Throughout the year, Olive Hyde Art Gallery holds many exhibits and workshops. Some are iconic annual celebrations of a variety of local artists, such as the Textile Exhibit and Hidden Treasures, Local Talent. Others focus on the unique work of a particular artist, such as Traces of Light and Stillness, which showed the range of landscape painter Victoria Veedell.
But the Holiday for the Arts Show and Sale in October is a highlight because people come not only to enjoy the art, but hoping to take some pieces home and share them.
“Holiday for the Arts is a completely different beast from other exhibits,” says guild treasurer Manveen Kalyanput. “It’s not just a one-person or one-theme show, there are hundreds of artists, with so many different mediums and so much legwork and work behind the scenes that makes it happen.”
Most exhibits are a collaboration with the City of Fremont, with the city managing the show and the Olive Hyde Art Guild (OHAG) hosting the opening night gala. “However, for this event, the Guild does it all,” says Lisa Stambaugh, who manages the OHAG website. “Creating decorations, soliciting artists, planning the gala food and beverages, advertising all about town, managing the inventory and display of 80 artists’ work, running the cashier stations, coordinating dozens of volunteers and all that selling art entails.”
Work begins in March, and the show and its gala span the gallery space, upper mission room and connecting courtyard, requiring the work of over 20 organizers. This year the show takes place from Friday, Oct. 16 to Sunday, Oct. 18.
Friday night kicks off the show with a ticketed gala, with food and wine from local sponsors and live music from Jalisco harpist Salvador Vázquez. Gala attendees get a coveted first look at all the artwork available for purchase, as items can sell out over the weekend.
The featured artist for this year is Emelie Rogers, whose original piece will be raffled off at the gala. Rogers works in fused glass and textiles, using a silkscreen technique with powdered glass, or painting on glass enamel. Her pieces go through multiple firings. The piece she donated for the show also includes copper foil between two sheets of glass.
She draws from nature, inspired by how light, texture and color work together. The design of her piece shows cattails, a cloud formation and the setting sun. It went through three kiln firings overall, the last in a mold to give a wave texture to the piece.
Post-gala, the show continues through Saturday and Sunday with free admission from 10am to 5pm.
Proceeds from the sale help support artists in the community, including providing art in local schools, high school and Ohlone College student art scholarships, youth art books for public libraries, art workshops for adults with developmental disabilities, plus improvements to the gallery itself.
“I buy every year to support our local artists,” says Kalyanput. “Lots of ceramics, kitchen items, ceramic planters, a silk painting, an ink painting, some bead jewelry, natural stone jewelry, tote bags, decorative ceramic pieces and much more.”
Stambaugh expresses a similar excitement: “We have a creative new wood artist this year, and his work covers a large variety of pieces, from wall hangings to whimsical refrigerator magnets. I definitely plan to grab some of those for gifts!”
Holiday for the Arts Show and Sale
Gala
Friday, Oct. 16
5:30–9pm
Gala tickets: $20
Show and Sale
Saturday, Oct. 17–Sunday, Oct. 18
10am–5pm
Olive Hyde Art Gallery
123 Washington Blvd., Fremont
olivehydeartguild.org
