“Cafe Break,” oil painting by Jill Banks. Photo by Greg Staley
One of the simple pleasures of the Great Falls Studios art tour is its easy accessibility. With 50 professional artists situated within an 18-mile radius offering access to their personal working space, all a motivated art tourist needs to do is get the map and head to their destination of choice between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Friday, Oct. 17 to Sunday, Oct. 19.
Participating artists have arranged an “open house” for the weekend at each stop and relish the opportunity to show off recent work. Disciplines range from traditional painting and photography to layered paper, fiber art, pottery and jewelry making. A diversity of style and vision blossoms in all directions.
Overall, the consortium represents 113 artists; many have been plying their craft for decades; some have received national honors.
Laura Nichols, a potter who initiated the group's outreach in 2003, says the tour really advances art appreciation and practice in Great Falls, a historic setting where one percent of the locals claim to have a working artist in the household.
“Certainly we are a town where people gravitate towards art as fundamental to personal expression,” Nichols sid. “A naturally beautiful setting like Great Falls inevitably inspires homes that explore compelling indoor-outdoor relationships, and art that uniquely differentiates an interior or highlights an outdoor focal point. In that sense, it's not surprising that a community of working artists has thrived here.”
On a larger point, Nichols notes that work presented in its studio setting is free from the commercial context you sometimes find in galleries, so attention is focused on the art — not the price, or how one artist's prices compare to another.
It's an arrangement that encourages visitors “to plumb the depths” of an artist's creative process, Nichols said, “something that's almost impossible in any other situation.”
The tour is sponsored by Sun Design Remodeling, Inc, a design-build remodeling firm that has been active in renovating homes in Great Falls and environs for over twenty five years. (www.SunDesignInc.com) Several artists who are active in the consortium occupy homes the firm has remodeled. In some cases, a home makeover may have been inspired by the owner's interest in displaying a particular art acquisition or collection.
“This is a naturally occurring partnership,” said Sun Design founder and chairman Craig Durosko. “Art and architecture have always been sympathetic disciplines. The aesthetic improvement of the home is one of our clients' core interests.”
As a tour option, Sun Design will be showcasing the recently remodeled residence of artist and author Lesley Hackman, which now includes working studio space. Hackman is the co-author (with Lin Story) of a children's book “Bearabesque and the Humility Slippers” and also designs quilts.
While the tour is free and all are welcome to any of the participating studios, Nichols says that many visitors develop a practical trip plan by following a particular theme. Studios that are geographically convenient to one another, for instance, offer the potentials of an easy day trip that wanders through some of country's prettiest residential settings.
On the other hand, because studios are color coded on the tour map by artist's medium, it's just as easy to concentrate on a preferred discipline such as painting or photography.
Then, too, some visitors simply pick the artists they especially want to see from the tour directory and plot a course.
“It all depends on how much time a visitor wants to devote to taking it all in,” Nichols said. “You can see a lot in a day, but some schedule the entire weekend.”
Background information on each artist and their work can be found online at www.GreatFallsStudios.com; many artists also provide links to their own sites. For art aficionado, the tour can be an annual refresher course in how a favored artist is evolving.
While the atmosphere is always relaxed, the studio setting offers a powerful and memorable learning experience. Younger people may gain a first real exposure to how artists work. But the tour inevitably satisfies the discriminating patron or collector, many of whom drive in from the District, suburban Maryland or still more distant departure points.
Those who want to extend their involvement after the tour will find many accommodating options including ongoing exhibits scheduled throughout the year, a Holiday Show (December 13-14) and an online gallery which presents a new themed exhibit every month.
Finally, last year Great Falls Studios released their first book: “Creative Spaces: Inside Great Falls Studios” The publication features 16 artists discussing their work, influences, motivations and process. The book will be launched at Great Falls library and at many of the studios during the tour.
John Byrd (byrdmatx@comcast.net) has been writing about residential architecture, the visual arts and related topics for 30 years.