Popping over to the pop-up for Christmas gift inspiration - The Community Leader and Real Estate New and Views

Photos: Supplied.

BY JAN NARY

If wrestling through department stores for Christmas gifts is getting you down, and if you’re tired of plodding through endless online shopping websites, a trip to a gallery in Shore Street North in Cleveland could provide inspiration for gifts with an individual, hand-made touch.

The gallery, which started life as the first headmaster’s residence in the 1870s, became the Hitching Post, a centre for potters, before the shift to its present location. There, it was chummed up with an old railway siding building, and for the last 34 years, the two have been The Old Schoolhouse Gallery, a display centre for the art of local artisans of all persuasions – paintings, photographs, woodwork, textile art, jewellery; a cornucopia of creativity in five gallery rooms.

Christine Earthrawl, Secretary of the Old Schoolhouse Gallery, is a watercolourist and teacher – and until the 22nd of December, one of the participants in the gallery’s pop-up Christmas shop.

“Some members have created their own little pop-up areas with an extended range of gifts to help with gift shopping,” she says. “It’s not always easy to find individual hand-crafted gifts at an affordable price, so our artists have brought new ideas to the table. As well as the usual art – which is still on display – visitors can buy hand-made serviettes, table runners, placemats, mugs printed with their artworks, lavender bags, umbrellas, prints, Christmas decorations and cards that are lovely enough to be a gift in themselves.”

As well as gently satisfying the retail therapy urge, visitors can chat to the artists, enjoy the ambience, and perhaps sign on for an upcoming workshop or class.   

The gallery is open from Thursday to Sunday, 9:30am to 4:30pm; if the big flags are out, come on in!

https://oldschoolhousegallery.org.au/   

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