In the 17th and 18th centuries it became very fashionable for wealthy young men (and later women too) to take the 'Grand Tour.' The idea was to experience new sights, cultures and people – and to learn about the world in a hands-on way rather than in school. We’d like to invite you to do just that…tour the hollows and hills of Jefferson County to visit and learn from the myriad of professional art makers in varied settings that include studios, homes, a nature center, farms and an historic apple storage facility turned planning mill. And this very special Tour is free and open from 10-5 on November 9 and 10.
Our last blog featured the first 3 stops of eleven…and you can do them in any order that’s convenient for you…this time we’ll focus on the 5 artists showing in stops 4, 5 and 6. At Stop 4 in Shepherdstown you’ll find award-winning Professional Cartoonist and Graphic Novelist Danielle Corsetto. She’ll be featuring her watercolor, caricature, figure drawing, and gouache originals as well as her novels and even stationary.
Sharing her space is Master Potter Esther Murphy. She is drawn to making traditional forms, altered to add her own touch - a doodle, a lace impression, or a brush stroke. This year she will feature new sgraffito decorated pieces – a method of scratching a design into what is most often a solid color background to reveal the underlying clay body (see photo).
Next stop (#5) is the Kearneysville farm of blacksmith extraordinaire Eric Johnson. He’ll be showing off his new outdoor classroom and (due to popular demand?) his newly forged Squirrel Cookers. Dummy me I asked what a squirrel cooker is used for – sort of like asking “Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?” And here is Eric’s reply “You can cook a squirrel! A chicken thigh, a hotdog, a sausage, I even cooked beef steak on one once!”
Eric is hosting ceramicist Annette Verna and her beautiful smoke-fired clay work influenced by nature and landscape. She’ll have a range of smaller gift-sized pieces and some larger art pieces. Each is unique because of her smoke firing.
Stop 6 is the always popular Kearneysville home studio of Master Basketmaker, teacher and author Anne Bowers. There’s no sitting on her many laurels for her. She is always moving forward with new designs from the small to the large. She has a profound sense of color and her baskets sell early and fast and every one is signed as the work of art it is.
Have to stop here but we still have 5 more stops to go on our Grand Tour. Watch for the next blogs!
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