Artist Village hosts Heralding the Holidays

‘Trick or Treat,’ an acrylic and charcoal piece, by Julie Draeger won Best of Show at the Athena Art Society’s juried art exhibition.

The Artist Village at Toledo Botanical Garden hosts its biggest fund-raiser of the year this weekend, Heralding the Holidays.

‘Trick or Treat,’ an acrylic and charcoal piece, by Julie Draeger won Best of Show at the Athena Art Society’s juried art exhibition.

The three-day art exhibition and sale features more than 700 artists and resident organizations of the village at Toledo Botanical Garden, who will display and sell their art to support the organizations.

Visitors to the event can expect to find creations in a wide variety of media, including stained glass, paint, silk, clay, wood, hand-blown glass, stone, and others. The event will also include art demos, holiday caroling, food trucks, and visits from Santa Claus, who will stroll the grounds.

The event starts at 5 p.m. Friday and runs through 9 p.m. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. The Artist Village at Toledo Botanical Garden is at 5403 Elmer Dr. For more information, call 419-531-4079 or go to the Toledo Artists Club’s Facebook page.

■ Two area exhibitions chose winners from participating artists.

Best of Show at the Athena Art Society juried art exhibition at the University of Toledo’s Center for Visual Arts, went to local artist Julie Draeger, for her acrylic and charcoal piece, Trick or Treat.

The show is hosted by the society, the oldest local women’s art organization.

Other winners: first place, Lanna Pendleton-Hall, It’s a Beautiful Morning, Too!, acrylic on canvas; second place, Susan Semenick, Belle Isle, watercolor; third place, Jane Williams, Mesquite, oil; and honorable mentions to Laura Ott, Birth of Endurance, sandstone and walnut sculpture, and Kay Weprin, Lumbering on a Golden Path, mixed media.

The show remains open through Dec. 7. For more information, call 419-887-8030 or go to athenaartsociety.org.

At the Bowling Green Arts Council’s Artists 4 Animals 5 exhibit, 32 artists entered work, and six of them emerged with first-place awards. They were: Anna Gerken, Begging for Treats, Best Domestic Animal category; Jean Gidich-Holbrook, Iguana, Best Wild Animal; Isabel Zeng, Bunny Ears, adult category; Aya Aldailami, Two Animals, kindergarten-4th grade; Robbie Witte, Racing Steeds, 5th-8th grade; and Hope Harvey, Baybee, 9th-12th grades.

The show ended Tuesday, but the winning pieces were reproduced on notecards that can be purchased at the Four Corners Center, 130 S. Main St., where the show was hosted. Proceeds benefit the arts council and the Wood County Humane Society. This event is sponsored in part by the Copy Shop and Kabob it BG.

■ The Toledo Museum of Art has opened registration for its winter and spring classes.

Members of the public from the ages of 3 through adult can sign up for a variety of programs, including drawing, photography, glassblowing and flameworking, painting, jewelry making, and blacksmithing; museum members are offered a reduced rate.

Registration deadline for winter classes is Jan. 7; classes start Jan. 27. Deadline for the spring classes is Feb. 11; those classes start March 3. Registration can be done online at toledomuseum.org/learn/classes, by calling 419-254-5080, or by visiting the museum’s education office between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

■ Also offering a variety of classes is the 577 Foundation in Perrysburg. Classes range from pottery throwing to acrylic painting, many of which are before Christmas and have holiday themes.

The 577 Foundation, 577 E. Front St., was founded by Virginia Secor Stranahan as a means to preserve the property’s historic integrity. For more information, go to 577foundation.org/takeaclass.asp or call 419-874-4174.

Send news of art items at least two weeks in advance to rgedert@theblade.com or call 419-724-6075.