FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please List
Viridian Artists & Friends
“THE GIFT”
November 30 – December 23, 2021
Opening reception Thursday December 2nd, 6–8pm
-Masks must be worn
Renée Borkow * Ellen Burnett * Chasity Colón * Henry Coupe * May DeViney * Bernice Faegenburg * David Fitzgerald * Alan Gaynor * Wally Gilbert * Kazuo Ishikawa * Kat King * Marco Lando * Bruce Rosen * Susan Sills * Virginia Evans Smit * Robert Smith * Sheila Smith * Toto Takamori * Bob Tomlinson * Marie-Ange Hoda * Dorothy Braudy * Sabine Carlson * Arlene Finger * Joshua Greenberg * Chris Tucker Haggerty * Barbara Hillerman Lieske * Charles Hildebrandt * Rosemary Lyons * Stacey Clarfield Newman * Shawn Marshall * Nancy Nicol * Brett Poza * Michael Reck * Laura Rutherford Renner * Sarah Riley *
Karen Roth * Kathleen Shanahan * Meredeth Turshen * Jenny Belin * Vernita N’Cognita * Kelynn Z. Alder * Angelique Ellyn Anderson * Ayako Bando * Annaliese Bischoff * Kasmira Cade * Irene Christensen * Elizabeth Ginsburg * Ed Herman * Halona Hilbertz * Miho Hiranouchi * Yasmine Iskander * Bernice Sokol Kramer * Angela M. LaMonte * George Ludway * Sai Morikawa * Alla Podolsky * Mayumi Nakao * Len Rosenfeld * Jane Talcott * John Lloyd * Melissa Schainker * Victoria Webb * Myrna Minter-Forster * Vanessa Brown * Lori Horowitz * Jill Kastner * Susan Reed * Jon Melnick * Susan Grabel * Michael Drakopoulos * Chikako Nunome * Gocci * Yuuichi Tanaka * Megumi Matsukawa * Miwako Kashiwagi * Monzo Watanabe * Jenifer R. Stern * Lynne Mayocole * Sam Wiener * Ed McCormack * Sharon Wybrants * Jeffrey Nowlin & others
Chelsea: Viridian Artists Inc. is pleased to present an exhibition of art-gifts by Viridian Artists & friends, entitled “THE GIFT”. The show opens December 2nd and continues through December 23rd, 2021. You are invited to meet the artists and celebrate December, throughout the month and especially at the opening and closing of this exhibit on Thursday, December 2nd & December 23rd, 6-8pm.
December is a month of multiple celebrations and holidays of various religions and rituals throughout the world. For many, the most important aspect of this holiday time is gift-giving and getting, which is partly why this show called “The Gift”. But just as important perhaps are the other kinds of gifts we have, such as the creative gift artists have to convey an idea or image that inspires or calms and offers a respite from the dailiness of life.
In Lewis Hyde’s “The Gift: Imagination & the Erotic life of Property“ he talks about the Shamanist power of the gift-giving someone a gift gives the giver power. But there are many kinds of gifts. Talents are gifts, intuition is a gift & artistic ability is a gift. Original artwork and art objects are gifts that keeps on giving the ad man might say, but it’s true. But for a moment, reminders of the real meanings or manners of celebrating December holidays...
Christmas, which originally celebrated the birth of Jesus, has become a much more commercial holiday of gift giving, tree decorating and dinners of turkey, celebrated in different and unique ways in various countries. It is rumored that in Japan, a traditional Christmas dinner consists of KFC- “commercial” Kentucky Fried Chicken. America’s influence reaches far still.
The winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. Yule, the Pagan celebration associated with it is a 12 day festival beginning December 21st and still celebrated by modern Pagans with caroling and a Yule log; once of wood, now of chocolate.
Sometimes known as the 12 Days of Christmas, the Epiphany or 3 Kings Day is celebrated after those 12 days to commemorate the birth of the baby Jesus. In Puerto Rico, the children leave a box of hay under their beds to hold gifts. In France, bakers put coins or tiny gifts in King cakes.
Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights is a Jewish festival running for 8 days in November and December, celebrated with the lighting of the candles of a menorah to the story of a time when one day’s worth of oil lasted for 8 days in the Second Temple of Jerusalem. Special foods and gifting accompany the celebration.
Marked with processions and concerts, Santa Lucia Day honors a 3rd century martyr and saint who is seen as a figure of light on the darkest part of the year. On December 13th in Scandinavia, young women dress in white with a wreath of burning candles on their heads. Dancing and singing, they wake their families bringing coffee and buns called Lucia cats.
Krampusnacht is a centuries-old Christmas tradition celebrated on December 5th in Germany and other European countries. A beastly demonic creature called Krampus (who is the polar opposite of Saint Nicholas) arrives to reward good children and take the bad ones away to the underworld.
A spiritual holiday, Kwanzaa was first celebrated in the 1960s. Meaning “fresh fruits,” Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st and is based on ancient harvest festivals and honors the ideals of family life and unity in African-American history. Dressing in special garments and lighting a candle holder called a Kinara, African Americans decorate their homes with fruits and vegetables, with performances and dancing that culminates in a communal feast.
And so, now that you have a bit about the various December holidays of gift giving, think about giving art as a gift... and the power it will give you...
Gallery hours: 12–6 Tuesday – Saturday or by appointment
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director at viridianartistsinc@gmail.com
or view the gallery website: www.viridianartists.com