Season’s Greetings Card Exhibition Shines Bright

Lance Goins

With its highly anticipated Season’s Greetings Card Competition and Exhibition, the Carrollton Center for the Arts is kicking off the holiday season from Nov. 2 to Dec. 14. An artistic celebration of the festive spirit, this event encourages participation from the community.

For many years, the Carrollton Center for the Arts has served as an essential center for local art and culture in the Carrollton community. It has long given local artists a stage on which to display their abilities and contribute to the community’s strong artistic culture.

The Season’s Greetings Card, Kuykendall, told us about the center’s commitment to promote local art and culture in the Carrollton area during our conversation.

“The Carrollton Center for the Arts (CCA) was started about 21 years ago and allowed the city to have a permanent location to provide art experiences that the community could enjoy and learn from,” said Competition and Exhibition Organizer Marcella Kuykendall. “It supports regional art and culture in the visual arts area by supporting artists through exhibition opportunities, which also allows visitors to view and learn about different types of art and mediums, while also exploring the perspectives of the artists we display.”

A clever idea to spread holiday cheer throughout the community and help out local artists at the same time was to have an exhibition and competition with Season’s Greeting Cards. The idea for this event came to Kuykendall (who was introduced to it by a CCA staff member) as a way to enjoy the holiday season and give artists a venue to showcase their artistic abilities.

“This particular event was created by a staff member who had a similar program at a previous art center they worked for,” said Kuykendall. “It allows everyone from the city a chance to directly participate in an art competition and exhibit, no matter the age.”

Selecting the judges usually came from city staff or other city representatives. Kuykendall made an effort to create a panel of artists with varying backgrounds in order to guarantee an objective assessment of the greeting cards. In order to provide a diverse viewpoint on the entries, the judges were carefully chosen to represent many areas of the art world.

“Judges are usually chosen from city staff and other city representatives, such as council members and the mayor,” said Kuykendall. “A different judge is chosen each year, to allow for different aesthetic perspectives.”

This event is essential in helping local artists by giving them a stage on which to showcase their abilities. The value of using artistic expression brings people together, and the occasion helps to close the divide between art admirers and artists.

“The show allows creative individuals to have an opportunity to share their work with others and maybe even win a competition,” said Kuykendall. “It ties the community together, because people can share their creativity with one another.”