. The Cleveland Print Room will be open throughout the weekend as well; their show runs through December 10.
The Cleveland Institute of Art is holding two shows side by side: one of the work of its talented students and the 100 Show and Sale, with work by faculty, students and friends of CIA, each priced at $100 to benefit the annual student spring break trip to visit galleries and museums. That’ll be going on at CIA Friday December 3 @ 5-9pm and Saturday December 4 @ 10am-6pm.
On Saturday December 4 @ 11am-5pm, the Shaker Arts Council hosts a one-day pop-up Holiday Art Market along Walker Road in the Van Aken District. It will feature items such as cosmetics, fiber art, jewelry, paper goods, wearable accessories and fine arts pieces in a wide price range. There’ll also be live music and free hot beverages and snacks, as well as a make-and-take crafts area for kids.
Also on December 4 @ 10am-1pm, the Olmsted Historical Society will hold a “Trash & Treasure” sale at the Frostville Museum, where visitors can pick up interesting used items and perhaps find something unique that might appeal to someone on their gift list.
And on Sunday December 5 @ noon-6pm, the long-running Cleveland Bazaar hosts its preview holiday show at the Lake Affect Building in the Superior Arts District (It’s right around the corner from the Artcraft Building). This sale previews the giant two-day Cleveland Bazaar at 78th Street Studios next weekend and offers a more manageable shopping experience for those who can get overwhelmed by hundreds of vendors, with a smaller selection of the high-quality vendors this market is known for.