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December 23, 2014

11 Bright and Shining Bits for You

A pig by folk artist Clyde Jones all dressed up for the Christmas holiday in a Santa suit. Photo by bobistraveling.

As if a photo of a pig in a Santa suit isn’t enough!  (Photo credit:  bobistraveling.)  To add a little twinkle to the end of December, we bring you these 11 tidings of joy, fun, and festivity:

1:  The fabulous vocalists of Pitch Please, Northwood High School’s a cappella singing ensemble, won $5,000 in a Triangle-wide holiday singing competition sponsored by WRAL-FM 101.5.

2:  Fun fact:  Literary artist Robert L. May dreamed up the now-ubiquitous Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as an employee of Montgomery Ward in 1939.  In an unintentional partnership between two creative forces we love, artists and children, the original name, “Rollo,” was replaced in favor of May’s young daughter’s suggestion, “Rudolph.”

3:  Artists, arts venues, and arts organizations can submit profiles to our gorgeous new Chatham arts directory–with photos and video or sound clips!–for all the worldwide web to see.  (And…performing and literary artists, we know there are a lot of you out there, but the visual artists have tripled you in the directory.  Nudge, nudge.)

4:  Fun fact:  Story has it that German craft artists made the first decorative nutcrackers around 1800 as a way of mocking authority figures.  (This lead to the phrase “a hard nut to crack.”)  I don’t know what it says, then, that my small daughter and her friends have knocked the head off one of our nutcrackers three times this year and counting.

5:  The lovely folks at Galloway Ridge have put out a pretty awesome call for visual artists that includes professional, middle, and high school artists.

2014-1222 CAC_Blog Post_10 Merry and Bright_Photo_Pitch Please
2014-1222 CAC_Blog Post_11 Merry and Bright_Image_Rudolph Cover_Wikimedia Commons
2014-1222 CAC_Blog Post_11 Merry and Bright_Photo_Erran Baron Cohen_Filmweb
2014-1222 CAC_Blog Post_11 Merry and Bright_Photo_Las Pastorelas_Mexicodesconocido
2014-1222 CAC_Blog Post_11 Merry and Bright_Photo_NC Arts Incubator_ncartsincubator

6:   Fun fact:  Also in Germany, we hear that a choirmaster in the 1600’s distributed sugar sticks bent into the shape of a shepherds’ crook to quiet his young singers during Christmas services.  No word on how quiet they were after the services, all jacked up on their candy cane highs!

7:  We’ve got a sweet online option for giving to the Chatham Arts Council in honor or memory of an artist you love this year.

8:  Fun fact:  The musician brother of Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat, Da Ali G Show, etc.) has a popular Hanukkah album called “Hanukkah, Oh, Hanukkah.”  His name is Erran Baron Cohen, and his picture is up there in the middle.

9:  In partnership with us here at the Chatham Arts Council, the North Carolina Arts Incubator has teamed up with the Open Arts Society to put out a very cool call for visual artists to do something magical in Siler City.

10:  Fun fact:  Pastorelas are plays in the Hispanic tradition that recreate the biblical passage where the shepherds follow the Star of Bethlehem to find the Christ Child.  Today, these shepherds are portrayed as top-notch mischief-makers, but the plays still come down to a story of good versus evil, just like they did in the considerably-more-restrained fifteenth century versions.

11:  We’re over halfway to meeting our Chatham Creative Society matching challenge for gifts of $500 and more–and you still have time to get in on it.  We’re just 20% of the way to meeting our New Members matching challenge for gifts under $500, so there’s lots of potential for you to be an important part of getting us there!

 

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By Cheryl Chamblee | Filed Under: Slideshow Featured | Tagged With: galloway ridge, holiday, matching challenge, nc arts incubator, northwood, open art society, pitch please, Siler City

About Cheryl Chamblee

Cheryl has been the Executive Director of the Chatham Arts Council since fall of 2012. She has worked with nonprofits for more than 20 years. When she's not leading the Chatham Arts Council, she has adventures with her daughter and husband, makes theatre, and coaches other creative-leader-mamas. Cheryl's earliest creative memory is of being three years old and making a Three Wise Men craft with Q-Tips, construction paper, and cardboard with her mama. And yes, she still has it.

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