The Chestertown RiverArts Studio Tour will take place over two weekends, October 22-23 and 29-30, 10-5, rain or shine. More than fifty artists will happily greet visitors mainly in their own studios. However, there are several venues that visitors won’t want to miss because there are guest artists who will be showing their work and in many cases demonstrating their techniques.
In Chestertown there are three such locations: Robert Ortiz Studio, the RiverArts Clay Studio, and Sumner Hall. Bob Ortiz designs fine, contemporary furniture in the Shaker and Japanese traditions. Custom-crafted from exquisite woods, selected with Bob’s artistic eye, each piece – a chair, table, cabinet or bed – is created to realize the client’s aspirations for their home. According to Bob, “each slab of wood has its own personality. The goal in wood – as in life – is to bring out the best.”

Ginko Necklace by JoLecia Crowe
Joining Bob are JoLecia Crowe and Stephanie Somers. JoLecia makes delicate jewelry with polymer clay. Such clay allows her the freedom to create the images she sees in her mind’s eye, ranging from flat and painterly to delicately sculpted. It’s a medium that lends itself to mimicry – it can look like beautifully aged bronze, an ancient piece of jade, a richly grained wood, or a delicate bloom. “It is a medium with endless possibilities that allows me to translate the details in nature that inspire me into creating wearable pieces of art.”
Stephanie is a photographer and printmaker. She received her MFA in Printmaking from Kansas State University. She works with a range of printmaking formats creating etchings, messotints, woodcuts and monotypes. Her subject matter stems from her love of nature and is inspired by her traveling both domestically and internationally. Her style comes from her love of black and white photography and high-contrast images. She enjoys explaining the various printmaking processes.
It’s hard to find a person who isn’t mesmerized by the sight of clay rising up from the potter’s wheel, transforming into cups, plates and bowls before their eyes through nothing more than a spinning wheel and a pair of clever hands. During the Studio Tour the RiverArts Clay Studio will have potters conducting demonstrations of the pottery wheel, handbuilding and other aspects of the pottery making process. A range of pottery including stoneware, raku, and talavera will be displayed and for sale (all sales are considered donations to the Clay Studio).
The third location, Sumner Hall, is not a studio but one that has a rich history. In 1882 black Civil War veterans organized the Charles A. Sumner Post #25 of the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1908 the hall was built by the Landing family and others, including Black Civil War Veterans. It is one of only two U.S. Colored Veterans Halls still standing in the U.S. today. Recently restored, it houses a small museum and entertainment and educational spaces. Five artists will be showing their work here: Allen Johnson, Joe and Bonnie Masslofsky, Anne Singer, and Heidi Wetzel.
Allen Johnson is a painter and wood carver. His thought-provoking paintings explore African American themes and his carvings vary in size from small folk art objects to wonderful sculptures of faces and animals. His work is unique and unusual.
Joe and Bonnie Masslofsky create one-of-a-kind gemstone and sea glass jewelry. The gemstones are mined in North Carolina and the natural sea glass comes from the Bay area. Joe wire wraps his jewelry with sterling silver and 14K gold filled wire. Bonnie likes to combine her pendants with semi-precious stones.
Anne Singer discovered art in 2011 on a trip to Paris. She works primarily in oil and pastel. While obsessed with studying the figure and portraiture, she also has a love of capturing nature’s beauty. She attended the Publisher’s Invitational in the Adirondacks this past June and is working on a series of oils and pastels inspired by the experience.
Heidi Wetzel is a fiber artist and basket weaver. She uses unique and indigenous materials as well as materials that she brings back from her many travels. Her work ranges from traditional, sculptured, to contemporary. She is often inspired by nature. Some of her sculptures are utilitarian, while others are purely decorative. With her 3-dimensional wall hangings Heidi tries to create “pictures” or scenes from nature. “My work reflects the beauty I see in the world and the natural surroundings here on the Eastern Shore.”
In Upper Queen Anne’s County is the studio of Marcy Dunn Ramsey who has invited Fredy Granillo to share her space. Marcy is a portrait artist, teacher, graphic designer, illustrator, print maker, and painter. Her paintings are a reflection of nature, but also of the relationship of that world to the psyche. Marshes are a primary source of inspiration, and the tangle and chaos of the grasses and reeds is a vehicle to explore the vitality of the life cycle. The sky enters largely into her work as well, acting in the role of light-giver.
