Welcome to the fourth and final part of our 2020 gift guide! Support your small businesses and local creators as much as you can this season. Our four-part gift guide follows our travel mantra of Food, Park, Drink, & Art, and so far we’ve focused all on FOOD, all about PARKS/plants/outdoor activities, last week about all things DRINK-related.
So now we present part four: ART!
Support local authors
Columbus authors have been productive this year! Support your favorite local writers while giving gifts to the bookworm in your life:
- Columbus Pizza: A Slice of History, by Jim Ellison
- Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, & Change, by Maggie Smith
- A Fortune For Your Disaster or the forthcoming A Little Devil in America, by Hanif Abdurraquib
- Naming Your Baby, by Travis Hoewischer
And certainly buy your books from small publishers or local bookstores: Prologue Bookshop in Short North, Two Dollar Radio HQ on Parsons Ave., Gramercy Books in Bexley, Cover to Cover Books in Upper Arlington, The Book Loft in German Village
Buy from local artists!
Get amazing gifts, directly support local creatives. Just a few ideas:
- Eco-friendly sewing creations from Wayward Workshop
- Beautiful ceramics from Ice + Dust Pottery
- T-shirts and prints from Hakim Callwood
- Prints from Lisa McLymont
- Music from local musicians like Angela Perley, Honey & Blue, Counterfeit Madison, MojoFlo
- You can search for more local artists in the ColumbusMakesArt.com Artist Directory
Shop Craftin’ Outlaws at Home
Craftin’ Outlaws is always a terrific event to shop local artisans, and this year they’ve moved it online. Click through to their site to search vendors and purchase directly from them: craftinoutlaws.com/spring-2020-vendors/
Practical art for the home
These may be bigger gifts, but if you’re upgrading your home, look to local craftsmen for beautiful, handmade accent pieces. This summer we redid our kitchen, and one of our favorite pieces is a live edge waterfall walnut counter from A Carpenter’s Son. Consider a gift – large or small – from a local woodworker like A Carpenter’s Son or Edgework Creative.
Wonderment Art Journey Boxes
The McConnell Arts Center in Worthington is selling Wonderment Art Journey boxes, which include reusable supplies and digital resources to spark kids’ creativity for hours. mcconnellarts.org/wonderment-art-boxes/
COSI Connects Kits
While COSI’s opening has been delayed, you can still learn and experiment from home with COSI Connects Kits. The themed kits include all the supplies for experiments with nature, space, water, dinosaurs, and the human body. cosi.org/connects/kits/
Memberships
I say it every year, but give the gift of a membership to local museums and attractions! These gifts keep on giving memories and experiences all year. Try the Columbus Zoo, COSI, Franklin Park Conservatory, the Columbus Museum of Art.
Exit through the gift shop
Many of these same institutions feature gift shops loaded with art, books, ceramics, games, jewelry, take home kits, and so much more. Many offer shipping or curbside pick-up. Try the Museum Store at CMA, the Cultural Arts Center, the Wexner Center’s shop, the Conservatory’s Botanica Gift Shop & Greenhouse.
Craft and maker shops
Do your shopping with the many local shops that carry gifts, games, kid’s items, crafts, cards, supplies, jewelry, ceramics, you name it. Many of them have set up easy online shopping systems.
- Igloo Letterpress
- Wild Cat Gift & Party
- Sew To Speak
- hawk shop
- Tigertree (and Cub Shrub!)
- The Smithery
- Global Gallery
Personal art and pampering
Your body is a work of art, so why not treat yo’ self or give someone the gift of a little pampering! I love getting haircuts and beard trims at Royal Rhino Club. Or try The Mug & Brush, Goodfellow’s, Holy Moses, Longview. Or gift cards to places that do facials, massage, and other therapeutic services: Oasis Face Bar, Balance Beauty Spa + Wellness, Body For Life Massage & Spa, Open Sky Day Spa, Ebb & Float, Papillon Day Spa.
See the full 2020 Holiday Gift Guide here!
