Toe River Arts Council announces studio tour held June 2-4

Press release from Toe River Arts Council:

The deadline has past and the tour is cranking up to be another great adventure for visitors. We have 53 studio sites with 83 artists, including eight who have never participated or participated over three years ago. In their own words, they introduce themselves.

First on the list is Garold Amsberry (#74) of Midnight Sun Pottery in Micaville. “The story is in the clay. What I get from clay is the challenge. There’s always what the clay, glazes and kilns are doing and what you’re trying to get them to do. I’m constantly thinking of what the clay can become within form and function.”

Lisa Clague is well known in ceramics. She’ll be showing in her Bakersville studio (#17) after several years’ hiatus. “My work evokes a place between the subconscious and the intangible…They may bring delightful fantasy or feverish fear, fusion of overlaying images reflects desire, anxiety and the poetic lure of many inner worlds…images in a passageway between what is dreamt what is lived, what is remembered and what is to come.” Also, in Lisa’s studio, her mother, Sarah, will have her own clay work up for viewing. “As a graduate from the Cleveland Institute of Art, I’ve taught and worked in clay for over 50 years and am looking forward to an exciting event this June.”

Galen Sedberry is another following in a parent’s “footsteps.” Galen will be showing in his new studio—Sedberry Pottery—with Ken (#51). “My interest in clay peaked during a year off from college when I began helping my father in his studio and learning the basics of throwing, glazing and firing.  I returned to college, received a degree in Appropriate Technology, and after several years, my hands have found their way back to clay.”

From the Penland area, Tom Jaszczak (#79) joins the tour in his resident artist studio at the Barns on the Penland School of Crafts campus. “My pots are minimal and are rooted in the traditional Minnesota pottery I grew up admiring, I want my work to be paired down to the essentials emphasizing the fundamentals of pots and be truly useful. Form communicates a pots gesture; it speaks of utility, my pots reference common shapes and engage ones imagination.”

Stone cutter, Collene Karcher, returns to the tour at her studio, Stone Crossing (#99 ). “As a sculptor living in these mountains, I’ve always been interested in and inspired by the work I saw in tiny local graveyards. I learn something new every time I run my hand over an old grave marker. I have always practiced letter carving alongside my three dimensional work and at some point it began to cross over—letter carving on sculpture, sculpture mixed in with letter carving.”

Tori Motyl is new to the the area and new to the tour. She will have her work in Selena Glass and Metal’s studio (#52) on the outskirts of Burnsville. “I began making and selling pottery in 2011 in Rochester, NY, and moved to Burnsville last year to be part of a larger and thriving craft community. My work exemplifies minimalist simplicity. It is my desire that my work promotes a sense of calm and present mindfulness in the users every day life.”

Finally, the tour welcomes another new Burnsville resident and artist, Robert Alvin Crum (#75). “I am a full-time professional oil painter and muralist and paint still lifes, portraits, and figurative work using the same materials and methods used by the Old Masters. En plein-air landscapes are completed when I travel, and large landscapes are developed from these in my studio.”

An exhibit will be displaying work from the tour participants at the Spruce Pine Gallery from May 13 through the tour’s end on the 4th of June. This is an opportunity to view some of the riches of this area and plan your weekend of travel and search. Tour guides containing maps and locations of participating artists are now available at both TRAC galleries, participant studios, local businesses, and online at the website, www.toeriverarts.org in May.

The Toe River Studio Tour is Friday-Sunday, June 2-4, from 10am to 5pm daily. Join the TRAC staff, volunteer participants and many of the other tour artists for a grand reception on Friday, June 2, from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Spruce Pine Gallery located at 269 Oak Avenue. Come lift your glass to this magnificent area home to verdant landscapes, gravel roads and 4-lane highways, rivulets and gushing rivers, and hundreds of talented artists.

For more information about the Arts Council, please call 828-682-7215. For information about the tour exhibition, please call 828-765-0520. TRAC is a not for profit organization dedicated to connecting the arts and the people to improve the life in the Toe River Valley. It is supported, in part, by people who believe the arts are vital to a thriving community.

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About Virginia Daffron
Managing editor, lover of mountains, native of WNC. Follow me @virginiadaffron

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