Community Center’s annual ceramics sale offers unique holiday buys
Holiday shoppers who’ve had their fill of crowded mall parking lots and digging for discounts are invited to enjoy a change of pace by shopping this weekend at the Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge’s holiday ceramics sale.
Opening with an artists’ reception this Friday from 3 to 8 p.m. and continuing Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, the annual sale features the work of some 65 area ceramic artists and instructors as well as students who hone their craft in the center’s ceramic studio throughout the year.
Thousands of one-of-a-kind art pieces and functional items will be available for sale with many priced to move, according to Miriam Balcazar, head of the CCLCF Ceramics Department. The event is also an important way for novice artists to learn about how to present, and sell, their own pieces
“They learn about pricing and seeing the things that sell and the things that don’t,” says Balcazar, who will put a few of her own works up for sale this weekend. “It’s a good learning process for them.”
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The sale — the wintertime companion of a similar event held in spring — is also a perfect way for locals to interact with the artists themselves while taking care of some of the hard-to-shop-for people on their holiday lists, says Community Center Executive Director Maureen Bond.
“There are bargains here, no doubt about that,” Bond said. “It’s a popular event, and the artists love it.”
Staff members and fans of ceramic arts attest many of the pieces displayed at the holiday sale are of a similar level of art gallery pieces. Some of the artists whose works will be available for purchase have been exhibited in shows throughout the area.
“It’s a really good place for artistic and functional pieces. And the pieces are really, really competitive, which is good for the customers,” Balcazar said. “I don’t think anybody could come and not like something.”
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The Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge’s 2016 Holiday Ceramics Sale begins Friday at 3 p.m. and runs through Sunday, at 4469 Chevy Chase Drive. Checks, cash and credit/debit cards are accepted. New ceramics classes begin the week of Jan. 9. For more information, call (818) 790-4353 or visit cclcf.org.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
