ASiF's 4th Annual Smallworks in the Foothills Holiday Show...

The Artists' Studio in the Foothills (ASiF) is thrilled to announce its Fourth Annual Smallworks in the Foothills Holiday Show! Many agree this is ASiF's best show of the year, bringing together the highest quality local artists and more art in a shared thematic show at a single location than any local venue in Nevada County history!

For this show, the gallery is brought to life with close to a thousand original, one of a kind works of art... paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, multi-media collages, jewelry and sculptural & functional works of art, all under twelve inches in scale, perfect for holiday gift-giving!

Each wall is a work of art in itself... Just weeks before the opening ASiF's veteran hanging crew invites a small number of participating artists to help and share in the creative work of hanging and displaying the artwork. On this day each of the crew members claims a wall and sets to work creating large wall sized collages of the artworks from about knee height to as far up the wall as one can see.

Each carefully composed gallery wall, consists of one or more of each of the sixty-plus participant's -up to ten art entries. Unlike most gallery shows, artists works are not grouped together, instead they're peppered into the mix, like unique one of a kind art tiles in a collaborative mosaic creating a kind of treasure hunt for fans of particular artists as they search to find each of their favorite artists' works.

And speaking of treasure hunts... for this event, one of the center's studio residents has designed a special art activity for those who enjoy a playful challenge. Oil painter, Robin Wallace has created a Smallworks Art Treasure Hunt offering adults and children some extra fun with an interactive game in which participants search for specific art works using special clues leading them to learn interesting facts about local artists' fascinating subjects, mediums and techniques.

Another exciting note on this show, is that over the fifty-day course of the exhibit, art works are continually sold "off the wall". This means, that unlike most of the center's gallery shows, where sold works are left on display until the close of the show, customers are encouraged to buy smallworks for holiday gift giving, and to take them right away! "The exciting part of this", offers Amanda Paoletti, owner, director of ASiF, "is that each time a piece is sold, a new piece is brought out to replace it, as new artists and artworks are accepted throughout the course of the show, making it an ever-changing exhibit. Last year the center sold and replaced so much work that a completely different show was in place just one month after its opening!

Smallworks walls are catching on... " I guess it's kind of contagious", says Paoletti, "every year guests and patrons tell me that the manner in which we hang this show, has become something they're trying to re-create in their own homes... of course, I personally have a smallworks wall in mine, and look forward to collecting a few new favorite Smallworks each year!"

In addition to the main gallery show, ASiF GiFT, the center's gallery gift shop offers an extra holiday gift shopping option featuring cards, prints, jewelry, pottery, ceramic sculpture, carved wood and glass works, and features on its walls an ongoing display of local artist's paintings and multi-media artworks.

ASiF invites the public to celebrate the Smallworks in the Foothills Holiday Show on Friday, November 4th, from 5-8pm. Fine art, food, wine and music to be enjoyed by all!

The gallery and gift store are open Monday - Friday, 10am-5pm, Saturdays from 11am-4pm, and by appointment on Sundays. The Smallworks Holiday Show will hang through January 7th, 2012.

The Artists' Studio in the Foothills is located at 940 Idaho Maryland Road, in Grass Valley. For more information go to www.asifstudios.com or call 530-274-7000.

Participating Smallworks in the Foothills Holiday Show Artists:
Wanda Avery
Laddy Barnett
Simona Bellini
Rebecca Bleau
Mieke Blees
Eileen Blodgett
Lugene Boyd
Deborah Bridges
Phil Brown
Odette Brush
Dina Budginas
Roseanne Burke
Susan Crocenzi
Miranda Currie
Heather deVivieros
Christoph Diermann
Esther Escott
Flo Fahrenheit
Molly Fisk
Karin Givon
Sharon Griffiths
Leslie Anne Guinan
Irving Guyer
Barbara Harris
Sarah CV Hendrickson
Sally Herring
Suzanne Himmler
John Hoft
Richard Hotchkiss
Claudia Jeffers
Elizabeth Jens
Olaf Jens
Kris Johnson
Max Kommissarchik
Terri Lambert
Sandy Lindblad
Betsy Lombard
Jenny Long
Jill Mahanna
David McKay
Susan Michalski
Larry Miller
Mindy Oberne
Penelope Partch
Jean Patterson
Denia Pearson
Daniel Peck
Jennifer Rain
Mary K. Deleray Russel
Rose Shulman
Robin Sill
Jim Stettler
Gordon Strom
Cathy Tardif
Linda Lewis Taylor
Mary Thelander
Robin Wallace
Denise Wey
Cheryl Wilson
Joanne Wohlfeld
Kathryn Wronski