6th Annual Hilltown Open Studio Tour
Announces Live Art Demonstrations for
The Weekend of October 5th & 6th
Worthington, MA – The Hilltown Arts Alliance announced today the live art demonstrations that will be featured at their 6th annual event. The weekend of October 5th and 6th, from South Worthington north to Plainfield, guests can learn how to do everything from painting atmosphere in watercolors to throwing pot forms, all taught by local artists of national renown in their home studios.
“One of the things that is so special about this event is that our artists are very much dedicated to teaching and explaining their process. This is a unique opportunity to learn from masters and hone your own skills or just expand your understanding of the creation of art,” says tour organizer and watercolorist Kathryn Jensen. “A good example of this is ceramicist Mark Shapiro, who is a Smithsonian fellow and 19th century American pottery historian. He’s taking requests and will demonstrate what the audience is eager to learn how to create. Attendees will visit his studio and grounds including two wood-fired kilns all on the property of a famous 19th century preacher, Russell Conwell.”
The schedule Saturday includes: Emmett Leader demonstrating how to work with local clay and press molds (11:30AM, Cummington); Valerianna Claff showing how to paint mist, fog and atmosphere (1PM, Chesterfield); Sergei
Isupov talking about how he took a massive 150 year-old downed tree and turned it into a public sculpture (2:30PM, Cummington); and David Marshall showing how to paint from life with oils (4PM, South Worthington).
On Sunday: Mark Shapiro will be taking requests on various pot forms (11:30AM, South Worthington); painter Lena Garcia will focus on yellow hues (1PM, Worthington) while Sergei Isupov will reprise his talk from Saturday about turning a tree into public sculpture (Cummington, 2:30PM).
This year the tour will be centered around Worthington, which is the highest town in the state and especially dramatic in leaf season. The Tour Hub and Artsfest will be in a recreated 19th century schoolhouse with tall antique windows illuminating the eight artists featured there. Every hour on the hour during the event artists will be giving presentations. Guests are welcome to take in the fall scenery on the lawn and enjoy a food truck. Worthington also features two restaurants (Liston’s Bar & Grill and The Goldenrod Country Inn) and a brewery in an old cow barn (Sena Farm).
“Guests can expect to be inspired not just from the many demonstrations, but from the restored barns and houses that Hilltowns artists live and work in,” says fiber artist and retired architect Kathy Ford, who is also the president of the Hilltown Arts Alliance.
Her creative space is a 28 square foot post-and-beam house from the 1790s while ceramicist Emmett Leader has turned a three-story barn into a large-scale studio where he sculpts his work inside what were cow stalls. On Saturday Leader will also be firing an outdoor bread oven he created and serving bread from it while local klezmer musicians entertain.
The studio spaces are open 11AM – 5PM each day and the tour hub at 6 Williamsburg Road in Worthington will be open from 10:30 – 5PM to offer printed maps and suggestions about studios to visit.
New to the tour this year are: Marcia Hayden Hendrick (painter); Emmett Leader (ceramicist); Lawrence Preston (painter); Angela Sciotti Vincent (painter) and Kate Wills (ceramicist).
Returning artists include: Adrian Almquist (potter and fabric artist); Pleun Bouricius (photographer); Alexandra Cherau (printmaker); Valerianna Claff (watercolor); Olwen Dowling (printmaker and painter); Michael Falcone (painter); Kathy Ford (fiber artist); Leni Fried (printmaker); Lena Garcia (painter); Laurie Israel (painter); Sergei Isupov (ceramicist); Kathryn Jensen (watercolor); David Marshall (painter); Guy Matsuda (potter); Jen Parrish-Hill (artisan jeweler); Kadri Parnamets (ceramicist); Greta Gnatek Redzko (painter); Mark Shapiro (ceramicist); Molly Smith (painter and sculptor); Cyndy Sperry (painter and ceramicist); Susanna White (painter).
Printed maps will be available at each studio stop on the tour as well as the Tour Hub. An interactive tour map is located at hilltownartsalliance.org/tour-map. For the most updated information on artists and events throughout the weekend, go to hilltownartsalliance.org
The Open Studio Tour is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, both directly and through the Cummington Cultural District and the Cultural Councils of Plainfield, Cummington, Worthington, Chesterfield, and Westhampton as well as support from the Hilltown Community Development Corporation. Local sponsors include John Thomas Plumbing and Heating, Florence Bank, George Propane, High Hopes Farm, Liston’s Bar & Grill, Sugarledge Stone Quarry, Salmon Falls Gallery, and Old Creamery Co Op among many others.
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About the Hilltown Arts Alliance. The Hilltown Arts Alliance is a registered 501(c)(3) and is a volunteer-run nonprofit arts organization serving the beautiful hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. These lush rolling hills are home to an impressive number of accomplished artists. Our mission is to spread the word! The Hilltown Arts Alliance seeks to connect and support local Hilltown artists and makers in their creative endeavors.
