Spirit of the Season: A Community Art Exhibition

The Walt Disney Family Museum is pleased to announce the opening of our latest community art initiative, Spirit of the Season: A Community Art Exhibition. Earlier this year, both amateur and professional artists were encouraged to submit artworks inspired by their own holiday traditions and expressing what the spirit of the season means to them. The museum received a vast number of submissions from local Bay Area artists, who have kindly loaned their original works to this exhibition, as well as digital submissions from artists around the country and internationally. A juried selection of 2D, 3D, digital, animated, and short film work will be on view in the museum’s Lower Lobby Gallery beginning Thursday, November 18th, along with a collection of contributions by museum staff, and additional artwork displayed on an interactive monitor.

Spirit of the Season is the fourth in a series of community exhibitions sponsored by The Walt Disney Family Museum and is the first to debut in-person in the museum. Previous exhibitions, including The World of Tomorrow, it’s a small world, and Conserving the Magic of Our Planet, had exclusively been displayed in a virtual, 3D-rendered gallery space as a result of the museum’s pandemic-related closure that began in March 2020. The museum fully reopened to the public in April 2021 and continues to offer a safe and comfortable in-person visiting experience for members and guests.

“After our closure last holiday season due to the pandemic, we’re pleased to mark this holiday season by celebrating the outstanding talent of adult and teen artists from the Bay Area and beyond,” says The Walt Disney Family Museum Executive Director, Kirsten Komoroske. “I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to our participating artists for their beautiful submissions and for their continued support of our community art initiatives.”

For Walt Disney and his family, the holidays were a time to create magical memories and celebrate traditions. And while Walt celebrated Christmas, there are many end-of-year holidays and traditions observed around the world, including Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Ōmisoka, Diwali, Las Posadas, Three Kings Day, Toji, seasonal solstices, and New Year’s. For many, this special time of year is not about a particular holiday or giving gifts, but rather about making special memories with friends and family and enjoying the spirit of the season. Walt and his family’s fondness for the holidays is also explored in the Walt Disney Family Foundation’s film Christmas with Walt Disney, directed and produced by Oscarâ-nominated and award-winning Disney Legend, Don Hahn. This festive documentary will be presented in the museum’s Theater on weekends throughout the holiday season. More information on screening times can be found at waltdisney.org/education/films.

Spirit of the Season: A Community Art Exhibition will be on display in the museum’s Lower Lobby Gallery from November 18, 2021 through March 20, 2022. Admission is free with a pre-purchased main museum or special exhibition ticket, available at waltdisney.org/tickets.

Click the link below to learn more about the artworks included in the exhibition.