MACON, Ga. — If you are still looking for the perfect gift this holiday, the Ocmulgee Artist Guild has a way for you to find something affordable — and handmade.
The annual $3 art show on Friday will feature "leftover" art from guild members all for $3.
The show was one of the guild's first when they were still art students at Middle Georgia State. They had a lot of work they were just going to throw away but decided to put it all out on tables and see if anyone wanted it.
They found many people who were excited to have affordable, handcrafted works of art. This is the guild's 6th year putting on the show.
Guild President Colin Penndorf says some of the artwork in the show are creations an artist might consider to be "garbage" works.
"What you see a lot of times with artists is you are so heavily focused on your work that when you step away it's hard to be satisfied a lot of times," Penndorf said.
He said all kinds of issues might cause an artist to think of their piece as a "leftover" work they don't plan on keeping. Maybe there is a blue smudge in the corner of a painting or there was a printing mistake or any number of other issues can come up when creating.
All these reasons and more might be why a handmade, original piece ends up in the $3 Art Show. Now, while the artists who made the work might not feel the best about it, they think the community might find beauty in something they don't.
"Art is so subjective. It is to each individual viewer and just because you do not like it does not mean that somebody else will not really appreciate it and especially these are original pieces for the most part," Penndorf said.
He says some guild members are really surprised by the impressive pieces their fellow artists aren't proud of and are willing to sell for only $3.
"It's a real, you can find a diamond in the rough kind of show here. It's not that the work is bad, it's not that the work is trash. We call it refuse art because for each individual artist putting their work out, it is to them," Penndorf said.
He says out of 100 pieces you could find the one that's right for you.
The show will feature tons of work from the guild's main 10-15 artists as well as "leftover" art from other shows and artists.
The $3 Art Show is on Friday from 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Macon Mall. The Gallery is located on the Eisenhower Parkway side of the mall. Enter through the food court and walk to the back. It's free and open to the public.
All the money from the show goes to funding the guild and helping them create their next big show.
You can also see higher-priced items on display for the Macon 200 Bicentennial Art Show.
You can keep up with the Ocmulgee Artists Guild on their Facebook page for their next show.