Seventh Annual Wood River Valley Studio Tour To Be Held
BY DANA DUGAN
The seventh annual Wood River Valley Studio Tour serves a trifecta of participants, said Suzanne Hazlett, participating artist and co-founder of the nonprofit organization. The tour, which will take place Saturday and Sunday throughout the Valley, and includes several associated events, is unique in that it brings people to the artist to view the process, enjoy the space and even purchase something if it catches their fancy.
“It’s an invitation to our community to step into a studio, not as a retail experience, [but] immersion experience,” Hazlett said. “We’ve always wanted to serve the artist by presenting them in a professional way. For visitors, we want the experience to be approachable. It can feel intimidating to approach artists, and daunting if you lack understanding. But when you’re standing there alongside the maker, hearing about how they were inspired to create, all that melts away. And we serve our sponsors who make this possible. We want to serve each of those elements.”
Each studio has its own personality, and medium. There are painters, sculptors, tile and leather workers, photographers, mixed-media artists, jewelers and woodworkers.
“Some of the studios are quite spectacular,” Hazlett said. “Some are rather modest. It’s good for visitors to see what’s possible. Some are within homes, or small outbuildings on their own property. It doesn’t take a commercial space to become invested in one’s creative self.”
As well, there will be five plein-air artists who work outside. They will be set up together on the east side of River Street, with easels.
Every event is open, with free admission, including the Mosaic Project exhibit at the Ketchum Innovation Center, which has been “extraordinarily supportive,” Hazlett said. “With them, we created social media markets for the artists. We want the artist to use their own voice; it’s another opportunity to have exposure, try something new, and experiment.”
Hazlett said they receive calls and emails from artists who are new to the Valley. The organization also has a “verified list of more than 220 professional visual artists in the Valley, which is 1 percent of the population,” she said.
The only criteria for the artists is that they must live and work in the Wood River Valley.
This year, there are a few newcomers to the tour. Cindy Kirk, who makes fashionable leather purses and satchels, heard about the tour only last year. Another artist encouraged her to participate.
“I just kind of jumped in,” Kirk said. “That’s the way I roll.”
Kirk, a trained seamstress, made her first bag about six years ago.
“But I needed to get beyond the hobby stage,” she said. “I was totally self-taught, so there was a lot of trial and error. In 2017, I really went for it, and am now in six stores. I call myself a seamstress-designer-manufacturer-entrepreneur, not a leather craftsman.”
Kirk’s studio is at her home in the mid-Valley. She said she will have a small table outdoors with refreshments for visitors.
Some artists may have locations outside the corridor, and will have the “luxury of fewer visitors, so may offer demonstrations,” Hazlett said. “Some studios might have hundreds of visitors. We greet and discuss, answer questions. That’s the whole point.”
Another newcomer is Sally Metcalf, a fiber artist. Sally and her husband moved to the Wood River Valley two years ago from the McKenzie River Valley in Oregon.
“One of my criteria for finding a new home was a thriving art community in a small town that I could get involved with,” Metcalf said. “The tour seemed like a good group and I was very pleased that I was able to join.”
Metcalf, whose studio is in Hailey, said she “dabbled in most mediums until I found my passion in basketry. I have been weaving for almost 30 years and I still get so much pleasure and satisfaction out of gathering and manipulating materials into beautiful objects. I think people who see my work are genuinely amazed that basketry can be so much more than containers for laundry, fruit or pencils.”
Rather than functional, Metcalf’s finished baskets are sculptural art pieces.
“What’s fun and special is we do have evolving and changing artists every year,” Hazlett said. “Avid followers will find a different experience, as artists have evolved, but also participants change.”
A new tour program makes its debut this year, too. Designed by graphic designer
Judy Stoltzfus, of Hailey, it’s full of photos, information and maps to each of the studios.
“What’s emboldening about participation is that it’s an opportunity for other people to take their art seriously,” Hazlett said. “This is us, this is our community. The artists want to receive those visitors. It’s really something that is essential, to me, and has always been important.”
