Kirkland Arts Center will host a new annual event, Snow Ball, from 6:30-10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10 at KAC, 620 Market Street. Snow Ball puts a creative spin on traditional community events, borrowing elements from open houses, holiday parties, and art sales. Proceeds from Snow Ball will support Kirkland Arts Center’s education, exhibitions, and outreach efforts.
Kirkland and Eastside residents may remember Kirkland Arts Center’s annual “Holiday Arts Sale” Preview Party, hosted every December from 2000-2008. In 2009, the organization opened a year-round art store in Parkplace, and replaced the Holiday Arts Sale with an annual auction.
“Kirkland Arts Center is a community resource and in the nearly 50 years that it has served its community, it has been known for the incredible parties in the historic Peter Kirk Building. While we’ve experienced great success with the Kirkland Arts Center Store in Parkplace and the auction, we’ve missed having the end-of-year celebration in the building and we are looking forward to seeing the building come alive,” said Christopher Shainin, executive director.
Snow Ball will include cocktails, food, live music, a small print sale, an ornament sale, and an artist-designed cake-walk. It will also feature a round of “Iron Potter,” a competition in which two ceramics artists are given a surprise object to make (such as a vase, a bowl, or a cup) and must compete to make the best work in a short amount of time. This year’s “Iron Potter” contestants include Jason Huff, KAC’s former artistic director, and Drew Nicklas, a current KAC instructor. A winner-takes-half raffle is also planned, and could have a pot of up to $2,500 for one lucky winner.
The event will also present the community’s first opportunity to see the newly restored grand entrance and staircase, a project funded by 4Culture and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Tickets to Snow Ball are $15 each and can be purchased online at http://kirklandartscenter.org/happenings/main.php, by phone at 425-822-7161, or in person at KAC. For more information, contact Aarti Khanna at akhanna@kirklandartscenter.org or 425-822-761, ext. 103.
