Get inspired as Holiday Tables returns to Mark Arts this week
When Natalie Hershberger and her family moved back to Wichita in 2015, she made a point to attend the long-running Holiday Tables event at Mark Arts each November to draw inspiration for holiday decorating.
“It’s like Instagram brought to real life,” said Hershberger.
This year, Hershberger is getting the opportunity to inspire others as one of nearly 30 exhibitors participating in this year’s Holiday Tables displays in Mark Arts’ natural light-filled Great Hall. The exhibit is open Friday through Sunday, Nov. 12 through 14; tickets are $10 per person (no children under 8). A special Girls Night Out: Sips and Sequins preview event happens Thursday, Nov. 11. Two other related events, — a Saturday night gala and a Sunday afternoon tea party — are already sold out. The fundraising event, in its 54th year, is sponsored by Mark Arts’ Designing Women volunteer group.
The exhibitors include both professional designers as well as individuals like Hershberger who love décor and being creative in their own homes or those of friends and family.
“I do it for fun and for a hobby,” said Hershberger of her design work.
While tablescapes tend to be the centerpiece of the event’s displays, exhibitors often include other furniture and décor that help convey a theme.
Hershberger’s display is themed “A Wild Wonderland.” A few months ago — after she finished decorating her husband’s new ob/gyn practice office at Uptown Landing — Hershberger found a classic set of Parsons dining chairs at an estate sale, which she’s had reupholstered in a leopard print.
Building off that, she’s including a Jonathon Adler rug with a green base and a stylized black and white snake. She had hoped to include a burled wood dining table but instead settled for a burled wood bar piece she found at Hewitt’s Antiques. Burled wood, which according to one design magazine is making a comeback, is distinctive for its one-of-a-kind patterns created by a growth or infestation on a tree.
Hershberger will set her dining room table, which she’s transporting from her College Hill home, with a blue willow tableware set, one of the several patterned sets she inherited from her mother and grandmother.
“I love mixing antiques with modern pieces or using something like an old china pattern with a modern table,” Hershberger said.
While most of the exhibits feature décor and designs for a formal dining area, Mary Billings likes to focus on creating artful kids’ tables, inspired by her memories of her own family holiday gatherings.
“I love a good kids’ table at the holidays because you want them to be involved, entertained and have a wow experience,” Billings said. “I still remember the fun tables my aunt set during the holidays.”
Billings owns Love of Character, a paper goods and party supply store, and is in her fifth year of exhibiting at Holiday Tables. Her exhibit, “Cheers My Deers,” is inspired by a pastel-colored, vintage reindeer pattern of paper products she is selling at her store. To add to the “vintage and pastel vibe,” Billings is including the vintage look of tissue honeycomb trees, bells and other similar pieces.
Holiday Tables exhibit at Mark Arts
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 12 and 13, noon-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14; with a Girls’ Night Out: Sips and Sequins preview event happening 7-10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11
Where: Mark Arts, 1307 N. Rock Road
Tickets: Holiday Tables admission is $10 per person, no children under 8 permitted; purchase at the door, in advance online or call 316-634-2787. Girls’ Night Out tickets are $50 and must be purchased in advance.
More info: markartsks.com/holiday-tables