UNIVERSITY PARK — The Friends of the Palmer Museum of Art will host their annual Holiday Art and Ornament Sale fundraiser from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Palmer Museum of Art on the University Park campus.
Local artists will be offering ornaments and other works of art for sale throughout the museum’s galleries and lobby. The Friends, the museum’s membership organization, have worked together with these artists and several local businesses to create this event to raise funds to support more than 100 annual education programs and events at the museum, which are offered to all visitors, admission-free.
Cathy Frank has been selected as this year’s featured artist and was commissioned to design the 2016 signature ornament, which incorporates the Palmer Museum of Art logo created with lightweight and vibrant metallic foil acrylic.
“Each ornament is hand cut, arranged and fused in three parts,’ said Frank. ‘The collaged element is carefully considered and placed, as are the matching colorful pearl, glass and crystal beads on the hangers.”
Over the years, Frank has pursued metalworking, enameling, Plexiglas sculpting and jewelry assemblage, which has culminated to metallic acrylic, her present medium of choice that, through research and experimentation, she creates herself.
“From experience, I have learned that creativity goes hand in hand with problem solving, and this is an aspect of being an artist I enjoy most,” said Frank.
Other artists participating in this year’s sale include Kimberly Brooks Filkins, Suzanne Decker, Elli Groninger, Sue Harter, James Hayes, Kat Oliva, Deb Parsons, Michele Randall, Christine Stangel, the State College Weavers Guild and Caryl Strauss. There will be a variety of art and ornaments for sale, including items made of glass, beads, clay, fiber and metal. The Friends board of directors have sponsored a tree again this year that will feature limited editions of commissioned ornaments from the past.
A Friends’ one-year gift membership also will be available to purchase. The individual level begins at $35 and provides benefits such as an invitation to the members-only Holiday Art and Ornament Preview Sale preview reception, as well as invitations to other members-only events throughout the year and a 10 percent discount at the Museum Store.
The Friends partnered with the following local businesses that have helped to shape this year’s event through various sponsorships: The HoneyBaked Ham Co. and Café, the 2016–17 Friends of the Palmer Museum of Art board of directors, Hoss’s Steak & Sea House, Harrison’s Wine Grill and Catering and Avant Garden.
Exhibitions on view at the Palmer Museum of Art this fall are ‘Expanded Practice,’ through Sunday, Dec. 11; ‘Recent Acquisitions: Gifford Beal in Rockport,’ through Sunday, Dec. 18; and ‘The Gentle Satire of Adolf Dehn,’ also through Sunday, Dec. 18.
The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State is located on Curtin Road and admission is free. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. The museum is closed Mondays and some holidays. Reduced hours include noon to 4 p.m. through Sunday, Nov. 27, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, through Thursday, Dec. 22.
The museum will be closed Thursday, Nov. 24, Friday, Nov. 25, and Friday, Dec. 23, through Monday, Jan. 2.
