White House Christmas card collection 2011 holiday exhibition at St. Bona's Quick Center

A White House Christmas card collection is one of three special exhibitions for the holiday season at The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University.The Quick Center will also hold its annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony on Dec. 1. Lights on the giant tree in the museum’s atrium will be turned on in the 11 a.m. event, which is open to the public.

Please note The Quick Center will be closed Saturday, December 24th, 2011 - Sunday, January 1, 2012 to observe the holiday season. Regular hours will resume Monday, January 2, 2012.*

 Holiday exhibitions include “Christmas Greetings from the White House: An Exhibition of Art and History,” a collection of more than 30 Christmas cards dating back to the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The exhibition includes the Christmas card sent by the Roosevelts in 1944 as well as cards chosen by subsequent first families right up through the Obamas.  Included is a series of panels on the traditions surrounding Christmas at the White House, as well as those practiced by the American public from the Civil War through modern times.  The exhibition, housed in the Winifred Shortell Kenney Gallery, closes Jan. 8, 2012.

 Returning for its traditional holiday run at The Quick Center is the exhibition of crèches from around the world.  A crèche, or Nativity set, is a group of figurines representing the birth of Christ. It typically includes the holy family, angels, kings, shepherds, animals and often villagers and other characters in accordance with local customs.  Because of the size of the Christmas card collection, however, the crèche exhibition had to be scaled back this year. 25 crèches are on display and additional crèches from the collection have been loaned out to area schools and churches for holiday displays.

 Some young artists in the Olean area will also be featured in a special holiday exhibition. Winners of The Quick Center’s annual holiday art contest for students in grades kindergarten through fifth will have their works exhibited beginning Dec. 1.

  All Quick Center galleries are free and open to the public. The Quick Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

 The Quick Center will be closed Nov. 23-25 in observation of the Thanksgiving holiday.

 For more information, go to www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.

For more information on this event please visit http://www.sbu.edu/quickcenter