Twenty stops are included among the studio tour trail this year, featuring a variety of artists in a wide array of mediums – everything from printmaking to watercolours and from stained glass work to metal art.
Twenty stops are included among the studio tour trail this year, featuring a variety of artists in a wide array of mediums – everything from printmaking to watercolours and from stained glass work to metal art.
“I’m really thrilled with the line-up this year,” says tour organizer Robert Lyon, who is also one of the artisans opening up his studio to guests this Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 15-16. “We have everything from painters to potters to photographers.”
Celebrating its 17th year, the Art Across the Marsh tour offers visitors an opportunity to get a closer and more intimate look into artists’ studios throughout Tantramar and Cumberland counties – from Dorchester to Sackville, from Midgic to Jolicure, from Baie Verte to Amherst, N.S.
Lyon says the artists on the tour range from up-and-coming newcomers to renowned professionals, offering a nice mix of artistry and creativity.
He points out that not only do the artists have new works on display for visitors to see, but new artists are always being added to the line-up while some also return after being out of the tour for a couple of years.
For example, new to the tour for 2016 is Shoshanna Wingate, a Sackville artist who does eco prints on silk.
“This is something different that we’ve never had before so we’re really happy to have her this year.”
As for his own studio, Lyon says he’s completed a number of new original prints in recent months, with much of his creative juices stemming from work he did over the winter on interpretive panels for Fundy Park for the Caribou Plain trail.
“My wall is fuller than it’s been in quite some time,” he says.
Fellow artist and his wife Katherine Lyon will also have her line of soaps and creams, as well as jewelry, on hand at the studio as well.
The tour, which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, is an event that has become somewhat of a fall tradition in the region, says Lyon, and continues to regularly attract hundreds of people from throughout the Maritimes.
“It’s really come into its own and people look forward to it each year. I think we’re getting a really good reputation for the arts here.”
He says many people make a day or weekend trip out of it, coming from nearby locales such as Moncton, Shediac, Hillsborough, Petitcodiac, Amherst; and as far away as PEI, Cape Breton, St. John, Fredericton and Halifax. This helps create economic spinoffs not just for the artists but for other businesses in the region as well, such as the local restaurants and downtown shops, he says.
Lyon says the tour is also a great way to expose people to the beauty of the area, especially at this time of year when they can get some pretty majestic and scenic views driving along routes that are a bit off the beaten path.
“The colors are really starting to change right now so by the weekend they should really be at their peak.”
For more information on the tour, check out www.artacrossthemarsh.ca or phone Robert Lyon at 536-1904. Maps are available at participating studios, online, or at the Sackville tourist bureau.
