Custom Frame in Port Orchard offers a wide variety of art, prints, and creative framing.

If you want to feel good about your shopping spree this season, instead of buying a mass-produced gifts at a department store consider stopping by one of the local arts groups. Many of them have special sales during December that include holiday-oriented gift items, others have beautiful artwork by local artists and artisans in a wide price range, and several theaters are offering gift certificates. So you can get your shopping done and support the local arts community — not to mention being proud of giving tasteful, unique items that were made with true pride.

“People like local art and they like to support their community and buy locally — and you can’t get any more local than your art district,” said artist Amy Burnett, whose Amy Burnett Gallery in Bremerton displays Northwest-theme works ranging from art cards and prints to specialized jewelry and whale tail bowls.

Also inside the gallery is the newly opened Made in Bremerton Store And More that features the work of at least 35 Kitsap-area artists: sculpted wood, pottery, candles, photo art cards, hand-blown glass, holiday items and more. Owner Diane Griffin says patrons can find items for men, women and children, with many affordable choices.

“You know you’re getting one of a kind item, not duplicated anywhere else. Every artist has a unique style,” she said.

Kitsap is rich in cooperative art galleries that are owned and run by artists with diverse backgrounds and talents, and shopping in one of these galleries is a true delight for the senses. At Collective Visions in Bremerton, for example, the work of 25 local artists includes oil paintings, sculpture, glass and cast paper, along with gift ideas under $100 brought in just for the holiday shopping month. In Gig Harbor’s Ebb Tide coop gallery, the same great variety is in abundance, and you can spend a good couple of hours admiring the fine work.

If you don’t know your friend’s tastes really well, stay with the Northwest theme — a little piece of heritage will no doubt be appreciated in any home.

“Unless I know they are after a specific artist or theme, if I look at (the art) and I love it, it’s the best thing I can do to choose it. I pick out something I love,” suggests Mary Peterson, member of the Sidney Art Gallery board of directors. The nonprofit group whose mission is to preserve and share Northwest history also operates two free-admission museums in Port Orchard including the log cabin one that focuses on Northwest history.

“December is different from what we typically do the rest of the year,” Peterson said. Board members make sure you can find special gifts for everyone on your list, so they bring in an eclectic collection of handmade crafts and fine work to complement the gallery’s paintings. Don’t let the name gallery fool you either — everything you see is up for sale.

If you’ve been looking for those Salamander Pottery Christmas bells that have been featured by the Smithsonian Museum in the late-80s, you’ll find those at Sidney, along with glass lanterns, wood carvings and holiday cards — with items priced as little as $3-$4 and all the way up to several thousand dollars. An even more important reason to visit this month is to see the family of mannequins get ready for Christmas and see how they decorated their beautiful vintage-style tree. Oh yes, that jolly old fellah Santa will stop by during the first two weekends in December, so bring the family and your camera to create some memories.

Another great place to visit is the Bainbridge Island Arts and Crafts. The nonprofit art gallery, founded in 1948, supports art programs at the local schools and offers its own educational programming, as well as supporting artists. The fine work wonderland has “any medium you can think of” — wood, textiles, furniture, oil, blown glass — thousands of unique choices that start with inexpensive key chains and finish with high-end work like a $15,000 wood table with a cast bronze base. Whether you buy affordable holiday cards, $50-$200 middle range items or opt for the table — you are buying into thousands of dollars that go to local schools and other arts programs.

“Artists enrich our community, and it’s special to give something that comes from the community,” says Victoria Josslin, the gallery’s education director.

The appreciation of arts doesn’t stop at the galleries. Don’t forget the local performing groups, each with another unique opportunity to encourage local talent. Buy a $44 gift certificate to the Bremerton Symphony (good for a pair of tickets), the orchestra’s 2003 live Christmas performance recorded on CD ($18), a flexipas to Jewell Box Theatre ($44 adult, $36 seniors/students/military, good for 4 admissions), or tickets to any other Kitsap area theater performance, and you will have a present that not only speaks of your sophisticated tastes but also speaks volumes of your good intentions: giving appreciation to the rich artistic talent that makes life in Kitsap so much better.