By Todd Krieger

Come celebrate the season and help an important local charity at Gorse Mill Studios' holiday open-studio and art-sale event.

As part of Needham's town-wide holiday art sale, Gorse Mill Studios at 31 Thorpe Rd. (www.gorsemillstudios.com) will be open to the public for art demonstrations, displays and sales on Saturday, Dec. 3, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Sunday, Dec. 4, from noon to 5:00 p.m. This free, family-friendly event will feature demonstrations of glass-blowing, wheel-thrown pottery and chain-maille jewelry-making as well as an opportunity to meet a wide variety of artists and craftspeople in their studios, some of which are open to the public only twice a year. Their work will be on display and available for purchase just in time for the holiday season. 

This year, collection boxes for the Greater Boston Food Bank will be located throughout the building to receive cash donations from visitors, and Gorse Mill artists will donate 10 percent of the weekend’s sales to the GBFB. The GBFB is an important source of support for Needham's only food bank, run by the Needham Community Council.

The artists are excited to have an opportunity to help raise funds for another worthwhile charity, having collected more than $2,000 for the American Red Cross’ Haitian earthquake relief fund last year through a silent auction. 

About Gorse Mill Studios

A hidden gem, the Gorse Mill is a former textile factory that was renovated in 2007 to create art studios and the Gorse Mill Gallery, which features several exhibitions every year. Among the building’s artists are potters, ceramicists, glass blowers, painters, sculptors, mosaic artists, jewelers, photographers, authors, illustrators, stained-glass artists, graphic designers, mixed-media artists and a storyteller. After-school children's art classes are also offered here. 

There are more than a dozen potters who work at Gorse Mill, some in their individual studios and some as members of the Potters Shop and School group studio, owned by the internationally recognized author, teacher and potter Steve Branfman.

The Gorse Mill Gallery is currently hosting "Chawan," a unique traveling exhibition of beautiful ceremonial teabowls created by Branfman and many other artists from across the globe. In keeping with the Chawan tradition, the opening reception featured a Chinese tea ceremony. The exhibition has previously appeared in galleries and museums in Belgium, France, Korea and Croatia. 

Other potters at Gorse Mill include Susan Goldman and John Dorsey. Goldman's unique glaze palette reflects the colors of nature such as the blue sky, green plants, white clouds, and browns and grays of the earthand woods. Her functional work includes teapots, mugs, bowls, plates, large vessels and other items.  Dorsey's earthy and sometimes whimsical pots combine his skillful mastery of the medium with his passions fortexture, mathematics, architecture, and ceramics history. Much of his work is finished in wood-fired kilns. 

Visitors to the open studio event will also get an unusual chance to see the latest works of three artists who paint with pigmented beeswax. Exploring a wide range of themes using this ancient technique called "encaustic," Karen Krieger, Ruth LaGue and Amalia Tagaris achieve a degree of depth and luminosity in their artworks that cannot be created with traditional oil or acrylic paint. Finding three encaustic studio sin one art complex is unique, and art connoisseurs should not miss the chance to meet these artists and view their incredible works. 

Over the past three years, Gorse Mill has grown into a vibrant community of artists from Needham and neighboring towns. Come see their latest creations, watch demonstrations by jewelers, potters and glass blowers and support an important charity while you shop for art and gifts. Visit www.GorseMillStudios.com for hours, directions and more information.