Oct 2 & 3: The Hilltown Open Studio Tour returns!
The Hilltown Open Studio Tour returns this year on Saturday and Sunday, October 2nd &3rd. The visually rich experience of seeing the artists - in their intimate studio settings – complements the beauty of Western Massachusetts’ rolling hills, farms, mountain streams, and autumn foliage. Enjoy 22 studios and 25 artists working in a variety of media on this self-guided tour from 11am to 5pm both days. You may begin at any studio (locations and map on www.hilltownartsalliance.org) or at the Cummington Community House, 33 Main Street, Cummington, MA.
The tour is fresh each year with several new artists – and returning artists presenting new works! COVID shutdown provided a long creative incubation time for each artist on the tour, and new perspectives and
approaches are an even greater part of the annual event after a year hiatus!
Learn more at: https://hilltownartsalliance.org/open-studio-tour/
“I spent the pandemic shutdown creating jewelry for an exhibition at the British Museum in London and a stylized oak tree design, both collections inspired by History, Nature and Architecture.” explains artist Jen Parrish-Hill. “Being surrounded by nature means you want to help preserve it, so I donate a percentage of each website sale to an organization that brings light to issues threatening our wildlife, our environment, our earth.” Peaceful, but not isolated, Parrish-Hill also states that her Hilltown setting is rich in creative sharing amongst artists and looks forward to the return of the studio tour. “For solitary creators, having people visit (even just once a year) can be very rewarding - the conversations, meeting neighbors and the joy of being part of a talented community of artists.”
Painter Cyndy Sperry looked to history during the pandemic for perspective. “Well now, Picasso and Matisse painted through two world wars,” she points out. One special COVID project she completed was a rework of Emmanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware” done through a Zoom collaboration with art partners.
Another highlight this year is a Raku firing at Project Art, a live work artist residency program specializing in contemporary ceramics. Internationally known artists, Kadri Pärnamets and Sergei Isupov will be doing a dramatic Raku firing over the two days – works will be glazed, loaded, fired and then removed from the kiln while red hot, placed into flammable materials which starve the piece of oxygen, blacken the clay surface and produce colorful highlights in the glazes and rapidly cooled in buckets of water. The drama comes from the carefully managed fire, smoke, steam and high anticipation of the many variables that create an unpredictable, but always beautiful, outcome.
Normally Sergei and Kadri spend their daughter Roois's school year in Cummington and summers in
their homeland, Estonia. Throughout the pandemic year, Roosi attended school from home and clay
work was part of her new curriculum while working side by side with her parents in the studio and when possible, joined by masked-up friends from the neighborhood and classmates. Due to its immediacy and outdoor process, these special firing events were popular with both kids and their parents during the pandemic year. Other recent works by Sergei and Kadri will be on view in the building's gallery run by Ferrin Contemporary during HOST.
Please check the website for any updated COVID information and be prepared to wear a mask inside the studios.
