Visitors to the holiday exhibit at the Clay Center will find it lit up like a, well, like a Christmas tree. “Lightscapes for the Holidays” features nine sculptures made with lights by mostly local artists.

Traditional holiday images are featured in “Seasonal Selections from the Permanent Collection.” Assistant curator Denise Deegan pulled 45 paintings, drawing and prints representing snowy landscapes, family, friends and food for the exhibit. The exhibits open Friday and continue through Dec. 30.

Important works include Stuart Davis’ “Consumer Coal Company,” in which turn-of-the-20th-century workers unload coal from a horse-drawn wagon for use in a snow-swept residence, and Ernest Lawson’s “Winter on the River.”

“We wanted to bring out old favorites of the public in the past, some of which haven’t been seen in quite some time,” Deegan said. “Fairfield Porter’s ‘Interior with Christmas Tree’ has only been out one time, back in 1999. People like art they can relate to.”

Deegan was mindful of her audience, which tends to be lots of families at this time of year. Local visitors who bring out-of-town family members and friends to the Clay Center expect a holiday exhibit. When the museum was in the Sunrise location, it featured a holiday tree exhibit.

“The holidays are a very traditional time and people look forward to seeing certain pieces,” she said. “If they aren’t out, they’re not happy.”

 Artists who designed pieces for the lightscape display weren’t limited by any traditional notions or instructions, said Barbara Racker. Their only direction was to include lots of mass-produced lights.

Mark Tobin Moore and six students in his Museums Studies and Exhibit Design class at the Marshall University Graduate College collaborated on “They Are Still With Us,” a piece about memories of Christmases with loved ones lost.

The striking red house façade is covered with framed photos and memorabilia from Christmases past, especially in the ’40s, ’50s and ’70s.

“Collectively, we came up with the theme of ‘The Holiday’ and its shopping, rushing, anxiety, and wanted people to stop in their tracks and think about your life when it used to be ‘Christmas,’” Moore said. “We want you to take a breath and think about the people whom we have lost. They are the fabric of our lives.”

A nostalgic video of the exhibit’s creators’ childhood Christmases shows through one of the panels. Moore’s son, Toby Moore, compiled the video and lighted it with the greenish cast often used by videographers to indicate ghostly presences.

Cindy Walton, real-estate appraiser by day and many-time museum seasonal exhibit artist during the holidays, found the light assignment to be the most challenging in her memory. Initially, she envisioned some sort of Zenlike piece, but settled instead on a giant, floating angel.

The stunning angel greets visitors at the exhibits’ entrance with sparkling white lights that shine through her iridescent gown and clear glass lights outlining her wings.

“I like to design pieces that people will look at and smile,” Walton said. “Maybe they are not as artistic as some. They are fun as opposed to serious.”

The recent fires in California and Hurricane Katrina influenced Dow Benedict’s boat sculpture’s theme. He placed a burning and flooded house inside a boat, which may be used to deliver aid and relief. “He talks about a message of need and of hope,” Racker said.

“Sanguis,” an installation of three vertical layers created by Dan Connery and Phil Hainen, is inspired by the blood that flows through everyone. The front layer features neutral tones representing skin. The middle white level symbolizes the spirit, and the red layer in back portrays a visceral, joyous expression of life.

In Alison Helm’s “Deception of Perception,” she uses a structure of wood, glass, lights, stone and nylon to reflect a balance between culture and nature. Sharon Harms harvested dried leaves and pods to focus on this time of year, when tender things die but will reappear in the seasonal cycle for “Garden Gifts.”

Mark Soppeland created a gallery within a gallery in “The Grotto of Dreams,” featuring his mixed-media sculptures. Visitors may walk through little rooms he created to showcase the sculptures.

If you go

“Lightscapes for the Holidays” and seasonal selections from the Permanent Collection open Friday and run through Dec. 30. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday  and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.  Admission is free for Clay Center members, $6.50 for adults and $5 for children. Call 561-3570 or visit www.theclaycenter.org.