Studio Tour 2022

Largest ever Studio Tour starts on Friday

Several new studios have been added to the Studio Tour this year, bringing up the total number to 34, and with 51 artists it is the largest ever. From Carrying Place to Cressy and from Rednersville down towards Point Petre, the participating studios span the entire County. The art itself is wide-ranging, from paintings to sculpture to fabric art, ceramics and photography, so there is something for very nearly everyone. This year, five artists from the Tyendinaga community are included as guests in a number of studios. “It’s really vibrant and there’s lots of energy this year,” said Studio Tour co-chair Heather Kerr. “The Studio Tour really engages the viewer with the artistic experience. It’s not like a gallery tour. We invite people into our studios and some of us will even be creating art while there. People love coming in and talking about the creative process and the symbolism.” Kerr says the Tour also creates a sense of artistic community and it’s a great opportunity for artists to show their work in a relaxed and informal setting. The artists are chosen through a juried process, with organizers visiting each studio to ensure it can safely handle the public traffic.

(L-R): Melt Gallery and Studio operator Susan Wallis is joined by guest artist Nina- Marie Lister.

One of the new studios on this year’s tour is Melt Gallery and Studio, operated by Susan Wallis. She will have two guest artists, Janice Brant and Nina-Marie Lister, and the three of them are launching a collaborative project called Three Sisters, Three Artists, One Fire, which is intended to mark the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. “Janice and Nina-Marie are fantastic women, and I knew that whatever we did together was going to be great. We are creating a traditional mortar and pestle, three of them, in the Indigenous practice, and they will be used in three kitchens in Tyendinaga,” said Wallis. The common thematic element for all three artists is fire, which Wallis uses in her own encaustic art practise. Nina-Marie Lister is a new artist on the Studio Tour and is both pleased and surprised to be included. “Although I work independently, this was an opportunity for a different kind of creativity, and one that is very process-based. We learned a lot through the process of making and doing with Janice in her community,” she said. “My work is really a commentary on transformation and decay and return of materials back to the earth, all of which are naturally occurring. I collect found objects along the south shore of the County and make sculptures and mobiles, and I make them as a meditation on our relationship with a changing planet. This was an opportunity to engage with different artists in different media, but we’re thinking about the process of transformation and change, and in this instance our thematic collective is fire.”

Veronica Cluett was trained as an interior designer, and for years she created folk art and decorative art. However, when she moved to the County some two decades ago, she decided to follow her own artistic muse. “The County really inspires one to paint, with so many different things. I love trying different techniques and mediums; sometimes I’m painting with paintbrushes, sometimes with palette knives, syringes, you name it, so it’s just a big variety. It’s got to be fresh and new every time I paint,” she said. John Lawson is another new addition to the Tour. He had a career as an architect, but is now finding inspiration for art from his studio on the Black River. “Painting is something you can immerse yourself in. You can pick your subject and really concentrate on it. It’s almost like mental therapy,” he said.

Pamela Mayhew describes herself as a non-traditional landscape painter. She sees her paintings as a means of initiating a conversation between the viewer and the piece. “You look at my paintings and you can see it is a landscape, but I’m trying to push the edges of what the expectations are of traditional landscapes. My paintings are full of colour, they’re full of form,” she said. She teaches art and design at Humber College, and she says that what’s most satisfying about teaching is getting to know what’s in the minds of her students. “It’s about interacting with the young people and exploring the question of what makes good art. It’s an open conversation where I really love to get involved with the students.”

This year’s Studio Tour is in memory of Marion Casson, who had been a member on the Tour since 2004. For more information, and a map of the studios, please visit pecstudiotour.com. Note that the County Marathon takes place on Sunday, October 2. There will be some detours, but all studios will remain accessible.