Ridgefield Guild Kicks Off Festive Home on November 17

Ridgefield Guild of Artists’ 13th Annual Festive Home November 17 through December 23

Now in its thirteenth year, Festive Home is the Guild’s biggest fundraiser of the year… and the most fun!

Come by the Guild to check out their spectacular holiday vignettes and shop for all your holiday needs.

Dedicated members of the Ridgefield Guild of Artists, along with seven area design teams are transforming our usual white-walled, antique barn gallery space into a magical holiday showcase, beginning Friday, November 17 with a special Preview Party, open to all for an entry fee of $20. Join us as we celebrate the start of Festive Home that night from 6-8:30pm and enjoy festive refreshments, music and more, along with the first peek at our ever-so- cheerful holiday market. Holiday Blues never felt so good! The event continues for five weeks with free admission from Saturday, November 18th through Saturday, December 23rd.

This year’s theme for the event is “Holiday Blues!” We’re glamming up the galleries to showcase traditional and contemporary items throughout. Our decorators are paired with member artists for the stunning holiday vignettes around the barn, which act as the dramatic backdrops for sale items. All of our designers are from Ridgefield this year.

Back this year are Rachel Belden, Amanda Dranow, Josh Fischer, Molly Hirsch, Andrea Romeo + Rebecca Baglio. New to Festive Home this year is Leslie Toran + Kimberly Harper and Julia Frossell.

This holiday marketplace and fundraiser brings many, many shoppers to our charming antique building every year. They will find the galleries brimming with creative gifts like unique hand-made and hand-selected gift items such as jewelry, apparel, and original artwork, to decorative and useful objects for holiday home decorating, and much, much more. This year, about twenty-five artisans will have their creations exhibited for sale. Board member Rhonda Gentry takes the lead for the Festive Home committee again this year. “Our theme is “Holiday Blues”; and the Guild will be decked in warm and wonderful blues and shiny metallics to help ward off any actual holiday blues.” It takes a village to make it all happen and we thank all those who help to make it a success every year.

Members of the Guild support this fundraiser by creating and donating small canvases for sale at Festive Home, and for this, we thank you. For our thirteenth anniversary event, this year’s project theme showcases small works of feathery and furry friends. All of these canvases are on display and for sale at Festive Home, priced at $50, with 100% of the proceeds coming back to the Guild.

Again this year, we’ll showcase our Small Works’ Attic Art. Guild members’ original works under 16”, along with matted flat works, are priced under $200 and are available for grab-n- go gifts in our upstairs gallery.

Established in the fall of 1974, the Guild plays a major role in the regional arts community. Funds raised at Festive Home are key to keeping the Guild’s doors open and programs going like the many exhibitions and opening receptions each year, to the ARTalk lecture series with Ridgefield Library, to classes and workshops including the multi-arts summer program for kids, plus countless collaborations with other local non-profit organizations.

Expanded holiday hours are Tuesday – Sunday, 11am-5pm. Galleries will be closed November 22 and 23 for Thanksgiving. Call 203.438.8863 or email rgoa@sbcglobal.net for more information about our Thirteenth Annual Festive Home.