By Ann Nichols

Visitors to In-Town Gallery’s holiday open house Friday will experience an elegant evening of art.

“From the top-hatted doorman to the lavish hors d’oeuvres, we are literally rolling out the red carpet to greet everyone,” said Helen Burton, artist member and publicity spokeswoman.

Twice each year, In-Town’s artists debut their newest creations. This Christmas, the offerings include jewelry; hand-crafted wooden tables, boxes and vessels; paintings; drawings; photographs; etchings; glass, clay and bronze sculpture; and fiber constructions.

These semiannual events also serve to introduce the newest members inducted into the gallery. Featured this Friday will be Geraldine Powell, Amanda Farris and Ellen Franklin.

Ms. Powell will be represented by her highly glazed agateware pots, bowls, vases and platters. Agateware is made by staining batches of clay different colors and then wedging them together.

“It’s extremely time-consuming and very few potters use this process,” said Ms. Powell. “In fact, I know of only three other potters in the world that are working exclusively with agateware.”

Ms. Farris paints primarily with watercolor and acrylic on paper.

“My subject matter varies,” she said. “I do lots of florals, some figures and an occasional goat, cow, fish and maybe a bird.”

One of her pieces in the show, “Goat III,” is a painted tissue paper, acrylic collage depicting a goat.

“It has great textural qualities and beautiful color,” said Ms. Burton.

Ms. Franklin creates landscapes in oil, pastel and acrylic. The self-taught artist describes her work as “impressionistic leaning toward abstraction.” She draws inspiration from the work of Andrew Wyeth and tries to achieve the same quality of light.

“I love the way light plays on structures and objects in the landscape, especially the colors that are created in the shadows,” she explained.

The holiday open house will be 5-8 p.m. Friday. The show will remain on view through December.

In-Town Gallery, 26 Frazier Ave., is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 267-9214.