Fredy Granillo is a painter and a potter from El Salvador. In Central America he researched the use of local plants and wood ashes as a decorative material for Pre-Columbian ceramics. Since moving to Maryland in February he has been inspired to experiment with local wood ash to create his clayslips. Fredy learned decorative talavera painting at the age of 11. He studied visual arts at El Salvador’s National University where he graduated with a Masters Degree in 2012 with a concentration on ceramics. He will be showing talavera as well as terra cotta toned pottery and miniature talavera tile earrings.
Marti Hawkins’s Studio at Hawkpoint, is in her home, which looks out on Worton Creek where eagles, deer and Canada geese are the view outside her window. Her guest artists are Sue Basener, Charlotte Guschl, and Judith Gunter.
Nature is the prominent subject of Marti’s work. Her style is sumi-e, or Oriental brush painting. The tools she uses are unique to this 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.

June Garden by Sue Basener
Sue Basener says that taking pictures was imprinted on her as a child when she watched her grandfather work in his darkroom. After she retired from teaching, she bought a film camera and learned darkroom techniques. In 2008 she switched to a digital camera. Sue says, “My photography is an expression of how I see and relate to my world; it is an attempt to capture and even enhance the feeling of a specific time and place.”
Never wanting to have a quilt that was like someone else’s, Judith Gunter began to explore the use of color, texture, and form within her designs. Her art quilts are created through using actual strips of fabric that are stiff and can provide a dimensional factor. This results in stunning sculptural creations that are both tactile and free flowing while reflecting a minimalist design aesthetic.
Charlotte Guschl was introduced to the art of jewelry design eighteen years ago by her sister. The initial contact was through the lost technique of making rose clay beads from rose petals. Char now uses only precious and semiprecious stones in her jewelry designs. Each unique piece constitutes using the traditional meaning of the stones to reflect the personality of the wearer. For example, peridot is the stone of friendship and jungle jasper is the stone of power.
Cindy Stafford has a large red barn as her studio in Betterton. When she was seeking inspiration to name it, she noticed how all the birds around it were singing merrily, and so Birdsong Studio got its name. The studio is an old wooden barn, almost 100 years old, that has most of its original wood. Exterior windows, interior stained glass windows and a spiral staircase have replaced the more rustic features. Cindy’s guest artists are Joy Berghaus, Ronnie Edelman, and Joan Strand.
Cindy fell in love with watercolors during a high school art class and wanted to paint ever since then. In anticipation of retirement, she took workshops at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. She paints things and places that move her, especially those Mother Nature has created. She is always trying new approaches, finding out how brush, water, paint and paper interact. Cindy likes to paint on watercolor paper, yupo (plastic sheeting) and clay board. Her work is representational, usually done on small pieces with fine brushwork.
Joy Berghaus is well-known for her unique wearable art pieces – no two are exactly alike. She is inspired by the colors and combinations of glass beads, silver plated metal, charms, crystal, porcelain, shell beads and semi-precious stones. Joy’s techniques are many and varied. Her signature “slip on”, tube bracelets are strung on elastic cord using all sizes of beads, tubes and stones. Some are embellished with wire or charms. The “neck bracelet”, can be worn twisted into three attached bracelets or stretched out and slipped over the head and worn as a necklace. Bracelets can be made for children or adults. She has over 400 bracelets.
Recently Joy began creating necklaces with a focal section that is made of bead strung silver plated wire, knitted and then strung with the addition of simple beaded strands. Many are embellished with pendants or antique jewelry. Joy is one of the few artists in the country to use this style of knitted Wearable Art.
Ronnie Edelman learned to knit from a neighbor as a child. She made several sweaters during the summer at the beach while in high school and then only occasionally until she retired. Now she always has at least one knitting project on the needles which satisfies her artistically. Her focus is on women and children’s clothing and accessories.
Joan Strand will be exhibiting both pottery and jewelry during the tour. Her pottery is all hand built. Most of her pieces are decorated boxes or vases. Her jewelry is mainly earrings and necklaces with pendants. She hand crafts all of the silver and copper components. She enjoys working in these media because they require attention to detail, incorporating textures as decoration and the process of creating an object by joining separate pieces.
Three venues with guest artists are in Chestertown, the other three studios with guest artists are out in the countryside. October is the perfect time for visiting them. There’s nothing like a beautiful fall day for a ride to visit studios with lots to see.
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