Adventure awaits at the 7th annual Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour set for Saturday, October 28th, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, and Sunday, October 29th, Noon – 5:00 pm.
Ten different home studios in DeKalb and Cannon County will host over 20 award-winning artists who look forward to sharing with visitors their creative skills in glass, paper, wood, clay, fibers, cement and copper. Along with various unique forms of clay and glass design, the tour features the expertise of artists in sculpture, wood furniture, quilting, paper, and fiber art.
The Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour is nestled along a beautiful meandering drive through rural middle Tennessee at the peak of the fall season. This annual free event is offered by artists who genuinely care about their art, and who desire to open their private studios to educate and visit with all those interested in how fine art is created. Live demonstrations will be given throughout the tour at most of the studios.
Featured artists include: Tim Hintz, ladder-back chairs, winner of the 2005 Best of Tennessee Exhibition at the Tennessee State Museum; Susan DeMay, clay, associate professor at Vanderbilt University; Timothy Weber, clay, former director of Visual Arts, Craft and Media for the Tennessee Arts Commission; Louis and Christine Colombarini, clay, 2005 winner of the national Niche Award from the Rosen Group at the Philadelphia Buyer’s Market of American Craft and featured artists in American Style and Sunshine Artist magazines; Claudia Lee, paper, past president of TACA and a member of the Book Babes who will also be part of the tour; Tom Fuhrman, glass, whose works include a permanent glass installation at the Frist Center for Visual Arts; Ken and Dee Vanek, cement and copper, 2005 award winners at the Dave Macon Days Festival in Murfreesboro and the Webb School Art and Craft Show; William Kooienga, wood sculpture, featured artist in American Style and Crafts Report magazines; award-winning artist Arlene Knaak, clay; the innovative Meredith Novak, quilting; popular craftsman Rob Harvey, clay; Sharon Kooienga, weaving, featured artist in American Style and Crafts Report magazines; award-winning artist Sherri Gilbert Gard, clay; creative and talented Nancy Wunsch, glass jewelry and fiber art; Teresa Swystun, glass; and innovative Ed Wooten, lamp working and glass. New to the tour this year are: T. J. Edwards, clay; Breanna Rockstad-Kincaid, fibers art; and John Sellberg, clay.
This year’s major tour sponsor, Lifeworks Foundation, will host a hospitality center throughout the weekend at the Healing Stones Sanctuary off Lee Braswell Road in Smithville. The restored cabin will feature a collective Off the Beaten Path artists’ display. Light refreshments will be served. Also on display at the center will be the Lifeworks Foundation Empty Bowls collection, featuring vessels created by Tennessee craft artists in support of the Empty Bowls hunger project.
Brochures and maps are available at all the studios, Stella Luna Art Gallery, the Appalachian Center for Craft, and the Arts Center of Cannon County. For more information, visit www.smithvilletn.com, email obp@smithvilletn.com, or call Tim Hintz, (615) 597-8770.
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