Art is capable of being delicate and fine in design. But can it be packaged in wrapping paper for the holidays?

The UI Fine Arts Council aims to do just that. The organization will host its annual Holiday Thieves’ Art Market on Saturday and Dec. 6 in the IMU Main Lounge.

This year, more than 90 artists will display work, including paintings, ceramics, photography, woodworking, drawing, jewelry, metal, fiber, and more. For their work to be entered, artists had to submit it to a jury, said Makinze Meiners, a UI freshman majoring in art and codirector of the Fine Arts Council.

Rhonda Scott, a resident of Ames, will sell her jewelry in her first time at the Thieves’ Market. She constructs pieces with materials such as glass beads, sterling silver, and pearls. She fires the glass beads she works with herself.

Her work in glass stems from a curiosity of how color affects the mind.

“I have always been interested in color and the impact of color on mood and memory,” she said. “I can combine colors in interesting and unexpected ways.”

Scott entered her pieces in the Thieves’ Market after a recommendation of another artist. Rather than trying to make a profit, she would like to meet new people.

“I am looking forward to seeing what draws people to [the market],” she said.

Kristin Hill will display her sculptural art, ranging from function to beauty. Her work includes mugs, sculpture, and clay items such as dragons, frogs, and turtles. Her attraction to capturing these animals in clay is based upon her belief that they are striking to the human eye.

“I love life and nature. I think it is a way to combine my love of the natural world with art,” she said. “I see [those animals] as beautiful and would like to show [the world] how I see them.”

The Thieves’ Market is one of Hill’s “best shows” because of a large following in the Iowa City area. She is able to work as a full-time artist, supporting her family along with her husband, who is a chef and a fellow artist. Their four children are also artistically talented, she said, which acts as an inspiration to her work.

The Holiday Thieves’ Market has grown to be a trademark of the Fine Arts Council, and the event generates a financial foundation for other arts programs, such as the Student Art Grants.

As holiday shopping continues, original gifts are not always easy to come by. Meiners said the work displayed at the Thieves’ Market can provide many options.

“[The work is] original and unique,” she said. “It can’t be molded, or commercial, or imported. It has to be original.”