Open Studio Weekend to kick off 17th year
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Joshua Axelrod is opening his photography studio/gallery space for the Vermont Studio Tour, Saturday and Sunday, 10 to 5. Axelrod’s gallery is located at 324 Webster Road in Roxbury. (Follow signs from Warren Mountain Road, turn onto Webster Road, where about three-quarters of a mile up on the right you will find Axelrod’s converted barn studio/gallery. For information, call (802) 485-7788, or go online to www.joshaxelrod.com. Pictured is Axelrod’s “Aspens.” |
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By JOSH O’GORMAN Rutland Herald - Published: May 22, 2009
This Memorial Day weekend, Vermonters are encouraged to take a break from burgers and parades and explore the arts community during the Vermont Crafts Council’s Open Studio Weekend, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
During the 17th annual event, 238 artists will open their studios to visitors, who will not just browse and shop but get to watch artists in action.
Last year’s event drew about 9,000 visitors, who purchased or ordered about $280,000 in arts and crafts items, according to Vermont Crafts Council Executive Director Martha Fitch.
Fitch said about 40 percent of the visitors is from out of state, based on exit interviews.
“That means 60 percent of them are Vermont residents, and they use this weekend to explore other parts of the state,” she said.
The Vermont Crafts Council is offering maps to the artists’ studios, which include 109 sites in Bennington, Rutland, Windham and Windsor counties. Ann McFarren will open her Terrill Street studio in Rutland to the public and display her oil and watercolor paintings.
“The point is to have people come in see you work,” McFarren said, whose work includes landscapes and seascapes of the coast of Maine and range from miniature to 4 feet by 4 feet in size.
Visitors are not just shopping for art, but are dining in restaurants and staying overnight, an economic blessing for the entire area.
“Anything that benefits the Rutland economy helps all of us,” she said.
For visitors who might wish to see a variety of arts and crafts without traveling very far, Brandon boasts no fewer than 11 open studios, with subjects ranging from jewelry, photography, sculpture and stained glass.
For visitors who are looking for examples of Vermont craftsmanship, Bonnie Watters of Chester is opening her doll-making studio and offering some hands-on activities for children.
For the past 35 years, Watters has made dolls and stuffed animals under the name Bonnie’s Bundles Dolls in Chester, one of four studios in town opening their doors this weekend.
Watters and her team, which include three dressmakers and an embroiderer, spend between 10 and 15 hours on each doll. Watters said parents can watch the creation of the dolls while children make dolls of their own.
The educational opportunities go beyond how the art is made, said Jessica Phillips, owner of Battenkill River Pottery in Arlington.
“It’s not just so much about sales as teaching people about how we live,” said Phillips, who will often rise and work hours before her children wake and continues to work late in the evening, sometimes spending weeks on a piece of her hand-carved stoneware. “I want people to come in and ask questions.”
Christopher Sherwin, owner of Sherwin Art Glass in Bellows Falls, said the weekend serves as a good reminder of the incredibly rich arts community in the state.
“I look at a lot of what I do as education,” said Sherwin, whose studio is open regularly to visitors to come and watch him shape his glasswork. “This is a concerted effort to bring awareness of the artists in the area.”
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com