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Rural Studio Tour - May 1

Posted by Connie Mettler on April 23, 2010 at 6:22am
Tired of waiting/acceptances/rejections from art fairs? Ready to take even more of your fate into your rural+studio+tour+artfarm+blingo+necklace.jpgown hands? It is always exciting to see groups of artists get together to make it happen for themselves. More and more artists are having open studio tours, starting indie events, taking part in pop-up galleries. Here's a new one in my neighborhood, in a rural area north of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Here's the story: Visit 5 area artists at their studios during a casual self-guided tour on Saturday, May 1 from 10am to 6pm.

found object jewelry by Lisa Vetter & Paul Seifert

"The idea for the tour started when artists Lisa Vetter & Kristy Jo Beber joked at an art fair last summer about having a "Trolley Tour" like event in our neck of the woods (Leo-Spencerville). With all the Amish out here, we envisioned having the Amish transport the attendees in their buggies, in place of the nice trollies & buses that Trolly Tour uses. The joke turned into a lunch meeting of brainstorming...and the Rural Studio Tour was born, sans the Amish drivers. Each studio will be open 10am-6pm on Saturday, May 1. It will be casual & self-guided...meaning people can visit as many studios & in any order as they wish & on their own time."

What is particularly interesting is that these artists (photographers, mixed media, potters, fiber) do live in a rural area and they are including stops at a buffalo ranch, a backroads greenhouse, a coffee roastery, as well as their studios. I mean, this is the sticks! Is that stopping them? I think this is going to be a very sweet event, hope it goes annual.

For even more info visit their Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/ArtStudioTour

What about you? Are you part of any grass roots art event?


Tags: Fort Wayne, Kristy Jo Beber, Lisa Vetter, rural studio tour, studio tour
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Comments

  • Connie Mettler April 26, 2010 at 11:18am
    I am not surprised (pleased though) that the artists of Buffalo can come together to put together a tour, what really surprised me is that the people in this rural area were doing this. I know ceramicist Bob Briscoe (and friends) has a very successful pottery tour in rural Wisconsin. Anyone interested in replicating this idea should google him up. The first year probably won't be great -- but given the nature of social media these days, if you can hook on Twitter and Facebook and put together a vestigial website and get the info out to your local arts groups to link in -- it may be easier than in year's past. I found the Rural Studio Tour through some links, not from the artists themselves.

    BTW, I hope to be attending it this coming weekend. Any of you going to be there too?
  • Michael Skeen April 26, 2010 at 10:34am
    This is such a great idea and I love the idea enough to investigate doing one locally with some of my other out in the sticks friends. Very cool! Thanks for spreading the word about this.
  • Connie Mettler April 25, 2010 at 3:48pm
    Great news from Buffalo! Thanks for this info, Pat. I'd love to have you keep me up to date on the progress. I've done Allentown, great to know there is other life to the art there.
  • Pat Sorbini April 23, 2010 at 7:31am
    The Open Studio Tour here in Buffalo has become one of my most profitable weekends. It has expanded past its original "art neighborhood" boundaries to include adjacent neighborhoods. Some artists gather at larger venues/homes and offer anywhere from 3 to 20 artists in one location. Glossy maps are distributed all over the city and a web site and directory (Artists in Buffalo.org) has become a popular reference. I'm tellin' ya, it's amazing what artists can do when they take things into their own hands. The new website is just starting to be set up, so it doesn't show the scope of this just yet, but you can get an idea.
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