Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour

This past weekend we were on the road shooting interviews for an upcoming FOCUS episode on the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour www.agp.on.ca/studiotour . This year is the 25th anniversary of the event and we selected 8 locations in the city of Peterborough to visit. We knew that we need a bit of time at each location so we didn't go outside the city. Our visits we're just a very small sampling of the talent out there.

Our trip lead us through the studios of

• Rob Brown, furniture
• Suzanne Paleczny, painter
• Victoria Wallace, encaustic and acrylic media
• Wendy Trusler, mixed media
• Bronson Smith, modern primative wood painting
• Maura Joy Lustig, encaustic media
• Scott Walker, pottery
• Anne Cavanaugh, drawing, painting & mixed media
• Sandy MacFarlace. fine jewellry
• Sharon Taylor, watercolors, mixed media

I have taken these types of tours before, but not in the Peterborough region, so I was really looking forward to the outing. We had a great opportunity to see the work rooms, learn more about the artists inspriation and techniques in some cases.

I posted a tweet while we were out on the tour and I got a reply back asking what encaustic was. This wasnt a quick answer - so here's what I found out yesterday.

Encaustic

I've never hear of this medium before although it dates back to the ancient Egyptians.

"Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface — usually prepared wood, though canvas and other materials are often used." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encaustic_painting

Victoria Wallace was explaining the method of image trasferral to us and showed several examples that demonstrated how small changes could affect the look of the finished piece.

Out next visit was to Wendy Trusler who aslo works in encaustic medium. Her examples of this work were completely different, not just in subject matter but in the way she applied it.

Another two stops down we visited Maura Joy Lustig and she was doing a live demonstration of encaustic. Her equipment setup is similar to Wendy's, but her method of application is different again.

As is was admiring the encaustic works I realized that there is something very different about this medium. It has a depth, a luminosity that I've not seen in other mediums. Some peices were almost jewel-like I would say.

Thats one of reasons I love a studio tour, there always something new to see!

Now, this tour only runs for a single weekend out of the year, but artists typically participate in other tours as well. Visit www.agp.on.ca/studiotour for the a list of the artists websites for more information on open studios, scheduling a studio appointment or possible workshops.