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Ashe County Studio Tour Happening This Weekend; Artist Reception Friday Night at the Ashe Arts Center

By Nathan Ham

This weekend marks the fourth annual Ashe County Studio Tour, an always-popular weekend event that gives people a chance to see the studios of artists and craftspeople in Ashe County.

The Ashe County Studio Tour, which began in 2015, was a rebirth of a previous Ashe County Arts Council event called Studio Hop that went on for about 15 years before the gas price hike in 2008 put a damper on the event.

“Since we brought the event back in 2015, the event has grown in size with the number of participating artists and the number of studios on the tour,” said Jane Lonon, the Executive Director of the Ashe County Arts Council. “The focus is on showcasing the artistic excellence of those that live and work in Ashe County.

Lonon says that there will be a wide variety of artistic mediums that you will see on the tour, including painting, photography, glasswork, woodwork and pottery.

“These artists are all exquisite artists that are well-trained and well-crafted,” Lonon added.

The studio tour will feature 22 different stops spread out all across Ashe County with 28 different artists working on their latest projects.

The event begins on Friday evening at the Ashe Arts Center with a reception for the artists from 5-7 p.m. This will be a great chance for people to meet the artists and see samples of their work as there will also be a gallery on display through the weekend featuring numerous pieces of work from these Ashe County artists.

On Saturday, tours begin at 10 a.m. and will last until 6 p.m. Sunday’s tours start at 12 p.m. and lasts through 5 p.m. The tour is self-directed, meaning you can drive around and check out each studio at your own pace.

The studio tour has a lot of unique opportunities that a person might not have on just any day of the week.

“The neat thing about the studio tour is the opportunity to see an artist’s work space. That can range from a beautiful studio to someone’s dining room or kitchen counter,” Lonon said. “To see where an artist works, to see how they work, to see their work in progress and to watch them demonstrate is such a special part of the educational aspect of this event.”

The 2018 Ashe County Studio Tour brochure with driving directions to each studio can be found at the link below.

2018-Studio-Tour-Brochure