Thanksgiving weekend has traditionally been the time for our last walk in the woods. The weather is often good, and the tree colours are lovely. This year I didn't think it was going to happen, but it did.
I don't often have family here for Thanksgiving, but this year seemed to be the time. We scheduled the meal for Sunday, and decided to take in one of the art studio tours on Saturday. There were three available to choose from. One was in the Westport area, one in the Almonte area, and the third in the Perth area. We decided to do the Perth Autumn Studio Tour as it was the only one of these we had not done before. It took us up highway 7 as far as Maberly, and then down some back roads. That's when the colour started to get better, and the terrain more interesting too. Some of those roads had major hills and curves. Hubby commented that he thought the snowplow driver would have fun back there!
While most of the studio tours we go on take us to the artist's homes, this one took us, more often than not, to their barns. There were often four or five artists displaying their work at each stop, which mean there was not as many stops. That also likely meant less running around in the back country. There was quite an assortment of different kinds of art, as well as the usual painters. Dunn Sohn works with wood, and creates not only interesting shaped cutting boards, but also turned and sculpted pieces as well. My hubby was quite taken with his rocking chairs. They certainly had some nice lines. Scott Dobson created fascinating Garden Elements out of anything from old fence posts to shutters, or a combination of the two. John Schweighardt is a stone carver. He not only creates stone statues for outdoors, but also the most beautiful bowls and sinks you are going to find anywhere. There were a number of potters, print makers and woodworkers, a weaver, a jeweler and a canoe maker as well as the usual painters. Of the painters, I was especially taken with Wayne Williams, who not only uses both watercolour and acrylics, but also incorporates a bit of collage here and there, just to make things interesting. I intend to incorporate some of his methods into some of my future artistic attempts. I already have a subject in mind to try it on.
Of course, while out hunting down art on back roads, we had also loaded some geocaches onto our GPS to find along the way. I was sure that one in particular was going to be right at one of studios on the list, but when we got there, it was still .2 miles down the road. Apparently a place known as Fieldworks was discovered by some other geocacher during a previous studio tour, and he decided it would be a great place to hide a cache. When we got to the studio where I thought it was going to be, we were talking to one of the artists, who asked us if we had been to Fieldworks yet. When I told her we were planning to go there, as we were geocaching, she said the guy who had placed that cache had just gone out the door. It was too bad we missed him by such a short period of time. What we did spot while talking to Susie Osler though, was a strange old stove. I stooped to take a picture of it, and she said she thinks I'm the first woman ever to do that. I mentioned that I like to blog my adventures and show unusual things found along the way. If you have ever seen another one like this stove, do tell me about it.
So, off we went to Fieldworks, not really knowing what it was, but really just looking for the cache. Well, hey, this is when I actually got to do my annual walk in the woods after all. At this site, which is both a large field and some woodland, artists come and erect "artistic installations", for lack of any other way of describing them. There are weird and wonderful things scattered throughout the site. Just go for a walk and see what you can find. Not all of it will make sense, but there are some very inventive minds at work here. The displays are changed or added to seasonally, so there will always be something new to discover, and I'm sure we will find the time to go back and explore the site again and again.
While we saw lots of art created by people, Mother Nature had definitely been out with her own paint brush as well. That's what always makes Thanksgiving weekend special to me.
While most of the studio tours we go on take us to the artist's homes, this one took us, more often than not, to their barns. There were often four or five artists displaying their work at each stop, which mean there was not as many stops. That also likely meant less running around in the back country. There was quite an assortment of different kinds of art, as well as the usual painters. Dunn Sohn works with wood, and creates not only interesting shaped cutting boards, but also turned and sculpted pieces as well. My hubby was quite taken with his rocking chairs. They certainly had some nice lines. Scott Dobson created fascinating Garden Elements out of anything from old fence posts to shutters, or a combination of the two. John Schweighardt is a stone carver. He not only creates stone statues for outdoors, but also the most beautiful bowls and sinks you are going to find anywhere. There were a number of potters, print makers and woodworkers, a weaver, a jeweler and a canoe maker as well as the usual painters. Of the painters, I was especially taken with Wayne Williams, who not only uses both watercolour and acrylics, but also incorporates a bit of collage here and there, just to make things interesting. I intend to incorporate some of his methods into some of my future artistic attempts. I already have a subject in mind to try it on.
Of course, while out hunting down art on back roads, we had also loaded some geocaches onto our GPS to find along the way. I was sure that one in particular was going to be right at one of studios on the list, but when we got there, it was still .2 miles down the road. Apparently a place known as Fieldworks was discovered by some other geocacher during a previous studio tour, and he decided it would be a great place to hide a cache. When we got to the studio where I thought it was going to be, we were talking to one of the artists, who asked us if we had been to Fieldworks yet. When I told her we were planning to go there, as we were geocaching, she said the guy who had placed that cache had just gone out the door. It was too bad we missed him by such a short period of time. What we did spot while talking to Susie Osler though, was a strange old stove. I stooped to take a picture of it, and she said she thinks I'm the first woman ever to do that. I mentioned that I like to blog my adventures and show unusual things found along the way. If you have ever seen another one like this stove, do tell me about it.
While we saw lots of art created by people, Mother Nature had definitely been out with her own paint brush as well. That's what always makes Thanksgiving weekend special to me.
My husband just educated me on geocaches. Love it! So, did you find the Fireworks cache? New follower on Twitter (@zoojourneys).
ReplyDeleteBesos, Sarah
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