A Fall Meander

| Contributed by Pam Parziale |

The leaves are turning red, orange, and yellow, the air is crisp, and blue skies beckon avid travelers to the Over the Mountain Studio Tour. This is the 37^th year for the chance to visit artists’ studios and meet new artists and craftworkers on November 14-15 from 10–5. 

All the senses come alive on the self-directed tour. The sheep and wool studio at Head Spring Farm is a joy for sights and smells. Bridget Brown's studio is chock full of hand dyed yarns, paintings, and felted artwork. Tim Daly cooks a treat over an open hearth. At the Shenandoah Planing Mill, Neil Super's wooden bowls turned from historic trees beg to be filled with salad greens.  For the hiker, Luke Bauer's heritage oak baskets carry your bread and cheese.

Touch, texture, and intricate patterns explore non-traditional needlework and weaving when Isabel Wilder and Denise Ray take up the tools of sewing and fabric making. The studio of Anne Rule-Thompson and guest jeweler Rose Mendez break boundaries with their art forms, in wax and in metal. Prepare to be amazed.

Rock Fusion Studios is a tour favorite, and sets at the edge of the Potomac River, where fused glass and cut stones sparkle in the sunlight. Tatyana and Evgeny Zidarov engage in the spirit of the tour, combining discovery and romance. 

The smells of pasture grass and horses compete with the aromas of paint and wood for attention in the studios of printmaker and painter Rebecca Jones and furniture maker and painter Judy Rand*. Nature has found a home in the work of these artists.

The nearby studio of potter Esther Murphy is an invitation to pause and reflect on the ancient craft of pottery making. Pots with classic forms and polished glazes ask to be held, encourage the visitor to imagine sitting with a friend, and sharing cups of tea. Melanie Brownsmith* is an artist who cuts, stitches, incises, twists and embroiders fabric into fantasy creatures. I want one!

Photographer Pang Tubhirun’s* urban Skull City Studio reveals a modern take on antique methods for capturing photographic images that she creates using a 'wet plate collodion' photography. Pang documents the world with "the power of photography to preserve stories."

The ringing of the hammer on an anvil is the sound at Southwood Farm. Eric Johnson fires the forge; he bends, folds, and transforms the heavy metal shafts into a welcome railing by a front door.  Annette Verna shapes a different medium, clay, into organic shapes. With nature's help, she creates smokey, unique surfaces that become sculpture made with vines, twigs, and delicate branches.

Anne Bower's baskets are the stuff of legend; history reinterpreted with unusual designs and unexpected materials. Her guest this year is Anne Barney* who works in pastel and woodcuts. Her introduction of white-line printmaking reminds one of the tradition breaking art of West Virginia artist Blanche Lazell.

Diane Myers is a weaver and fiber artist. The colors of the dyed wools and yarns respond to the shuttle, back and forth, back and forth; scarves, jackets, shawls, and table runners spring from the loom before your eyes. The aromas of a woodworker's shop surround Steve Adams as he caresses walnut and cherry with beeswax and tung oil. Tables, bowls, and serving boards await the visitor. Imagine a charcuterie of grapes, apples and cheese. 

The 37^th Over the Mountain Studio Tour is a festive celebration of the arts and crafts. The tour is history in the making, the hands re-imagined. Involve your senses, touch, smell, hear, and share the experience of owning an object, handmade, something special that may become a family legacy.

*New to the Tour this year!