Interspersed with trees and holiday displays by local artists are collections of model trains and other treasured object at Clay Center's "Trains, Trees & Treasure."
Interspersed with trees and holiday displays by local artists are collections of model trains and other treasured object at Clay Center's "Trains, Trees & Treasure."
"There's really something for everyone this year," said Lewis Ferguson, the director of art and science education. "This is the first year for the trains and treasures."
Trains
Model trains and train memorabilia collectors joined forces and created a substantial display that evokes nostalgia as visitors marvel over the details. One N-gauge layout portrays a mountain town and another is of a logging railroad.
A display of Chessie System calendars from the 1930s through the 1950s lines the back wall. The signature Chessie kitten makes its way through World War II and other historic milestones on the calendar fronts.
"You hear a train whistle, and you think of the old days when people rode on trains and saw the countryside," Ferguson said.
Working train parts, authentic railroad uniforms and the original sign from the Charleston C&O Depot are in the room, courtesy of The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Historical Society, the St. Albans C&O Depot Museum and collector Tom Clay.
Matt Crouch, Clay Center building technician and model railroad hobbyist, coordinated this display. Trains are in Crouch's blood. His grandfather worked for the railroads, sparking Crouch's interest and now his 4-year-old son, who is setting up his model train layout at the Clay Center.
Treasures
Collector Mack Miles shares his collection of miniature busts and buildings. Although he collects other objects, he chose to share the busts and buildings because they are made of similar materials and make a dramatic statement together.
In the days before plastic, children received tin toys as holiday gifts. Sharon Harms collects tin toys, nearly all animals. It all started with her first acquisition - a little green frog that hops when wound with its key.
"Each one is charming," Harms said. "They each do something characteristic of the animal." The oldest in her collection dates in the 1800s, but most were produced in Japan and China from the 1940s to the 1950s.
Quilter Donna Boblett began quilting 14 years ago and has created a collection of holiday wall hangings, which hang in the display area.
Art and Missy Rubin selected some favorites from their extensive menorah collection to share with visitors.
Lynda Happe has added to her nutcracker collection for 24 years and uses all 563 in her holiday decorating. She shares some of her favorites, including a 911 firefighter, a prohibition gangster, a 5-foot-tall Beefeater and Humpty Dumpty. "She stopped collecting the soldier types because she couldn't keep track of what she had," Ferguson said. "She's going for the more unusual."
Connie and Don Bowes display a small portion of their collection of restored Victorian doll carriages and handmade porcelain reproduction dolls. Connie makes the dolls and designs the dolls' dresses using antique textiles, and Don restores the carriages. "Each doll takes about a month," she said. They originally started collecting carriages as way to display the several hundred dolls she has collected.
The collections' appeal pleased Ferguson as he helped unpack them.
Interspersed with trees and holiday displays by local artists are collections of model trains and other treasured object at Clay Center's "Trains, Trees & Treasure."
"There's really something for everyone this year," said Lewis Ferguson, the director of art and science education. "This is the first year for the trains and treasures."
Trains
Model trains and train memorabilia collectors joined forces and created a substantial display that evokes nostalgia as visitors marvel over the details. One N-gauge layout portrays a mountain town and another is of a logging railroad.
A display of Chessie System calendars from the 1930s through the 1950s lines the back wall. The signature Chessie kitten makes its way through World War II and other historic milestones on the calendar fronts.
"You hear a train whistle, and you think of the old days when people rode on trains and saw the countryside," Ferguson said.
Working train parts, authentic railroad uniforms and the original sign from the Charleston C&O Depot are in the room, courtesy of The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Historical Society, the St. Albans C&O Depot Museum and collector Tom Clay.
Matt Crouch, Clay Center building technician and model railroad hobbyist, coordinated this display. Trains are in Crouch's blood. His grandfather worked for the railroads, sparking Crouch's interest and now his 4-year-old son, who is setting up his model train layout at the Clay Center.
Treasures
Collector Mack Miles shares his collection of miniature busts and buildings. Although he collects other objects, he chose to share the busts and buildings because they are made of similar materials and make a dramatic statement together.
