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Celebratory Table Settings Showcase

November 20, 2023

In the spirit of the holiday season, vast array of exquisite table setting exhibits amaze visitors at Bosque Arts Center annual Tablescapes fundraiser through Dec. 2

CLIFTON – Starting with Thanksgiving, the holidays are a time of coming together of family and friends, to share some time together, and making new, precious memories. And nothing shows a warm welcome and hospitality as well as good food and drink, at a beautifully, and thoughtfully decked table.

The Bosque Arts Center’s unique 13th Annual Tablescapes fundraiser shows how table settings can go above and beyond imagination. The amount of creativity, time and effort poured into the 49 exquisite table displays is astounding. From one table to the next, the eye is drawn by a certain theme, or color. And at second and third glance, new details capture the eye.

At the opening reception Nov. 16, a large gathering viewed the creatively themed tables filling the Tin Building Theater in amazement. The wide array of delectable appetizers supplied by the ladies and gentlemen of Tablescapes, combined with the special wine and cocktail bar always draws an engaged crowd. But there is still time to see the beautiful creations. Tablescapes is open to the public until Dec. 2 during BAC opening hours. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is just $5 per person.

For the 13th year, organizer Jan Kieta coordinated the entries, made personalized name cards, helped mediate requests regarding certain items needed for a display. No matter how big or small the request, Kieta aims to help out. Kieta expanded the exhibit from humble beginnings of five-six table settings in the BAC foyer to the popular event it is today, with the festive opening reception with great food and drinks and a longer time to view the tables.

In spite of many requests for placings and “people’s Choice,” Kieta deliberately keeps the competition element out of the event, saying “all tables are wonderfully and beautifully equal.”

Each table was a celebration, of the theme, in color, in detailing, in creativity. And many of the participants beg, steal and borrow items from friends and family and fellow table decorators to complete their perfect table setting, hauling in trees, plants, parasols, sand and other massive props to perfect their table. A lot of thought goes into each little detail, sparking one’s imagination on the back story. Here are a few examples of the celebratory table settings:

Many tables were decorated in Christmas settings, celebrating the season – one with life-size Santa and Mrs. Claus. A Bookworm’s Very Merry Christmas celebrated Christmas books and paper art in every possible way. Away in the Manger featured several different Nativity scenes – wood carved, glossy glazed and colorful ceramics to sober white and copper. Nutcrackers of every size and costume decorated another.

Single ladies visiting the opening reception received a red rose at the glitzy Golden Girls’ bachelor table, with a menu featuring all sorts of aphrodisiacs like Love Potion #9 Martini, smoked oyster bombs, Dorothy’s Shrimp Diablo. Rose’s Hearts of Pam and asparagus, Passion Fruit Sorbet, Sophia’s Marry Me Chicken and Blanche’s Chocolate Sin Tart, topped off with champagne, chocolates and cigars.

Wizards were welcome, and muggles tolerated at the Harry Potter Thanksgiving table, complete with spider juice, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin plates, owls and sorting hat. With the Halloween and Day of the Dead just behind us, Dinner with the Dead brought back skeletons, cobwebs and everything eerie.

Looking ahead to Valentine’s Day, the Barbie Pink Be Mine table had trolls, heart candies and roses declaring their love.

Two lady pirates welcomed visitors to a Seven Seas, shells and gold doubloons Banquet, complete with their two-master seven-foot-tall galleon with the Jolly Roger sails on turquoise sparkling waves. Were they celebrating Pirates of the Caribbean’s Captain Sparrow? Two other tables celebrated movies, A Streetcar named Desire, and Out of Africa.

With items from her home reflecting her love of the western way of life, the breathtakingly beautiful turquoise and brown Best of the West table paid tribute to Geneva Finstad – “the best sister, friend, cook, family historian and ambassador of Norwegian heritage in Bosque County.”

Red, white and blue, with cowboy boots and bluebonnets celebrated Texas; Happy Trails celebrated life on the range, and with historic enamel and other artifacts the Bosque Museum celebrated the Chisholm Trail legacy in Bosque County.

Coq au Koi celebrated the two very different cuisines of France and Japan, with noodles made out of wool, clay cheese boxes. The ultra-colorful Fiesta table celebrated Hispanic culture. This year, the dog lovers of Bosque Spay and Neuter took their pooches to New York City, while Bosque Animal Rescue Kennel took the furry friends to the New Orleans Mardi Gras.

A tent by the BAC Culinary Club filled with delicious cakes, cupcakes and scones celebrated the Great British Baking Show. Members of the BAC’s Art Club each made a flowered place setting reflecting their own personality for the club’s colorful Garden of Eating.

Camel plates, a beautiful table runner with embroidered camels and a huge date palm celebrated Hump Day. The Heaven and Nature Sing and Set a table for my friends tables paid homage to our feathered friends in the most elegant and whimsical way. Let it Bee paid tribute to our indispensable black and yellow pollinators with place settings Bee Happy, Bee Humble, Bee Grateful, Bee Sweet, Bee Kind and Bee Positive – great advice to live by.

Three tables Trinkets and Treasures, Anne of Green Gables and Tropical Paradise were created by local 4-H youth, showing that table decorating is ageless, and that maybe there are some budding stylists or interior decorators in our midst.

And this year, Bubba T. Johnston went way out of his comfort zone with a visit to the sea side, complete with shrimp cocktail, cooler, flyswatter, sunscreen and sombrero. These are but a few examples of the 45-plus tables on display –all are worth seeing and admiring, twice or three times to take in all the details. And who knows, maybe it will spark some creative table setting ideas for the upcoming holiday season with its many family gatherings.