Tour to spotlight 100 Chester County artists

Posted by Press Release on May 10, 2015

Visitors on the Chester County Studio Tour will get an inside look at the creative process.

Not many annual events live up to the motto, “Engage with the Arts,” with the notable exception of the upcoming annual Chester County Studio Tour.

Visitors on the Chester County Studio Tour can opt to take a ceramics tour or simply pick and choose from the 47 different studios that will be open.

This two-day tour of 47 local studios and 100 artists will take place on Saturday, May 16, from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. and Sunday, May 17 from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., and it is designed to engage patrons and artists in the places where art is created, according to its press release.

The tour has been described as the region's first and only annual tour designed to showcase the diverse artwork found in "Andrew Wyeth's country.” Although this year’s considerably expanded tour offers more artists, the idea of showcasing the talent of the county remains the same.

Many of the artists are grouped together at each stop, highlighting the diversity of mediums professional artists work in today, such as paper, porcelain, metal, clay and steel. This year's participating artists will be creating one unique 6- x 6- inch piece of original art and selling it for $75.

Chester County Studio Tour wants to make art affordable for everyone and wants to show that art can be everywhere. Whether this is your first time buying original art or you are a seasoned collector, the tour now has something for everyone.

Visitors are encouraged to design their own self-guided tour with the catalogue or map from ChesterCountyStudioTour.com and head for the studio closest to you. However, for those collectors looking for a specific kind of art or who want to take the scenic route from studio to studio, the web site offers links to specific routes such as the sculpture/ceramic and the landscape/ plein air (outdoor painting) tours.

The studios are scattered throughout Chester County, tucked away in the alleys of small towns or in flower-filled neighborhood back yards and townhomes. For these artists, it seems, almost any structure will do - the former living room of a contemporary home, a structure that resembles a pool house, or a former bedroom - as long as it gives them plenty of light and enough room to work on their large sculptures or paintings.

All of these studios are working studios, and many of them will feature artists demonstrations, or works-in-progress, enabling the visitor to get a rare glimpse into how a professional artist creates.

The Chester County Studio Tour is free and open to the public. More information can be found at www.chestercountystudiotour.com.