By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – For those who desire to skip the sameness of mail-order catalogues and department stores, the Downtown Artists Co-op is decked out with artistic goodies during its 13th Annual DAC Holiday Arts & Crafts Bazaar.
Located in a historic building on 96 Franklin Street, the DAC gallery is filled to brimming with handcrafted jewelry, hand-painted silk scarves, watercolor paintings, acrylic paintings, oil paintings and photography.
“We have the walls and the tables just as full was we can get them,” said photographer and DAC member Cliff Whittaker. “It’s just beautiful. I enjoy working the shift over here simply so I can enjoy everybody else’s work. And I’ve bought quite a bit of it, too.”
The painted art works tend to smaller, but this is not a sweeping generalization; some bargains are to be found with larger pieces that carry a smaller price tag.
Whittaker said that when the DAC members put works into this bazaar, they try to make the prices reasonable for gift-giving.
“What we’re looking for is … things that people can afford to buy for Christmas. We want, probably, smaller works. But we don’t want to cut down on the quality of it.”
The bazaar caters to all tastes, offering reasonably priced jewelry that would appeal to a variety of women, to inspiring plein air landscape paintings.
And at its heart, the bazaar helps to keep DAC in operation so that downtown will continue to be an eclectic, original area to shop year-round.
The DAC is open Wednesday through Friday, 12 to 4 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call for more information at 931-552-4747.
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.