The Chestertown RiverArts Annual Studio Tour will take place October 24-25 and October 31-November 1, 10 am-5 pm, rain or shine. Attending a Studio Tour is a bit like a treasure hunt, but one where there are abundant clues to the artists and artisans you would most like to visit. A great place to start your very own personal treasure hunt is to stop in at RiverArts, 315 High Street, Suite 106, where you can see the work of over 50 artists on the tour, select those of most interest to you and arrange your tour schedule accordingly. Each studio has its own personality. The artists are welcoming and will happily discuss and demonstrate some aspects of their creative process.
There are many studios within walking distance in Chestertown. RiverArts Clay Studio has enjoyed a wonderful first year in town after several years’ residence at The Arts at Still Pond Station. As a center for pottery classes on the Eastern Shore, the Clay Studio is generally humming with activity. Several classes each week help new and continuing students learn new techniques. Open studio time is available for student practice and provides a welcoming place for potters to become part of the local “clay community”.
It’s hard to find a person who isn’t mesmerized by the sight of clay rising up from the potters’ wheel, transforming into cups, plates and bowls before their eyes through nothing more than a spinning wheel and a pair of clever hands. During Studio Tour weekends visitors can learn how pottery is made from start to finish, watch demonstrations on the potters’ wheel and also find a selection of interesting items for sale.
Next door to the Clay Studio is that of Pam Foss. It will become apparent to you that Pam is among the most versatile and accomplished artists working in America today. First and foremost, she is a highly inventive sculptor working in materials as diverse as bronze, Styrofoam, and paper in styles that range from classical realism to abstract expressionism.
Pam’s most recent sculpture project was a commission to create a bronze of three, life-size St. Bernard dogs. The bronze, when complete in 2016 , will be installed in a courtyard adjacent to the new Veterinary Center at Ohio State University in Columbus. This sculpture is the latest addition to the major public sculpture Pam Foss has on display in cities throughout the U.S. including: Washington, DC, New York, NY, Annapolis and Baltimore, MD, Birmingham and Montgomery AL, and Knoxville, TN.
Just across town is the Tree of Life Gallery. Marilee Schumann, an award-winning potter and her sister, Faith Wilson, the creator of inventive floor cloths, needed a small gallery in Chestertown to showcase their work. The building where the Chestertown Arts League had been was available; Marilee and Faith transformed a dull open space into an exciting gallery with studio space for Faith by painting the floor faux wood, and installing some moveable walls.
While Marilee has been on the tour for a number of years, demonstrating her talent in the Clay Studio, Faith is returning to the tour after several years absence. Once a weaver, now the painter of floor cloths, this self-taught artist has been a crafts person since she was 17. In addition to showing her work at the Tree of Life Gallery she mainly exhibits out of town at the American Craft Council Shows, CraftBoston, Washington and the Smithsonian Shows.
Deborah McLeod, the well-known art critic and curator noted that “Wilson’s handsomely painted elaborate floor cloths are humble and meant to be underfoot, highly susceptible yet fully resistant to little splats of spilled stuff. But in their insights they are also defiant little realms of possibility and eccentricity laid on plank, conventional floors. They invite you to step across the threshold from the mundane to the artistic…”
Leaving town gives one the chance to enjoy the autumn countryside. Though there are many studios in tucked-away places, most really are not more than a few miles from each other or from a main road. For example, while it may seem a distance, Ken Schiano’s studio is only a seven-minute drive from Route 20 and it is absolutely worth a visit! His studio is detached from the home that he and his wife, Paula, also an architect, designed.
As soon as you walk in, you feel immediately at home with the wood-burning stove, the extensive library, a shelf full of plans for sculptures and rafters reaching out in all directions with carefully stenciled sayings on them. As a painter formally trained as an architect, Ken’s skills as an artist are largely self-taught. Unlike most artists who work off an image and/or are influenced by music, Ken gets his inspiration from “sayings”, i.e. text-based artwork.
Ken describes his work as uncompromisingly abstract, and despite external sources, the subject matter is derived solely from the act of painting. In the last two years Ken has developed a series of shaped paintings, in which the painted image and constructed object become inextricably linked. Ken mixes his own colors and makes his media from scratch – watercolor, pastel, and a cold wax medium for painting, matching them to the shape and strength of his hand. He will be demonstrating how to make pastels.
Ken has recently been selected as a semi-finalist for the 2015 Sondheim Art Prize and was the recipient of the 19th Annual Peggy and T. Denton Miller Award for excellence in Contemporary Art at the Academy Art Museum in Easton where he is currently having a one-man show. In addition to being represented by the Massoni Art Gallery in Chestertown, Ken has exhibited his work in New York (MOMA and Cooper Union), Atlanta, Philadelphia, as well as several galleries in Maine and in many private collections.
Marti Hawkins’ studio is in her home, which looks out on Worton Creek, where Eagles, deer and Canada Geese are the view outside her window. Nature is the prominent subject of her work. The intense change in colors of sky and water is a constant source of wonderment and contentment, the contrast of turbulence and calmness inspiring. Marti loves working at home as it allows her to paint whenever the mood strikes her without having to leave the peace and comfort of her own space.
Marti’s style is sumi-e, or Oriental brush painting. The tools she uses are unique to this particular discipline…bamboo handled wolf hair brushes, rice paper, Chinese watercolors, and hand ground ink made from stick and stone. Forty years ago she studied under a Chinese master painter and was trained in traditional brushwork, but today she enjoys exploring contemporary and abstract themes as well. She will be demonstrating her techniques during the Studio Tour. She is especially pleased to be using an antique ‘chop’ or ‘seal’ (the carved red stamp characteristic of work in the sumi style) which she recently acquired in China.
Marti has opened her home to other guest artists. Cindy Fulton will be featuring her garden sculpture that is reminiscent of the forest that she lives in. Visitors will see the influence of bushes, trees, plants, and vines in what she develops with copper tubing. Her beautiful sculptures will be placed in the landscaping around Marti’s home. Inside Nancy Montague and Judi Gunter, both new to the tour this year, will be showing their work; Nancy will be showing her finely executed paintings and Judi will bring her vibrant fabric art.
As you tour these studios, you’ll see how the creative process evolves through each artist’s unique perspective, allowing your own personal taste, curiosity, and sense of the joy of discovery guide you along your way.
Brochures are available from local Chestertown establishments and at RiverArts. Anyone filling out a brief RiverArts marketing survey at RiverArts will be eligible for a drawing; no purchase is necessary. Each day of the tour, RiverArts will hold a drawing to give away 1 free $50 gift certificate good toward the purchase of items from the RiverArts Gallery Gift Shop. Notification of the daily winner will be via email at the end of each tour day. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 11-4, Saturday, 10-4. During the Studio Tour, Gallery hours are Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 10-5.
For more information on the tour you may call 410-778-6300, email [email protected] or go to our web site, www.chestertownriverarts.org where you can download the tour brochure, which has a description of all the artists’ work, contact information, directions, and a user-friendly map.
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