Blackberry Artist's Society Annual Christmas Marketplace

The 17th annual Christmas Marketplace by the Blackberry Artist’s Society is a festive tradition at the Arts Centre. All 25 members of the Tri Cities’ only artist-run co-op gift shop bring out their newest ‘fresh from the studio’ artwork for your gifting pleasure, including pieces for the ever-popular Christmas Ornament Tree. Their work, which includes visual arts and photography, jewelry, ceramics, textile arts, woodworking and gift cards among other media, is local, original and guaranteed not to be seen at the mall.

During Marketplace, the Arts Centre gift shop expands into the galleries, allowing artists to present larger artwork and a bigger selection to the public. The society’s artists will be on hand at the opening reception, as well as staffing the shop seven days a week until Christmas. Members are also running demo events from November 16 to December 14 on Saturday afternoons, 2-4pm, for crafting close encounters open to the public. These are great opportunities to meet with your local arts community and solve your gifting dilemmas.

Artist-made gifts nourish the soul.

Christmas Marketplace will be open daily with extended hours, from 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday, till 5pm on Saturdays and from 12 noon to 4pm on Sundays. It will be open until December 23rd at 1pm, when the Arts Centre closes for the festive season.