2nd Annual Event – October 14
This fall, Fluvanna County residents and area visitors can look forward to a second Studio Tour after a successful inaugural event in 2022.
Held on Saturday, October 14, organizers are hopeful this will become an annual cornerstone of the community’s social calendar.
In what they anticipate to be an impressive follow-up to last year’s premier, promoters promise to offer roughly double the exhibitions previously seen.
Rich in cultural diversity, Fluvanna County is home to a wide variety of talented people, and the purpose of this event is to introduce the public to many of them.
Art lovers will be afforded the opportunity to visit 20 private studio locations in the area between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Over 30 artists and artisans specializing in a wide variety of visual mediums will be featured.
Visitors can see woodworking, black smithing and sculptural pieces, observe the process of creating hot lamp glass and learn about mosaic techniques.
Hoping to expand the public’s knowledge of local art and bring awareness to some of the vast talent who reside within this rural community, the Studio Tour uniquely connects the public directly with its regional artists in an effort to help them build their special small businesses up straight from the roots.
ARTS of Fluvanna County is a non-profit organization which sponsors this event, and Diane Wilkin serves as the team leader.
“The goal for the tour is to have all artists exhibiting in a working studio so patrons can see both the final product and the processes used in the creative process,” said Wilkins, who believes that this area is bursting with incredibly skilled artists who are deserving of a local platform in which to display their talents.
The idea is that meeting these individuals in the spaces in which they actually develop their art form will hopefully open the floor to questions and discussions with spectators and help to build meaningful and potentially lucrative relationships between art creators and appreciators.
Blair Barbour, Mike McGurk and Kyle and Johannah Lucia are just a few of the artists that will be featured on the tour.
Barbour leads an exciting artistic existence, and is able to creatively express herself in two very different ways. She spends half of her time creating collages in her featured Virginia studio, and the other part coming up with fancy feasts for guests as a yacht chef in the Caribbean Islands.
McGurk is a retired firefighter who has lived in Fluvanna County almost 20 years. He has won numerous awards from the Pastel Society of America for his pastel paintings, which have been exhibited across the state and along the east coast, including in New York City galleries.
The Lucias recently relocated from Richmond to set up shop in Fluvanna. They often collaborate and share a studio where Kyle works as a blacksmith and Johannah makes mosaic art. They exhibit in shows across the mid-eastern region.
Come check out these talented artists and many more October 14 during the second annual Studio Tour.
For more information about individual artists and the tour, please visit https://www.artsfluvannacounty.com.