In the days before plastic, children received tin toys as holiday gifts. Sharon Harms collects tin toys, nearly all animals. It all started with her first acquisition - a little green frog that hops when wound with its key.
"Each one is charming," Harms said. "They each do something characteristic of the animal." The oldest in her collection dates in the 1800s, but most were produced in Japan and China from the 1940s to the 1950s.
Quilter Donna Boblett began quilting 14 years ago and has created a collection of holiday wall hangings, which hang in the display area.
Art and Missy Rubin selected some favorites from their extensive menorah collection to share with visitors.
Lynda Happe has added to her nutcracker collection for 24 years and uses all 563 in her holiday decorating. She shares some of her favorites, including a 911 firefighter, a prohibition gangster, a 5-foot-tall Beefeater and Humpty Dumpty. "She stopped collecting the soldier types because she couldn't keep track of what she had," Ferguson said. "She's going for the more unusual."
Connie and Don Bowes display a small portion of their collection of restored Victorian doll carriages and handmade porcelain reproduction dolls. Connie makes the dolls and designs the dolls' dresses using antique textiles, and Don restores the carriages. "Each doll takes about a month," she said. They originally started collecting carriages as way to display the several hundred dolls she has collected.
The collections' appeal pleased Ferguson as he helped unpack them.
"When they got here, they were even more interesting than what I was imagining when I talked with the owners on the phone," he said.
Trees
Last year's holiday theme was light sculptures, so tree artists have had an extra year to come up with creative entries.
Sharon Harms does double duty for this show. In addition to sharing her tin toy collection, she created a whimsical holiday tree featuring a dragon wrapped around a tree decorated with Chinese ornaments that she suspended from her leaf-covered tree with copper wire.
Kayte Brannon and Fish Ofiesh decorated a tree of three suspended rings with neckties. The structure rotates, twirling the neckties.
New artists Connie and John Huston use vintage and modern board games and game pieces on their tree. Classics games like Life, Monopoly, Chinese checkers and Scrabble share space with Masterpiece Art Auction, a game Connie thought especially appropriate for the Clay Center. The tree is festooned in paper chains made of Monopoly money.
"There's something about games that appeals to children and makes older people nostalgic," she said. "I hope people see it and smile and remember something from their childhood."
Don Connery and Phil Hainen create a modern take on a holiday tree. They created white V-shapes that stack to give the impression of a tree and edged the pieces in an acidic green. Can lids interspersed throughout might represent ornaments or snowflakes to the viewer.
"I take the concept of the tree pretty loosely," Connery said. "I like to use common household items that anybody can get their hands on, and turn them on their heads."
Donna Panucci and Bev Schlisser inverted wooden trellises and ran three train tracks around their tree, which is decorated with photos of Pannuci's orthodontic patients - her "treasures."
Cindy Walton was inspired by a television advertisement in a magazine that featured cascading beads to create "A Jewel in Peridot." Her inverted tree is made of six arms containing about 6,000 beads. "It's a waterfall of peridot green with white iridescent beads at the top like ssnow flakes," she said. "I'm dedicating it to my mother who is fighting breast cancer. She has an August birthday." Peridot is the birthstone for August.
The Clay Center limits hanging displays to 20 pounds. Walton's beads exceeded the limit, so her husband built a mirrored stand that she feels actually improves the glittering display. Friends and family members helped her string the beads, including ruby-red ones strung in a pattern to resemble ornaments.
JoeAnn Crawford relied on angels for a more traditional look. A lighted ladder wraps around her tree, which is topped by a big angel. Angels in assorted colors descend the ladder, while smaller golden ones cover the tree.
"I'm very traditional," Crawford said. "I just hope that children see it and enjoy it."
Dominic Vigliotti of Lighter than Air fashioned a giant balloon tree.
"I really like the broad appeal of this show," Ferguson said. "Some will like it all, some will like the collections, some will like the trains. There's something for everyone of all ages."
Reach Julie Robinson at 348-1230 or jul...@wvgazette.com
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