Christmas Card Lane delights with charm, nostalgia

MADISON – Whether comical or reverent, artwork in the 2018 Christmas Card Lane offers a stunning display of visual art in the spirit of Christmas.

Local artists have painted larger-than-life ‘greeting cards’ that are in place in downtown front lawns on Church and Front streets. New this year, Sturdivant Street has added ‘cards.’ Each night in December, the cards will be illuminated for five hours from sundown.

Madison Arts Council sponsors Christmas Card Lane. “This year’s responses were outstanding with 11 new cards to showcase,” MAC President Tina Clark said.

At 302 Church St., Reagan Blackwell, a third-grader at Heritage Elementary School, is the youngest artist to participate by painting “Lights,” a simple strand of Christmas tree lights. “Christmas lights make me happy! When my family hangs up lights on the Christmas tree, fireplace mantel, porch and in the shrubs, I know that Santa is coming soon,” Reagan said.

Reagan hopes her artwork will signal the season to viewers. Her parents are Josh and Ashley Blackwell. Elbert and Opie Balch of Madison are her grandparents.

At 66 years ‘young,’ Debra Malone is the oldest contestant/artist with her “Ginger Bread Christmas” painting at 317 Church St. “Debra has painted since she was age 6,” Clark said. A Huntsville resident, Debra was in the first graduating class of Grissom High School in 1971.

Other new entries in Christmas Card Lane include “Down the Chimney,” Gerald Clark; “Decorate the Tree,” Ashly Weiss; “Ave Maria,” Meg Compton; “No Place Like GNOME for the Holidays,” Miranda Hite; “Winter Wonder Christmas,” Linda Hussong; “Gatlinburg Christmas,” Jacob Ladd; “Merry Christmas Madison,” Caroline Hunt; “Merry and Bright Trees,” Connie Churchill; and “Christmas Around the Tree,” Jacob Sanger.

Several artists will have cards in an encore appearance: Gerald Clark, Nadiya Smyrnova, Stephanie Thompson, Discovery Middle School students, Lori Connors, Emily Barkley, Miranda Hite, Beth Paul Sandy Sparks, Lisa Riccardi, Denise Onwere and Carolyn Dodson-Grimm.

To view cards and vote, visit artsmadison.org/christmas-card-lane-vote.