Spacetaker is pleased to announce the 4th Annual Winter Holiday Art Market (WHAM), a weekend art sale and celebration of Houston's talented and diverse artists, this November 20 and 21 at Winter Street Studios.  The juried Winter Holiday Market offers a wide variety of arts and crafts- including paintings, sculpture, and photography, as well as jewelry, clothing and soaps- providing an excellent opportunity to purchase unique, hand-made holiday gifts. Also featured will be a student exhibition, a collaborative venture between Spacetaker and the Teen Council of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. WHAM is free and open to the public.  

A special exhibition, sale and art festival in one, WHAM will feature art, demonstrations, and performances of more than 60 local artists of all disciplines.  WHAM is a two-day affair, kicking off with a happy hour on Friday, November 20 from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and resuming on Saturday, November 21 at 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.  Patrons may shop while enjoying DJs and live music, complimentary beverages, and an array of food vendors from local restaurants.  All work is available to take home the day of sale.

Artist demonstrations are scheduled throughout Saturday afternoon and include live soap-making by Feto Soap, which proved to be a big hit with the families last year.  Black Swan Screen Printing will host a free, interactive silkscreen station allowing guests to create original T-shirt designs during the event.  Music Heals (musicheals.org) will present DJs for musical entertainment starting with Friday night's happy hour, and the band PeteSimple closes out the event on Saturday evening with a live performance.

“Everyone's on the ‘buy local' bandwagon and big box stores are taking a hit. In this economy, I think people would prefer to support the little guy who needs it the most, rather than corporations.  Certainly, since I started my own business, I've become much more aware of the concept of ‘spend it here, keep it here,' in terms of buying locally. And in Houston, it's easy to support local artists because there are so many amazing talents to choose from!”  says Ann Westby, jeweler and participant in this year's WHAM.