Press release
Columbia Open Studios, April 5-6
WHEN: Saturday, April 5, 2014, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. | Sunday, April 6, 2014, 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
(Preview Party Thursday, April 3, 2014, 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. at 701 Whaley)WHERE: Columbia Open Studios is a free, self-led driving tour of participating visual artists’ studios across Richland and Lexington Counties.
SCENE: Presented by the nonprofit 701 Center for Contemporary Art, Columbia Open Studios offers an intimate experience for the art enthusiast. Thousands spend the weekend studio-hopping for a rare opportunity to visit with artists in their private working studios and learn about their backgrounds, tools and techniques.
ART FORMS: Along with more traditional mediums such as oil painting, watercolor, photography, sculpture and ceramics, non-traditional work includes repurposed vintage handbags, custom-designed flooring and children’s book illustrations.
BACKGROUND: The Open Studios tour concept is a hit in major cities across the U.S., from Greenville to San Francisco, and Midlands art lovers have embraced the annual tour since 701 CCA reintroduced the event in 2011. (The tour was first produced in Columbia in 2007 and 2008 by the now-defunct Columbia Festival of the Arts.)
REACH: Columbia Open Studios has seen 20,000 visits to artists’ studios between 2011 and 2013, as well as 150 total participating studios. The tour has generated over $75,000 in artwork sales since 2011. (Artists keep 100% of sales.) 701 CCA publishes a full color, 30+ page guide with maps, plus an online guide. 30,000+ copies of the print guide will be inserted in the April 2, 2014 Free Times, and 10,000 will be distributed across SC in conjunction with a statewide PR & marketing campaign.
701 CCA Columbia Open Studios 2014 Participating Artists:
Nancy Butterworth
Jean Capalbo
Michael Donkle
Renea Eshleman
Clark Ellefson
Betty Evans
Nora Floyd & Ruth Bayard
Tim Floyd
Diane Gilbert
Mary Gilkerson
Bonnie Goldberg
Lyssa Harvey
Mary Ann Haven
Ruby Haydock DeLoach
Howard Hunt
Judy Bolton Jarrett
Russell Jeffcoat
Alicia Leeke
Whitney LeJeune
Patrick Mahoney
Chappy Manning
Regina Moody
Julia Moore
Page Morris
One Eared Cow Glass
Patrick Parise
Carol Pittman
Carolyn F. Ramsay
Cindy Saad
Jane Schwantes
John & Venetia Sharpe
Kevin Smith
Marian Soule
Laura Spong
Curran Stone
Lisa Strally
Jan Swanson
Martha Thomas
Christian Thee
Nini Ward
Carey Weathers
Charlene Wells
Lindsay Wiggins
Mary Lynn Williams
Ellen Emerson YaghjianDetails and full online guide will be available at http://www.columbiaopenstudios.org.
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